Richard Kingue Kouta
Managing Director - Head of Hospitality
Originally from Montpellier in the south of France, Richard Kingue Kouta came to the United Kingdom in 1997 to pursue a career in the hospitality industry.
After a successful management career in restaurant operations, Richard moved on to hospitality recruitment in 2002 and never looked back. He has over 19 years’ experience helping his clients to realise their goals by working with exceptionally talented hospitality professionals.
Richard has worked across all functions throughout the sector, delivering search assignments to both large international hotel groups and small independent companies in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.
Prior to founding Arvantis, Richard was a director at BlackBook, a leading London executive search practice, where he successfully set up and headed their hospitality division. He was also a principal consultant for the PSD Group (formerly known as Portfolio International), a leading international hospitality recruitment organisation, where he led their food and beverage and culinary recruitment for Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas.
Emillieona Tan
Hospitality Specialist - Head of Research
Emillieona is an expert in hospitality talent search who builds strong relationships with both clients and candidates. She has worldwide experience in HR and recruitment for multiple sectors, including consumer retail, FMCG, high tech and professional services.
She has completed many successful talent search assignments for hospitality and HR professionals in senior and executive roles. Her specialist expertise includes talent management and acquisition, reward, learning and development, diversity and inclusion.
Starting her hospitality career in Singapore and moving on to Switzerland before coming to the UK, she has over 15 years’ experience in food and beverage, pre-opening concepts, and projects in hotels and restaurants.
Before joining executive talent search specialists, Korn Ferry, where she helped to create the HR Centre of Excellence function, Emilleona worked in a number of executive search boutique firms.
She has recently provided HR support and recruited the pre-opening team for Amazonico London, a joint venture with Paraguas and Dogus Dreams.
