Executive Team

Paul Barbaro

Executive General Manager - Alliance Recruitment

Paul Barbaro has over 15 years’ recruitment experience and is Executive General Manager of the Alliance division of Clarius Group.

Paul was responsible for the integration of the Alliance Business Support, Parker Bridge and Freeman Adams divisions into the national Alliance division during 2006. He has overseen growth within the newly formed business since this integration.

Prior to Clarius, Paul spent 5 years as the National Sales Manager for Adecco Australia where he was responsible for the management of a team of sales professionals and the acquisition of numerous large scale accounts both in Australia and the Asia Pacific Region. He grew sales by more than 23% each year and grew the team from 3 people to 15 people throughout Asia.

His operational management experience includes being Regional Director of Ajilon Professional Staffing and Jonathan Wren for 5 years, divisions of the worldwide Adecco Group. He was responsible for the Financial, Accounting and Administrative Recruitment practices and achieving annual sales and profits growth of over 15%. He also grew the number of offices throughout Australia to include both regional and further capital city operations.

Paul holds degrees in Education, Psychology and Business.

Christian Buttrose

Executive General Manager – Lloyd Morgan Asia

Christian opened the Lloyd Morgan Beijing office in 1995 making him one of the pioneers of the executive recruitment industry in China.  As early as 1993 he was undertaking PRC local search assignments for multinational companies operating in various locations throughout China. 

Since that time he has been intimately involved not only in recruitment but also in developing retention strategies, training and in general the whole human resource function as it applies to China, albeit as a consultant rather than a practitioner. 

Christian obtained double degrees with a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Asian Studies from the Australian National University in 1989 and later studied at Nanjing Hopkins University in Nanjing, after being awarded the Australia China Council, China Trainee Scholarship.

Philip Desmet

Philip has over 20 year’s recruitment industry experience. His career commenced with Ecco Personnel (now known as ADECCO) in 1985 where he spent 5 years as their Administration Manager. In 1990 Philip assisted with the establishment of a new business, learning first hand how to build a business during a recession.

In January 2006, Philip established his own company, Alliance Recruitment. The business specialised in the recruitment of office support & accounting staff. Alliance grew quickly over the next 5 years and was the recipient of many industry awards. In December 2000 the company was acquired by Candle, now Clarius.

During the next five years he held a number of roles and as the non IT business grew organically and through acquisitions he was finally responsible for the management of all the non IT businesses at the time i.e. Alliance, Freeman Adams, Workskills and Premier.  Subsequently to working in the business he then became Head of Acquisitions on a consulting basis.  Philip now heads up two of the groups acquisitions, The One Umbrella & SouthTech.

Geoffrey Moles

Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

As Executive Chairman and CEO, Geoff is directly responsible for the overall performance of the Clarius Group.  

Geoff has over 36 years commercial experience in information technology and recruitemnt at senior management levels. In 1984, he established Candle Computer Services Pty Ltd which became Candle Australia Limited (CND) when it listed on the ASX in 1997 before changing its name to Clarius Group Limited in 2007.

Prior to Candle Geoff worked in the IT industry with Burroughs Limited and Datec Pty Limited (now DMR), one of Australia's leading systems integration companies.

Kym Quick

Chief Operating Officer - Clarius Group

Chief Executive Officer - Candle ICT
Executive General Manager - Lloyd Morgan Australia

Kym Quick has over 11 years in the recruitment industry and is Chief Operating Officer for the Clarius Group as well as heads up two of the group’s brands – Candle ICT and Lloyd Morgan Australia.

Prior to recruitment, Kym was an accountant with KPMG and subsequently Ansett and Rothmans of Pall Mall. She began her recruitment career specialising in the recruitment of professional accounting staff. Kym then joined two former colleagues in their own business which went on to become Alliance Recruitment. Kym was active in the dramatic organic growth of the Alliance business in Melbourne working in both the temporary and permanent business support and professional accounting markets.

Kym has worked with the Clarius Group since 2001 when she joined as part of the acquisition of the Alliance business. In June 2005 Kym was appointed as National Manager of the Alliance business and responsible for the merging of Workskills Professionals and Premier Personnel into the Alliance brand.

In 2007 moved into a role that saw her overseeing the Shared Services division for the Clarius Group.  This was a new role that was responsible for the consolidation and integration of all the services supporting the brands.  Kym has also subsequently run Lloyd Morgan and managed them through a significant re-brand and change of direction.

Rob Szymanski

Chief Executive Officer - JAV IT

Rob has over 12 years experience in leading and managing various service and technology divisions, at Alphawest Services, Computer Science Corporation, Southmark Solutions, Fujitsu and Digital Equipment Corporation. His roles have included General Management, Sales Management and Channel Management. His recent substantive role was Regional General Manager (VIC/TAS) at Alphawest Services, where he was for 4 years. Rob has proven to be very successful in growing and transforming the businesses he has run and has a reputation for being an engaging leader who supports, develops and encourages his people, a leader who successfully teams with his business partners and exceeds customer expectations.