Albert Froom’s personal perspective on the founding of AltoPartners in 2006. In an era of fleeting global networks, AltoPartners stands apart — forged not by contracts, but by enduring relationships and unmanufactured trust built through time, openness, and shared experiences.

At the end of the 1990s, economies blossomed and business was thriving. My firm, Froom & Partners in the Netherlands, was growing, and clients were increasingly asking a simple question:

“Can you support us beyond our home market?”

As an entrepreneur, the answer, of course, was yes. But the reality was far more complex.

We were a small boutique firm, mainly specialising in Financial Services, deeply focused on quality and relationships. Expanding internationally was not just a question of geography; it was a question of trust. How could we serve clients across borders without compromising the standards they expected from us locally?

We explored the obvious options. Opening our own offices. Joining one of the large global firms. Building a loose network of contacts via meetings at airports exchanging business cards. Joining an existing European network that only seemed like a platform for bragging but no results. None of these felt right. They either diluted our independence or failed to meet the level of trust our clients deserved. The real question became very clear, very quickly:

Would I trust my most important client in the hands of these partners?

Frustratingly, each time, the answer was no.

Not having an international network moved from being a risk, to actually having a material impact on our bottom line because we were only getting the small searches instead of the big international ones.

It was also a complex time personally. Being married since 1985, but not being able to conceive children, Jenny and I decided on adoption from China. This was a difficult process in those days because China was only just opening. This ended up being a seven-year process from start to finally flying off to China to meet our first daughter Louise Ying Yuan in Xi’an. While this was an emotional process, I was so engrossed in building my own company – and then AltoPartners – that I was distracted from the difficult personal journey we were on. Happily, two years later, our family grew once more when we were able to travel to China to meet our second daughter Charlotta Kao Su in Chengdu. This being our second adoption meant that the process was much faster than the first adoption process.

The Search For Something Better

At the time, the world itself felt uncertain. The introduction of the euro, the looming Y2K concerns, the potential implosion of the internet bubble, the early tremors of global instability, all of it reinforced one thing: we needed perspectives beyond our own market to understand their local market impact and how clients were responding in different markets.

We needed sounding boards of trusted peers. Not just contacts, but partners we could learn from, challenge, and rely on.

Then we received an unexpected call from Paris; Leaders Trust wanted to meet. In those days, they had offices in France, Germany and Switzerland, and the Paris office was established by Philippe Bouvard (who led Egon Zehnder in Europe after he and Egon studied together in the USA) and Gerard Sakakini (formerly of Spencer Stuart France). Philippe, Gerard, and I met halfway in Brussels at one of my clubs, de Warande, for what was a discreet but decisive conversation. We successfully established a Partnership, with vested interest in each other via a holding company in Switzerland and I changed the name of my firm to Leaders Trust in the Netherlands.

For the first time, the idea of a different model began to take shape. As the discussions evolved, so did the ambition to growing our partnership in Europe, and later even in the USA.

From idea to conviction

Michael Boxberger left his role as COO of Korn Ferry and joined Leaders Trust to start LTI Inc in the USA. Over time, more partners joined. Accord Group brought strength across Europe (adding Germany and ECE countries) and Asia (India). The latter led in those days by the highly regarded “Doc” Agrawal, the father of Sonal (later becoming the first female Global Chair of AltoPartners) and Toral Patel. Finally, Oxygen added presence in the United Kingdom.

The idea of a truly global partnership was no longer theoretical – it was within reach.

But the journey was not straightforward.

There were setbacks. Plans that did not materialise. Structural challenges. Even the failure of the US entity that could have derailed the ambition entirely. Yet the conviction remained.

The birth of AltoPartners

Sonal and I started writing a Charter, and we had internal committees on pricing, name, structure etc. AltoPartners (A from Accord, LT from Leaders Trust and O from Oxygen) was born – strategically it was also beneficial that the name started with an A - the start of all alphabetical lists.

