Gillian McBride
Gillian is a founding Partner at Pratap Partnership and helped to set the business up in April 2019.
She is a key member of the Executive Search Team and leads on all permanent executive finance recruitment across Yorkshire – a market she has worked in successfully since 2005. Gillian has one of the strongest networks of finance leaders across the region and is the trusted partner to a number of private equity houses, investors and advisers.
- Born and raised in Northern Ireland, she graduated in Spanish from Queens University, Belfast, before moving to Yorkshire in 2001
- Gillian spent 10 years at Hays plc, specialising in the accountancy & finance sector. She was approached by a privately invested recruitment business in 2014 to be lead director for West& North Yorkshire.
- Recognised as one of the top performers, with responsibility for managing relationships and delivering operations to a client base across private equity, listed and private ownership (typically within either turnaround or in growth plans)
- A modern search consultant with a natural inclination to use innovation in technology and approach to continuously develop her service.
Facts about Gillian
Family
Gillian lives in York with her husband and two children, Darcey and Reuben and two cockapoos; Poppy and Teddy. Although Yorkshire is now her home, she is extremely proud of her Northern Irish roots, regularly returning to visit family.
Skiing
A keen skier, Gillian looks forward to her annual ski trips even though she claims to not be particularly competent.
Exercise
Her love for running may have dwindled slightly in recent years but she was proud to complete the Great North Run twice for Breast Cancer Care alongside fellow Partner, Elise Walsh and Nik Pratap. She now keeps fit by going to the gym and walking her two dogs in the North Yorkshire countryside.
Graduate of Queens University
A graduate of Queens University, Belfast with a love for languages, in particular Spanish, Gillian spent two years working in logistics in Belfast before she moved to York. Her career in England continued in the logistics arena for 4 years before she ‘fell into recruitment’.
Her love for sales and people had always been at the heart of what she did in her logistics career, but she knew she wanted more. That led her to her first job in recruitment at Hays – she instantly loved it and thinks back on it as being one of the most enjoyable times of her career, working and learning from some brilliant people, Nik being one of them. From there she moved on to a privately invested, independent recruitment business to be Lead Director for West and North Yorkshire. Working with Nik once again, it was there, that she really established her name in senior finance and executive recruitment.
Gillian was one of the founding members of Pratap Partnership
Gillian was one of the founding members of Pratap Partnership in April 2019 and is now responsible for managing relationships for a client base across private equity, listed and private ownership companies, typically with either turnaround or growth plans.
She cites setting up the business as ‘the best decision she ever made’ and is so proud to work with a team of people who are all market leaders in what they do; and for a business that is driven by a forward thinking, dynamic and inspirational Managing Partner.
