Patrick Johnson, MA, SPHR, CEBS

“Patrick is the most competent, hands-on and results orientated HR executive I have worked with. As CFO of Boartlongyear (BLY) we worked very closely during a period of significant change in the company. BLY which operated in 33 countries around the World, had just been sold out of a large South African/London dual listed conglomerate to a USA based Private Equity consortium (Advent International & Bain Capital), the Global head office had been relocated from Johannesburg, South Africa to Salt Lake City, UT, the corporate structure was being revamped from years of Regional reporting (and being run as stand alone businesses) to direct Functional line reporting and the PE mandate was to ‘top grade’ the management of the company. I had to recruit a complete new corporate finance team from scratch, and integrate regional finance staff into a new functional reporting structure. Patrick played a key role in the recruitment of the corporate team, he provided a ‘comprehensive package’ of HR support, ranging from strategic advice with regards to the new structure, to input regarding various job descriptions, liaison with recruitment professionals, personally interviewing prospective candidates and final contract negotiations. His contribution was invaluable. He also provided me with strategic guidance in redrafting the entire Global finance structure – which was about 250 finance staff – a complex task as old established reporting lines had to be redefined. The company was in the process of preparing for an IPO and the finance team were under extreme pressure assisting this process, as a result these changes had to be quick, effective and provide minimal disruption. Once again Patrick’s contribution was invaluable. He displayed a remarkable work ethic - whilst providing me with this substantial support he was also assisting the other members of the Executive team with similar issues. The results speak for themselves - within year of his arrival at BLY the company was sold to an Australian Bank led consortium (earning the PE partners USA 2006 PE exit of the year) and six months later the company successfully listed on the Australian Stock exchange (at that time the second largest private listing in ASX history - +-$2.5bn) – a huge contributor to the companies success was the ability to present a newly restructured, top graded management team – a compliment to Patrick’s HR leadership. I would most certainly recommend Patrick. ”

“Patrick is a exemplary human resources executive with stand out talent you rarely find in a career. I recruited him to Boart Longyear after the Advent private equity group purchased our company. His mandate was to topgrade our team and modernize our HR processes and programs. Patrick joined us in a period where we had grown from sales of $400M in 2004 and were headed for sales of just under $2B in 2008. We were operating in nearly 40 countries around the world, but remained a collection of small businesses. Our HR strategy and tactics were outdated, we did not have a global structure and we need an executive team that could pull it all together. Patrick fit the bill. I was particularly impressed with Patrick’s tireless efforts to meet commitments and make change happen. He was overseeing recruiting and assimilating top tier talent into all our executive positions along with modernizing our processes and creating a global structure. These achievements were a key part of our success. Revenue grew organically and through acquisitions by over a billion dollars during this period. All of which lead to the Private Equity Deal of the Year in 2006 and a highly successful IPO in 2007. Patrick was also a member of our Executive Committee and brought ideas and recommendations to the team that went far and beyond the role of a traditional human resources executive. And no matter how tense a meeting was Patrick had an ability to bring a sense of levity and grounding to the situation. As a Human Resources leader, Patrick earns my highest recommendation.”