INTERIM RECRUITMENT AGENCY REVIEW
Russam review — interim management since 1982
Founded 1982 by Charles Russam, Russam (formerly Russam GMS) describes itself on its own site as 'the UK's longest established Interim Management company.' Russam co-founded the Interim Management Association (IMA) in 1987 and the WIL Group global interim federation in 2014, and has been a certified B Corporation since March 2023. It publishes a registered pool of 38,000 professionals and an elite pool of 4,500+ vetted interim managers.
Reviewed 27 May 2026 by Editorial Team · ← Back to the main guide
01/ firm profile
Firm profile (from official sources)
02/ in its own words
How Russam describes itself
Verbatim from the firm’s own positioning page — no paraphrase.
“Russam stands as a leader in UK interim management and executive search, driven by a mission to build legacies, redefine industry standards and help our clients to thrive.”— Verbatim from Russam — homepage
03/ practice areas
What Russam says it does
Russam organises its work under three groupings — Key Sectors, Solutions, and Services — taken verbatim from the firm's homepage.
Key sectors
Private Equity & Investment Advisory · Technology, Digital & AI · Financial Services · Charities & Not-for-Profit · Public Sector · Healthcare · Manufacturing & Industrial
Solutions
Business & Digital Transformation · Crisis · Gap Management · International Business · Rapid Growth · Restructure & Turnaround · Special projects · Strategic appointments · Total project delivery
Services
Interim Management · I>P (Interim to Permanent) · Executive Search · Board Practice
Listing taken verbatim from Russam — homepage
04/ best for
Where Russam is the obvious choice
Russam is a natural first call for UK interim mandates in the charity, not-for-profit, and public sectors — Charities & Not-for-Profit and Public Sector are both among the key sectors it publishes on its own site.
It is also worth asking about for cross-border interim mandates — Russam co-founded the WIL Group global interim federation in 2014, and lists International Business among its solutions. A UK parent placing an interim CFO into a German subsidiary, or vice versa, is the kind of brief to raise with it.
Russam is a certified B Corporation (since March 2023). For clients who weight ESG / B Corp credentials in their procurement choices, that is worth knowing.
05/ when not to use
When Russam probably is not the right answer
If your brief is PLC-board-level transformation interim with PE backing, BIE Executive's transformation-led positioning and 80%-PLC/PE client base is a more natural fit. Russam's published key sectors run from Private Equity & Investment Advisory to Charities & Not-for-Profit and Public Sector.
If you specifically want an interim mandate integrated with a parallel retained executive search and leadership-consulting engagement from one partner relationship, Boyden Interim is the natural fit (interim is one of three integrated capabilities at Boyden). Russam runs Executive Search as one of its four services but the firm's identity is interim-led rather than search-led.
For purely permanent senior appointments, compare Russam's Executive Search and Board Practice services with the retained search firms reviewed on this site (Spencer Stuart, Heidrick, Korn Ferry, RRA, Egon Zehnder, Odgers).
06/ the alternative
When a fractional executive fits instead of a Russam interim engagement
Russam's interim model — full-time, daily rate, defined period — is the right answer when you need a senior executive in the seat full-time for a defined period. It is the wrong shape when you need senior capability part-time and ongoing.
If you need a CFO 2 days a week through a growth phase rather than full-time for 6 months, or a CMO 1 day a week running marketing direction over the long term, a fractional engagement, paid for the days worked, will be a better fit for the work shape. The fractional executive splits time across multiple clients; the interim is dedicated full-time to yours.
Russam itself bridges this through its 'I>P (Interim to Permanent)' service for clients who think they want interim but discover during the engagement that they actually want permanent.
The fractional alternative when you need part-time ongoing CFO capability rather than full-time defined-period.
/fractional-ceo-jobs-hireFractional CEO Jobs UKPart-time CEO capability — alternative to an interim CEO engagement.
/fractional-jobs-ukFractional JobsAll fractional executive functions across the UK market.
07/ company overview
Russam company overview — the business, the company and the register
A short Russam company overview, from the firm's own site and the public register.
Russam's About page dates the business to 1982, when Charles Russam "identified the potential to help organisations find interim professionals", and describes four core strands today: Interim Management, Executive Search, Board Practices and Total Project Delivery (Russam — About).
The timeline on the same page records that four companies — Guardian Management Services, Tanstead Associates, GMS Consultancy and Walker GMS — were merged to form Russam.
The trading company is Russam GMS Ltd, active on the Companies House register with its registered office at AW House, 6-8 Stuart Street, Luton — the address in the profile above — and previously registered as Tanstead Limited (Companies House).
Companies House states that it does not check the accuracy of what companies file.
Russam's own account is that it co-founded what is now the Interim Management Association.
The professional body for interim managers themselves is the Institute of Interim Management, whose members work "in business on their own account" (IIM — About).
That is why IR35 comes up on every interim brief: when an interim works through their own company, a medium or large client makes the off-payroll status determination (HMRC — Off-payroll working for clients; our IR35 guide).
For other UK providers, see our list of interim recruitment agencies.
08/ sources
Sources cited on this page
Per-firm facts above are taken from the firm's own official website unless the row itself says otherwise; trade-body pages are cited for industry context. Where the firm does not publish a fact, the profile says so (‘Not stated on firm site’) rather than guessing.
- Russam — About — https://russam.co.uk/about/
- Russam — Interim Management service — https://russam.co.uk/services/interim-management/
- Russam — homepage — https://russam.co.uk/
- IIM (Institute of Interim Management) — About — https://iim.org.uk/about/
- IIM Leading Service Providers (2026) — https://iim.org.uk/service-providers/
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