The Team

Ryan is a Founding Partner at XDR Partners, where he leads the firm’s motor trade recruitment practice. He brings more than a decade of hands-on experience in franchised motor retail, spanning operations, management and consulting, to a sector where credibility with candidates and clients matters.

Across 13 years he worked with major manufacturer brands including Vauxhall, Peugeot, Volvo, Ford, Mitsubishi, Honda and Volkswagen. That gave him a working understanding of how dealerships run, what makes a high-performing team, and what separates the people who deliver from those who don’t. His path into recruitment grew out of that operational background: he understands the businesses he recruits for from the inside, and his approach to hiring is shaped by how they actually run day to day.

Alongside his recruitment work, Ryan is an operations consultant to a growing number of businesses, helping them build the structures, processes and management disciplines they need to perform.

Xander is Partner and Managing Consultant at XDR Partners, a specialist consulting group with hubs in Switzerland, the UK and the USA, originally founded as Favere International. Since 2003 he has led the firm’s executive search, specialist recruitment, management consulting, mergers and acquisitions advisory, and corporate and commercial advisory services for a global client base.

Earlier in his career he completed a specialist contract with one of the “Big Four” global consultancies as a Fractional Acquisitions Consultant, supporting large-scale, sensitive M&A projects across the USA and Switzerland. He began his career as a Business Development Finance Executive at Halliwell Jones in Chester, UK.

Alongside his consulting work, Xander is Chief Executive Officer of the UK Gastro Trust, a charitable organisation he founded to raise awareness and support for individuals affected by gastro-related illness.

Grant has spent 20 years recruiting technology and change professionals, most recently five years at Lloyd’s as a Talent Acquisition Partner. He now works independently on both sides of the hiring market, supporting insurers and MGAs with fractional talent acquisition and helping senior candidates in insurance and financial services find their next move.

For candidates, he draws on two decades of agency and in-house experience to help professionals navigate the market. He covers CV optimisation and positioning, direct search strategy and headhunter visibility, and interview preparation and offer coaching.