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The Fordyce Letter

Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


Peter Felix

Peter M. Felix has been President of the worldwide Association of Executive Search Consultants, based in New York, since 1998. Mr. Felix is a former executive search consultant who has had extensive experience in association management, management consulting, and industrial management. During his career in executive search, Mr. Felix specialized in senior international searches in a range of functions and industries. He practiced as a partner in search firms based in London, New York, and Hong Kong. From 1984 to 1994, Mr. Felix served the British-American Chamber of Commerce in New York and London as Director, President, and Chief Executive Officer. During his tenure, this transatlantic organization grew substantially and became a high-profile promoter of business between the United States and Britain. In 1992 he was awarded the CBE, an honor awarded by the Queen of the United Kingdom in recognition of services to British commercial interests. Mr. Felix spent much of his early career in Europe, serving as Vice President of Human Resources for the Bendix Corporation in Paris, as a management consultant in Algeria working for the Algerian Oil and Gas industry, and as Manager of Marketing Practices for IBM in the United Kingdom. He served with Voluntary Service Overseas in Bangladesh upon graduating from university. Born and educated in the United Kingdom, Mr. Felix received his BA in Social Studies and Law from Exeter University and MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.

Articles by Peter Felix

For Managers, The Business of Recruiting

The Globalization of Retained Executive Search



earth by US Mission Geneva

Phileas Fogg in Jules Verne’s famous odyssey was a predecessor of today’s road warrior. Having recently completed a ‘round-the-worlder’ I could have wished for the lack of jet lag that Fogg must have enjoyed, but maybe the rigors of modern airports are nevertheless less demanding than the Indian jungles, snakes, hot air balloons, and other obstacles with which he had to grapple – or not.

There is no doubt that travel broadens the mind even though it cricks the back and dehydrates the body. But it is a pre-requisite in today’s world of business and in executive search.

I have recently had the opportunity to visit Brazil, China, India, and the Middle East on behalf of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), meeting our members, listening to market experts and senior HR leaders, and talking to the press. It has been an education but also a revelation since it has brought home to me how much the world is changing, and has changed, post-Lehman (as it is referred to in Dubai).