Elizabeth James

Elizabeth is a Partner and leads Berwick Partners’ Education, Central and Local Government Practices.

She has worked in the Odgers Berndtson Group of companies for over 18 years and has supported a tremendous range of public sector organisations and bodies in attracting and appointing exceptional senior talent. Since setting up Berwick Partners’ education practice, she has worked with institutions such as University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and University of Leeds and now also provides leadership across Central and Local Government – recognising the synergies within all of the subject areas.

Elizabeth has a long-standing personal interest in issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.  She is the firm-wide Chair of the Odgers Berndtson Allies movement and she takes pride in ensuring that innovation and best practice related to D,E & I are integral to her work with clients and candidates.

I am passionate about attracting talent to organisations that will have an impact on their success, which in turn has an impact upon the world that we live in. Diversity, equity, and inclusion is an incredibly important aspect of that. In one sense, this is about supporting my clients in enabling better representation, but it is also about finding people who will make a conscious and concerted contribution to DE&I in their new role.

Elizabeth has a BA Hons from the University of Manchester. She loves literature and the arts which manifests itself in her being a voracious reader and theatre-goer. She is a trustee of one of the UK’s largest producing theatres, but also spends an inordinate amount of time walking her dogs and ferrying her children to various sporting activities.

Prior to working in executive search, Elizabeth was part of a large Unitary Council’s Corporate Policy Team, managing projects relating to equality and diversity, community consultation, and inspection. She has also spent a year in Brussels working as a researcher for an economic development consultancy.

She is supported by her PA Lisa Waite.