Chris Karagounis

Chris Karagounis is the executive 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 with a primary emphasis on senior executive and board level appointments. As such Chris has completed numerous high level search assignments both in Australia and the Asia Pacific region.

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 to 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 an international recruitment business and focused 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 a leading ASX listed recruitment firm as a principal to further enhance their capability within executive search. Chris specialised in senior corporate and board appointments within a number of sectors including financial services, utilities, pharmaceutical and government.  Chris was also the national head of banking, technology and sales & marketing practice groups. 

In June 2005 Chris was appointed executive director and is the national head of the executive search practice and Chris is also a qualified executive coach and actively coaches a number of senior executives, primarily within the banking sector. 

In addition to his demanding career, Chris is also a strong supporter of children’s charities and is currently a board member of White Lion, taking an active role in assisting underprivileged youth and adolescents.