People: Jones hired by Harvey

Recruitment and outsourcing group Harvey Nash has appointed business ambassador Lord Digby Jones as its senior adviser.

Trained lawyer Jones, the former director-general of the CBI and minister for UK trade and investment, and active House of Lords ‘cross-bencher’, joins the fully listed £32 million cap company in order to share his ‘wealth of experience as a global business ambassador’.

Renowned for talking up ‘UK plc’ around the globe, Jones is on a mission to help CEO Albert Ellis maximise the group’s growth in the UK and international markets.

Jones has ‘known and admired Harvey Nash for a number of years’ and says he looks forward to ‘promoting the competitiveness of the Harvey Nash brand’ across its markets of the UK, Europe, Asia and the USA.

As well as his House of Lords role, Jones presently serves as chairman of the International Business Advisory Board at HSBC, chairman of Triumph Motorcycles and corporate ambassador for Jaguar Cars and JCB.

Harvey Nash recently reported a 41 per cent decline in adjusted pre-tax profits to £2.3 million for the six months to July, on £200 million sales, amid the severity of the recession. This represented a good performance, with the company remaining profitable and snaring a greater share of some exceptionally tough markets.