Our leadership

Timo Lehne, Executive Director, member of the Board

Chief Executive Officer 

Timo Lehne was appointed CEO in April 2022 after joining the board as interim CEO and Executive Director on 1 January 2022. As Senior Managing Director he held full responsibility for the day-to-day running of SThree’s largest region, DACH, which comprises of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Timo studied International Economics in the Netherlands before joining our Progressive Recruitment business in Germany as a sales consultant in 2006. He was appointed Senior Business Manager in Düsseldorf for SThree in 2009, quickly turning it into our fastest growing business and growing the city’s share of net fees within the DACH region from 4% in 2009 to 27% in 2012. He was promoted to Senior Sales Director in 2013, taking joint responsibility for the running of the overall DACH business and in 2017 became Managing Director for the region, where he was responsible for the overall DACH business of SThree accounting for over 33% of the Group’s revenue and more than 1000 employees across 10 locations.

Andrew Beach, Executive Director, member of the Board

Chief Financial Officer

Andrew Beach was appointed to the SThree Board in July 2021, joining from Hyve Group plc, a global exhibitions business. As CFO he holds full responsibility for the financial strategy and financial activities across the SThree Group. He is an accomplished CFO with more than 13 years’ experience in listed companies. He has global experience of business transformation, funding and M&A in fast-paced and high-growth companies and has extensive experience of working alongside Boards and senior leadership on company strategy and direction.

As CFO of Hyve, Andrew was instrumental in leading the company through a period of significant transformation and rapid international growth, which resulted in its promotion to the FTSE 250. Previously, he held a number of roles at Ebiquity plc, joining as Group Financial Controller in 2007 and quickly being appointed as CFO in 2008. In 2014 he was promoted to Chief Financial and Operating Officer. Andrew trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC, working with them from 1998 until 2007.

Sunny Ackerman

President, US

Sunny joined SThree in 2021 as President of our business in the Americas. She is responsible for the strategy, performance and operations of Specialist Staffing Group (a division of SThree) and its brands in the US. Before her appointment she was the President of the Americas for Frank Recruitment Group, where she was responsible for the company’s largest region, leading professional IT experts in developing specialty markets, new brands and client expansion in North America.   

Prior to this Sunny spent more than 14 years in a variety of executive positions with ManpowerGroup as Senior Vice-President and General Manager. Throughout her career, Sunny has worked with elite Fortune 500 clients and industry leaders as a strategic adviser and business partner. Sunny completed a BA from Texas A&M University.

Staffing Industry Analyst named Sunny in the “Global Power 100” – the most influential women in staffing over the past three years.  

Kate Danson

Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary

Kate Danson joined SThree in 2021. She is responsible for the provision of legal services and its operations across the SThree Group and is the PLC Company Secretary. Prior to joining, she was General Counsel, Group at Johnson Matthey plc, responsible for leading the provision of legal services across the global group functions. She had previously worked in a variety of senior global roles within Johnson Matthey.

Kate brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in complex global legal, ethics and compliance, business and risk management issues. She is a qualified solicitor and started her career in private practice at the international law firm Ince & Co.

Kate completed a degree in Religious Studies at Kings College London before studying at the College of Law between 2002 and 2004.

Nick Folkes

Chief Technology and Information Officer

Nick Folkes joined SThree in 2021. As CTIO, he is responsible for the technology and digital strategy and its operations across the SThree group. Nick is a highly experienced technology leader, with a breadth of experience in services and in-house environments. He has delivered major transformations in his previous roles, most recently was the Group CIO for G4S, the global security company operating across 85 countries.

Prior to joining G4S in March 2014, Nick served as director for IT Operations and Infrastructure at Tesco and as IT director for MSCI, a global provider of critical decision support tools and services for the financial investment community. Nick has also been a director at both Deloitte Consulting and Cable & Wireless and has more than 20 years of wide-ranging experience within the IT industry.

Nick holds a BSc in Cybernetics, Control Engineering, Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science from the University of Reading.

Jelte Hacquebord

Senior Group Managing Director

Jelte Hacquebord was appointed Senior Group Managing Director in December 2022. Under Jelte’s leadership, the Benelux, Spain, Mena and APAC region has developed into a powerhouse of SThree and continues to show market-leading development.

Jelte has been with SThree since 2007 and has made a remarkable journey from trainee to Senior Group Managing Director and a member of the executive committee. In his role, he is focused on driving growth for the company in the Netherlands, Spain, MENA, and APAC regions, while also accelerating sales and client excellence on a global scale.

Jelte’s extensive experience and global SThree career, working in more than 10 countries across all continents, has earned him several accolades, including the prestigious SThree Plc Global Director of the Year Award in 2018. As an international leader he represents the company in various locations around the world.

Outside his work at SThree, Jelte is dedicated to making a positive impact in the world as a dedicated investor with a broad portfolio, all with a clear focus on generating growth and continuous progress. In addition, Jelte is committed to giving back to the community as the Chairman of the Touzani Foundation, a charitable organisation that supports children and provides opportunities for a better future. He holds a BSc in Economics from the University of Granada, a BSc in International Business from Groningen University and has completed the Business Leaders program at Henley Business School.

Sarah Mason

Chief People Officer

Sarah joined SThree in 2023 for the second time, having previously worked for the group between 1998 and 2008, in sales and then senior HR roles. Sarah is responsible for leading the global People function, which provides performance, reward, DEI, learning and development, people experience, ESG, and talent acquisition frameworks, HR business partnering, and Property services.

Sarah has spent most of her career in the recruitment industry, although her most recent role was Chief People Officer at Foxtons, a large estate agency plc in the UK. She brings with her a wealth of HR experience, as well as a deep knowledge of psychology – both of which she draws on and applies to enable effectiveness, engagement, and the right outcomes.

She is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and has an MSc in Management Consultancy and Organisational Change.  

Tom Way

Managing Director – UK, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg

Tom is responsible for the strategy, performance, and operations of SThree and its brands across the UK, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. 

Since joining SThree as a trainee in 2004, his career has spanned some of the largest STEM recruitment markets in the world, having worked in the UK, USA, and Continental Europe. Prior to being appointed into his current role, Tom held several senior leadership positions within the group, including Vice-President of North America, European Head of Life Sciences, and Managing Director of the UK and Ireland.  

Tom is extremely passionate about people and leadership and is driven to "bring people together to achieve results", he leads by creating a purpose-led environment where strategy is developed through the lens of our customers. In 2020 he was elected to join The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) Representative Committee, guiding on their strategy’s impact on staffing firms. Tom graduated from Loughborough University in 2003 with a BSc in Geography.

Christophe Zwaenepoel

Managing Director – DACH

Christophe started with SThree in 2000, joining initially as a recruitment consultant in SThree’s first office outside of the United Kingdom, Brussels. In 2009 he moved to Germany to set up the Hamburg, Berlin, and Hannover offices scaling and diversifying them to multi-brand and multi-product locations. In 2016 and 2017, he consecutively won SThree’s Global Director of the Year for having the fastest-growing business regions.

In 2017, Christophe became Regional Sales Head for Northern Germany, including Duesseldorf, which contributed over 50% of the DACH business. In 2020, he was promoted to Managing Director – Head of Sales for the DACH and Nordic regions successfully leading SThree through the COVID-19 pandemic. Christophe was appointed as interim Managing Director of the DACH region and from August 2022 permanently appointed as Managing Director DACH region and member of the global Executive Committee.

Christophe has a quarter of a decade of experience in the recruitment industry, working in multiple countries and sectors. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the European University College Brussels.