SHERPA
Ed Baylis
Ed supports Saville Assessment on strategic projects, working to grow the existing customer base while also looking at some exciting international acquisition opportunities.
Saville Assessment is known worldwide for its rigorous psychometric testing products whose leading predictive capabilities help businesses make better people decisions throughout the employee lifecycle.
Chris Holdsworth has stepped into the Chair role, following his sector experience as former CEO of Talent Q (sold to Hay Group) and roles as Non-Executive Director for scale-up tech companies.
With its experienced leadership team, Tenzing’s backing and Chris’ support, Saville is ready to implement an ambiitous growth plan.
Founded in 2004, Saville’s product calibrates the personality profiles and cognitive abilities of candidates and employees, providing accurate assessments of workplace performance and future potential that help companies build effective teams.
In 2015, Saville became part of global advisory, broking and solutions company, Towers Watson, which subsequently merged with Willis to form WTW. But when WTW decided to divest the business, and the opportunity to invest in Saville emerged, Tenzing was keen to strike a deal.
Saville’s leadership team welcomed the move and are looking forward to the investment, guidance and opportunities the Tenzing partnership will bring for the business and its employees.
As Chris notes: “The team wanted strong financial backing from an organisation that was going to give more focused support to their business. The leadership team’s preferred option was, therefore, for a period of private ownership backed by private equity. They already had a clear idea of where the investment should go, so the Tenzing deal is a really good result.”
Tenzing stood out to Saville because of its technology focus but also because the team had clearly invested a lot of time in getting to know the assessment market. “This really shone through to the leadership team,” says Chris. “They also really appreciate how Tenzing brought in experts to ask questions and make suggestions and introductions that are already bearing fruit for the business.”
Chris Holdsworth, Chair, Saville Assessment
Saville’s Co-CEO and Head of R&D, Rab MacIver, added: “By leveraging the Tenzing Growth Team’s expertise there is a real opportunity to accelerate the growth of our business together. Tenzing has a strong appreciation for the science that underpins Saville’s assessment solutions and the ambition to unlock the true potential of our business. The whole team are excited about the opportunity to bring new and enhanced solutions to more of our clients.”
Having spent over two decades developing its award-winning talent assessment products, Saville has a well-earned reputation for delivering accurate people insights based on its thorough and granular approach, steeped in decades of scientific research.
At a time when identifying, hiring and developing talent has never been more vital, Chris says there are still many parts of the market that aren’t using psychometric testing as much as they should. In addition to retaining its preferred supplier status with WTW, a key global partner of the business, Saville has an incredible opportunity to scale.
Having worked closely on a business plan with the Tenzing team, Saville and its people will focus on three key areas:
Heddon House,
149-151 Regent Street,
London, W1B 4JD
Mindspace (2nd Floor)
Salvatorplatz 3
80333 München
Heddon House,
149-151 Regent Street,
London, W1B 4JD
WeWork (9th Floor)
Malmskillnadsgatan 32, Stockholms
Stockholm 111 51
Mindspace (2nd Floor)
Salvatorplatz 3
80333 München
