Arnaud Despierre is the Senior Partner, Asia-Pacific Region Leader and Global Industrial Practice Leader at Kingsley Gate.
His expertise brings a specific focus on Food, Agribusiness and Nutrition. Arnaud brings almost two decades of experience in executive search and management consulting and has worked with and placed senior executives globally, including Chief Executive Officers and Non-Executive Directors of publicly-listed and privately-held companies.
Prior to joining Kingsley Gate, Arnaud was a Partner at Spencer Stuart, where he led and co-led regional and global practice areas. His focus was on senior executive recruitment - Board, CEO and C-suite - in the Industrial sector across manufacturing and services. Arnaud’s expertise also extends to adjacent sectors within Life Sciences, Consumer Products and Technology, as well as cross-industry functional areas such as Human Resources and Supply Chain/Operations. Previously, he was a Strategy Consultant at McKinsey & Company, leading organizational development, change management and leadership development work for clients in North America and Asia-Pacific.
Arnaud is serving as an advisor for a HR-tech start-up based in Singapore. He is a published thought-leader on executive leadership, talent management, and succession challenges in Asia-Pacific. He is a native English and French bilingual with a working proficiency in Mandarin.
Arnaud earned an MSc degree in Thermal Power from Cranfield University and an MBA with High Distinction from the University of Michigan Business School.
He is based in the firm’s Singapore location, working with clients globally.
