Stephen Cooley
Director
Elaine Smith
Business Support
Mark Tobin
Senior Consultant
We are a small team. It’s deliberate. We like working together, we trust each other and we all add value. We believe you get a better service by staying small. Practically this means you deal with the same people end to end.
Stephen Cooley
Stephen founded Proventure in 2006 with Kevin Lavery, a former local authority Chief Executive. Prior to this he was a Board Director at Veredus (previously PricewaterhouseCoopers) where he ran the Leeds office and led local government and regeneration nationally. Before joining PwC Stephen worked as a senior manager in local government for 10 years and was an elected member in a London Council.
Stephen has a national reputation for delivering, for giving clear, tailored advice and incisive judgement. He has a clean sheet on recruitment with over 300 executive and non-executive appointments across all sectors in the last 24 years. Stephen has coached more than 140 senior executives across all sectors, including Chief Executives, Directors, Assistant Directors and Council Leaders in local government. Stephen runs leadership and management development programmes, provides outplacement support and supports strategic organisational development.
Mark Tobin
Mark is a consultant at Proventure, having joined from a specialist hospitality and leisure consultancy where he managed a team of six consultants recruiting senior executives and managers into the fast paced industry. Clients and candidates praised his technical knowledge, sound judgement, care and adaptability. He has worked on all roles alongside Steve since joining the team in 2009.
Prior to his 20 years in recruitment, Mark managed businesses within Whitbread Plc. and the Spirit Group, gaining strong experience of people development, customer focus, business growth and organisational leadership.
Mark loves Yorkshire and sport in equal measure, from the sofa to the saddle – a competitive triathlete and was once described as “marooned on an island of 60/70’s rock music”.
Elaine Smith
Elaine Smith has worked in administration within Executive Search & Selection for over 30 years and has been with Proventure since inception in 2005. Based at our office in Manchester, Elaine brings project oversight, efficient administration and communication, ensuring smooth service delivery across all of our services.
Elaine is a passionate Mancunian, often found walking her dog Maisie in Heaton Park before rushing home to tend the garden and prep the next BBQ while watching the City game.