Strategic PA Recruitment | Hand Picked Executive Personal Assistants

About us

Strategic PA Recruitment co-founders and Directors, Sarah Howson and Marianne Whitlock have over 20 years combined experience in the PA/EA sector. This extensive experience enables them to truly understand the role of the EA/PA and to recognise exceptional candidates with the ideal qualities required to excel in this industry.

Alongside Strategic PA Recruitment, Sarah also founded and now runs with Marianne, Strategic PA Network, a powerful Business Support Network that welcomes industry professionals, a ready-made talent pool. Running the network and the recruitment agency side-by-side has created a powerful collaboration with truly unique advantages when it comes to sourcing the right person for the job.

Sarah Howson

Sarah is a PA/EA professional with over twenty years of C Suite level experience. She began her journey straight from university assisting the CEO of a small start-up semiconductor company, before moving to a FTSE250 international oil and gas support services company, where she supported both the CEO and the CFO.

Noticing an opportunity to bring together like-minded assistants and being passionate about networking, Sarah founded what is now Strategic PA Network back in 2015. She is a Business Support profession ambassador and is hugely passionate about the role of the PA and EA. She’s created a vibrant, exciting network and in just a couple of years the network has gone from it’s infancy to being nominated for the Manchester PA Awards as ‘best external network’.

Sarah's talent for building relationships and connecting people, as well as her extensive EA experience is a great foundation for launching Strategic PA Recruitment.

Sarah lives in Wooburn Green with her husband and two young boys. She loves spending time outside and is a member of the National Trust frequenting Cliveden most weekends. Being able to support local charity Smart Works Reading is also a passion of hers, whenever time allows it she helps where she can.

Marianne Whitlock

Prior to co-Founding Strategic PA Recruitment in 2019, Marianne was previously in Sales at a luxury Canadian train company and worked in the travel industry for over 15 years, specialising in client relationships and networking. More recently Marianne has managed several charity fundraising events.

Marianne is passionate about empowering people and helping them achieve their full potential. She believes the most fundamental building block for any business is the relationships we have with others. Along with Marianne’s attention to detail is an extensive network and she is well known for her professional, honest but fun approach.

Marianne lives in Penn with her husband and four boys. She enjoys running and has completed multiple marathons and is due to undertake some ultras in 2020! She also has a passion for kickboxing, having gained 4 Black Belts and teaches it in her spare time.