Chris Karagounis

Chris Karagounis is the Regional Director of Alex Kaar having responsibilities for the Australian operation.  In addition to his management responsibilities he remains an active search consultant, focusing primarily on clients in financial services, telecommunications, utilities and infrastructure industries at senior executive and Board level appointments.

Chris began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers having completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree.  His area of expertise at PwC was in corporate advisory (M&A) within the business advisory practice prior to transferring into the human resources function. In this subsequent appointment Chris was responsible for a number of functions and projects including talent management, recruitment and coaching. 

In 1997 Chris joined Michael Page International focusing on the ‘startup’ phase of a number of practices and was instrumental in building the interim management and contract portfolios.  After several years, Chris joined Hamilton James & Bruce as a Principal to further enhance their capability within the search and selection practice. Chris specialised in senior corporate and Board appointments within a number of sectors including financial services, utilities, pharmaceutical and government.  Chris was also a member of the HJB Group senior management team and was the Head of Banking, Technology and Sales and Marketing practice groups. 

In June 2005 Chris was appointed Executive Director and is the National Head of the Executive Search practice and as such has completed numerous high level search assignments both in Australia and the Asia Pacific region.

Chris is also a qualified executive coach and actively coaches a number of senior executives, primarily within the banking sector.  His view on career planning is that if you stay focused and committed with a pragmatic approach you will achieve your desired goals.