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3:00pm - 5:00pm, 13 November 2025
(Europe/London)
(Europe/London)
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Event Details
IT Sector
Thursday 13th November
Registrations and refreshments 2:30pm-3:00pm
Meeting 3:00pm-5:00pm
Venue: Bullhorn, 9th Floor, 7 Devonshire Square, London, EC2M 4YH
Networking drinks from 5:00pm
Kindly sponsored by
Key Takeaways
- A greater understanding of the evolving role of the CTO and what skillsets recruiters need to identify in their senior IT leaders
- How to identify a stand out CTO.
- What you need to look for when sourcing tech leaders.
- Questions to ask your client when qualifying jobs for senior IT leaders
- Practical strategies for finding, engaging, and hiring high-quality tech talent.
Meeting Agenda
IT has evolved from a mere support function to being a feature that gives companies their competitive advantage; and as it has done so, the role of the CTO/IT Director has undergone significant change to keep up. This includes managing business risk and resilience, negotiating with suppliers, seeking finance through funding rounds right up to overseeing large-scale change management projects. In addition, the skills and knowledge of successful tech leaders has diversified and expanded beyond technical infrastructure to all business functions, and along with that, a more in depth understanding of what it is that makes the business tick.
As a result, tech leaders must bring an increasingly diverse range of skills and experience to the table to add value and maintain relevance to business success – and many of these skills cannot be taught.
Recruiters can add tremendous value here by pinpointing the skills needed by a client for their tech leaders (which they may or may not be aware of) and matching them with candidates who can help them meet their business objectives.
In this session we will explore the evolving skillset being demanded by companies of all sizes from their tech leaders and senior leaders, whether they be a small start-up or global enterprise, and how recruiters can identify must-hire tech leaders to meet their client needs.
Welcome & introduction
Ben Broughton, Founder, Primis Recruitment
APSCo Update & recap
Jackie Torr, Member Services Director, APSCo UK
Inside the mind of a modern CTO
Klaas Ardinois, Founder and CTO, Ardonio
Whether it be soft skills or hard skills, the requirements for a successful CTO are changing as the role increasingly becomes more commercially important. In this session Klaas will explore what it is that makes a stand-out CTO, and what recruiters need to look out for when sourcing tech leaders.
Panel discussion - the evolving skillset of the CTO
How has the role of the CTO changed, and how can recruiters add value in finding candidates who can meet these evolving demands? To what extent can the in-demand skills be borne out through prior experience versus being taught or trained? What sourcing strategies work best when finding tech talent?
Panellists:
Charlotte Dennis, Associate Director of AI, Automation & Marketing, QCS Staffing
Holly Langley, Founder, RE:STACK
Klaas Ardinois, Founder and CTO, Ardonio
Matt McColgan, Senior Sales Director, Bullhorn
Q&A and close
Speakers
Holly Langley
RE:STACK, Founder & Optimiser
With extensive experience in Recruitment Operations Management, including maximizing ROI and optimising recruitment technology tools, Holly has discovered that success hinges more on the effective use of technology than on the technology itself. She established RE:STACK to save clients time and money by helping them maximise the potential of their existing technology. In other words, Holly ensures that your tech stack pays for itself.
Whether the focus is on winning more clients, streamlining operations, training a high-performance team, or increasing revenue, she specialises in optimising recruitment agencies for success.
Charlotte Dennis
Associate Director of AI, Automation & Marketing
As Associate Director of AI, Automation and Marketing at QCS Staffing, I lead initiatives that drive digital transformation across the business. My focus is on implementing automation and AI solutions that enhance operational efficiency, improve decision-making, and deliver measurable commercial impact. With a background in marketing strategy and a passion for emerging technologies, I’m keen to continue to identify innovative ways to streamline processes and unlock new growth opportunities. I’m passionate about how AI can empower people, not replace them—enabling teams to work smarter, not harder.
Matthew McColgan
Bullhorn, Senior Sales Director
Matt McColgan is an experienced sales leader with 20 years experience in rec tech, 15 of those at Bullhorn, where he currently manages a team of high-performing Account Executives and National Account Managers. In this role, he helps prospective and existing clients unlock the full potential of Bullhorn’s market-leading suite of SaaS solutions.
With deep expertise in software, IT, CRM, ATS, and cloud technologies, Matt has built his career on combining technical knowledge with a consultative, client-focused approach. He is passionate about driving results through strong coaching, mentorship, and leadership, enabling his teams to deliver value and support at every stage of the customer journey.
Known for his energy and communication skills, Matt thrives on building relationships, fostering collaboration, and creating an environment where both clients and colleagues succeed. His specialties span sales strategy, training, customer support, and solution delivery — all underpinned by a proven record of performance and leadership.
Klaas Ardinois
Ardonio, CTO
Executives turn to Klaas when they need an unbiased peer who understands the complexity of today’s technology driven business. He brings a unique blend of expertise gained from a grounding in software engineering and corporate finance. He spent the last decade as CTO at Kids Media platforms Azoomee and Da Vinci Media, and at publicly listed CloudCall, before turning to independent advisory work. He has set strategies for scaling teams during 10x growth as well as downsizing when needed. Klaas has lived through both buy and sell sides of M&A, realizing significant synergies. Throughout it all he brings accountability in leadership teams through data-driven clarity.