About
us

Equitable recruitment
For our clients
and candidates.

Tall Roots was founded with a clear goal. To ensure that everyone, no matter their background, has equal opportunity to reach their full potential.

We are a values-led search firm specialising in finding inspiring leaders for organisations that exist to tackle some of the world’s greatest socioeconomic, health and environmental challenges.

By embedding social mobility into our campaigns, we provide an inclusive platform for diverse leaders to thrive, while enabling our clients to make the most impactful appointments, not the most predictable.

  • Our Vision

  • A future where the class divide in the workplace doesn't exist, and people from all backgrounds have equal access to opportunities.

Our Values

  • Honest

    Recruitment is complex, and trust is crucial. We commit to complete transparency with our customers, anticipating challenges together and navigating them with integrity.

  • Quality-Focused

    Excellence drives us. Our reputation is built on delivering high-quality strategic insights and exceptional results that make our customers want to work with us time and time again.

  • Kind

    We understand that job searches can be stressful and emotional. We treat everyone with the respect and care that we would want for ourselves, and we won’t work with anyone who doesn’t feel the same.

  • Hard Working

    We go the extra mile to achieve the best outcomes for our clients. This means not being complacent and ensuring we continually challenge ourselves internally.

  • Creative

    Innovation is at the heart of our success. We bring appropriate challenge and lateral thinking to provide the best possible shortlist that also represents true diversity.

  • Inclusive

    We are champions of diversity and inclusion, both within our own team and in our recruitment processes. We proactively dismantle barriers so that everyone can bring their whole self to the table.

How we can help

Executive Search

We partner with a wide range of charities, social enterprises and other purpose-driven organisations to recruit senior leaders. At the heart of our work is an unwavering focus on high-quality delivery, utilising in-depth research and lateral thinking to make the most powerful appointments for our clients.

Interim Management

We provide interim and consultancy solutions tailored to your needs, from short-term cover to multi-year change management programmes. Recognising the sensitivity of interim search, we prioritise discretion and confidentiality to protect your interests.

Board Development

We review existing Board structures, conduct skills gap assessments and design diversity strategies. We are unafraid to have the difficult conversations, approaching each step with diplomacy and integrity to build trust and stakeholder engagement.

Salary Benchmarking & Market Research

Executive salaries and Board remuneration can be complex, especially for non-profits. Our benchmarking and research service provides you with the assurance that your roles are appropriately pitched to attract the right talent, for the right reasons.

Our Team

Learn more

Annie Regan-Tighe

Associate Partner

LinkedIn

Annie Regan-Tighe

Associate Partner

LinkedIn
Annie brings over a decade of experience partnering with a range of charities, social enterprises and other non-profits. Originally joining a large, multi-national recruitment business specialising in fundraising appointments, she later joined a executive search and board consulting firm primarily within the not-for-profit sector. More recently, Annie has been the global charity recruitment lead for an international recruitment business, recruiting mid to senior level charity positions in the UK and overseas.
Learn more

Dr Craig Dearden-Phillips

Non-Executive Director

LinkedIn

Dr Craig Dearden-Phillips

Non-Executive Director

LinkedIn
Craig has played a key role in the growth of social enterprise in the UK – as a social entrepreneur, an author, a mentor, and an adviser. As an entrepreneur, he’s the founder of VoiceAbility – a social enterprise with a turnover of £10 million which has won numerous awards for its advocacy work on behalf of people with mental health problems and learning disabilities. As an author, he has written three books on social sector leadership and has been a regular contributor on this topic to The Guardian and the trade journal Third Sector. His latest projects include: a social sector leadership organisation called Social Club, combining masterclasses and action learning sets for over 130 CEOs and up-and-coming managers across the UK; a start-up incubator called Social Rocket; and a podcast called Social Business Builders. All of Craig’s pioneering work was recognised with an MBE in 2009.
Learn more

Mark Crowley

Founder & Director

LinkedIn

Mark Crowley

Founder & Director

LinkedIn
Tall Roots was established by Mark Crowley, who brings 15 years’ of experience in recruiting leaders for a wide range of social-purposed organisations. Mark didn’t go to university – something he used to hide – although he managed to secure a competitive place on a graduate programme in global recruitment business Badenoch & Clark, where he worked his way up to be one of the firm’s top performing recruiters. Prior to launching Tall Roots, Mark played a key role in the rapid growth of a start-up executive search firm. Over the years, he has built a reputation across the sector for the quality of his work, consultative approach and wider involvement in talent development within the sector.
Learn more

Natalie Sanders

Project Co-ordinator/EA

LinkedIn

Natalie Sanders

Project Co-ordinator/EA

LinkedIn
After graduating with a degree in Business Management, Natalie pursued a career providing PA support at Executive level. Throughout her career, she has earned the reputation as a resourceful and entrepreneurial-minded leader, multi-tasking across a broad spectrum of responsibilities to ensure executives can optimise their time and energy in the most impactful way possible. Successful at taking on diverse project tasks and meeting firm deadlines, Natalie is a hands-on and analytical problem solver with excellent communication, planning, and decision-making skills. Natalie’s experience has given her the ability to strategically plan, implement and oversee projects from inception to completion.
Learn more

Sasha Morgan

Board Advisor

LinkedIn

Sasha Morgan

Board Advisor

LinkedIn
Sasha has held a number of roles in the cultural and policy sectors. She has worked as an adviser to No. 10, a senior adviser for the Department of Communities and Local Government, Chief Operating Officer of the National Infrastructure Commission and is the former Director of the Social Mobility Commission. Sasha is passionate about creative education and believes that the arts are an important tool to allow young people to unlock their potential. She is a Board Member at The Trussell Trust and Clarion Housing Association.