Our People

Chief Executive

Carl Gilleard

Carl Gilleard was appointed chief executive of AGR in June 1998 following nine years as the Executive Director for METRA Services Ltd, a national recruitment consultancy charged with improving the recruitment and retention of graduates into local government. He was also joint regional director of the West Midlands Employers Organisation. The earlier part of his career was spent in Education Management and Personnel Work.

He is co-author of 'If Only I'd Known' published in 2002 as a resource for young people to help them maximize the benefits of their higher education experience. More than 60,000 copies have been ordered by schools and colleges throughout the UK.

He is, or has until recently been, a member of the following:

• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Developments Counselling and Career Management Forum Advisory Group
• QAA Code of Practice on Careers Guidance Working Group
• Careers Boards at the universities of Warwick and Nottingham
• The Harris Review of the Higher Education Careers Service
• ESECT - the Enhancing Student Employability Co-ordination Team
• UUK/SCOP Burgess Steering Group on Measuring and Recording Student Achievement
• Higher Education Funding Council for England's Quality Assurance Framework Review Group
• UNIAID - a charity with the aim of helping students manage their finances better
• University of Reading's Career Management Skills Steering Team

Carl Gilleard is frequently quoted in the national and trade press, is regularly interviewed on national television and radio and has spoken at conferences in Mexico, United States, Australia, South Africa, Denmark and Hollard on graduate recruitment and development issues.

Carl co-ordinates the Education, Training and Development Task Group within AGR.

Information Services Manager

Tracy Nolan

Tracy joined AGR in October 1998 as Information Services Manager after completing a BSc in Geography, as a mature student.

She has held roles in both the public and private sector, and has extensive experience of both recruitment and publishing.

Tracy is the Managing Editor of our bi-monthly magazine, Graduate Recruiter, and is also responsible for the development of the AGR website.

In addition to monitoring graduate media coverage, Tracy is responsible for AGR's publications and research capacity.

She also assists with the development of the AGR conference and manages AGR's awards programme.

tracy@agr.org.uk

Executive Assistant

Andrea Soukup

Andrea graduated from College in 1993 in South Africa. In 1999, she moved to the UK and lived in London until 2006. During her time in London, she worked as a PA in the Harvey Nichols head office and then moved on to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, where she worked as a PA for three years and spent a year in the Human Resources Department on a secondment basis.

After spending a couple of months in Australia in 2006, Andrea relocated to Warwick, where she started work for AGR. She is Carl Gilleard's Executive Assistant and is also responsible for the administration systems office as well as co-ordinating the AGR events programme.

andrea@agr.org.uk

Membership Administrator

Claire Dyer

Claire left school after completing her GCSE's. Following this she spent a year at college studying Travel and Tourism. Claire is completing a college course to attain an NVQ2 in Business Administration. She was promoted to AGR's Membership Administrator in December 2008 and will be the primary source of contact for membership enquiries.

claire@agr.org.uk

Gary Argent

Operations Manager

Gary joined AGR in August 2008 as operations manager, prior to which he worked in graduate recruitment and development roles for a large IT services company for eight years.

His role focuses on a range of initiatives designed to help the AGR provide a better service to its members. He is involved in the sector focus groups, the task groups and AGR’s training offerings.  He will support the planning and execution of the annual conference and other events throughout the year, and will be speaking at various external events.

Gary spends much of his time working directly with recruiters, universities and suppliers looking for ways to help them to network effectively.

Project Officer

Charlie Derricourt

Charlie joined AGR on a 6-month internship in January 2010 after graduating in July of last year from Cardiff University where he completed a BSc in Business Management (Marketing).

As a recent graduate, he is in a great position to offer a fresh insight into the current issues surrounding graduate recruitment from ‘the other side of the table’ and help our members achieve a better understanding of what graduates are looking for.

During Charlie’s time at AGR, he will be working on AGR’s website and contributing to our magazine.  Charlie will also be looking at our marketing activities and various research projects

Charlie previously worked as an HR Assistant with Hereford & Worcester Ambulance Service.  In addition, he spent an exciting 4 months coaching football across America with Challenger Sports.

Charlie@agr.org.uk