In 2006 after months of preparation, discussions, and debate, we came together in Prague. We made a defining decision at that meeting: to build an umbrella brand – AltoPartners – while allowing each firm to retain its local identity. At the time, I was not entirely convinced this was the right approach. In hindsight, it proved critical. It allowed firms to preserve their hard-earned local brand equity while benefiting from a global platform. It was also this approach that made us attractive to incredibly strong local firms, like DSG Global in USA and The Inzito Partnership in UK amongst others.

That balance remains one of our greatest strengths today.

The atmosphere in the Prague meeting was one of great friendship. Every country saw the possibilities and we were euphoric. Being last out of the room and being one of the youngsters, I was elected Chair, with assistance from colleagues to execute the role, without leaving the Managing Partner role of my own firm in the Netherlands. Proving that we really believed in “walking the talk”, it was during the first Partner meeting in Prague where Jana Martinova and I created the first cross border success by placing Lard Friese (today leading Aegon/Transamerica in the USA) as the CEO of Ceska Pojistovna, in those days the biggest insurance company in the Czech Republic. Great cooperation between the Czech and the Dutch. From day one!

What it really took

Building AltoPartners was not a formal assignment. It was not funded. It was not structured. It was driven by belief.

Looking back, one principle stands above all others. Partnership is not built through structures or processes. It is built through relationships.

For several years, I spent more than half my time travelling – often long-haul like 27 hours to New Zealand – meeting partners, building relationships, and shaping what the partnership could become. At the same time, I continued to run my own business in the Netherlands. This would not have been possible without the support of my colleagues, particularly Roelant van Barneveld, who quite literally “held the fortress” at home while I focused on building the partnership.

There was no immediate return. No guarantee of success.

Only the conviction that this was necessary if we wanted to remain relevant, with consistent high quality delivery, in an increasingly global world.

In the first years, the focus was on growing the group internationally by adding the right partners around the world. Sonal and I travelled everywhere through Asia and the Middle East together, adding partners through a systematic framework and approach, one we still use today. The need to be international proved itself year over year, and our cross-border business grew year over year. The accolades also came - by 2008 Sonal and I were both named in the top 150 executive search consultants by Business Week NY.

We often joked about “drinking beer together” – but behind that phrase is something fundamental. Trust is created through time, openness, and shared experiences. It cannot be manufactured.

In the meantime, in Prague, Jakub Černý created one of the enduring strong points of our partnership - the Intranet. Growing from humble beginnings as an Excel spreadsheet sent around to Country Managers on a quarterly basis, the creation of the intranet amplified our focus and helped bring structure to our reporting. And, supported by two global meetings a year and our philosophy of “drinking beer together”, our cooperation grew.

When I look back at my time as the first Chair, it was fabulous. The amount of people I could talk to, and learn from, and chasing a wild idea and seeing it materialized, was very rewarding. It made me grow as a human being and as a professional. I am proud of the structure and mainframe we created, and I am very proud of the amount of business sent abroad (one million Euro from one of my clients exported to colleagues across AltoPartners) and received. The expansion gave way to hiring our one and only topper; Julia Scheffer. She made such a difference. By her work she made it possible that the Chairs (an unpaid role) could also keep an eye on their own local business.

Personally, tragedy struck in 2015 when my trusted business partner Roelant died shortly before his 50th birthday from lung cancer, despite never having smoked in his life. He left behind his wife Maud and two young children. Our company was in shambles and life felt very unfair. It marked the start of a critical time of reflection for me.

It still matters today

The last years have not been easy for AltoPartners. The world has changed dramatically since 2006. There have been challenges along the way – economic crises, global disruption through the covid pandemic, technology has transformed how we work, wars in multiple regions, and personal losses that deeply affected our partnership.

But, some things have not changed.

Our clients need us now more than ever as trusted advisors, especially through our real local know-how, the “boots on the ground” expertise and industry experience. Our experience shows us that one needs to invest in business development internationally – you can’t just sit back and wait for the work to flow in. Every meaningful collaboration, every successful cross-border assignment, every lasting partnership begins with a conversation.

I am convinced that AltoPartners will keep playing its role in the world. It won’t be without ups and downs. But please look with altruistic eyes to business and you will be rewarded by business coming your way. I wish everybody the privilege of developing real friendships among the colleagues you meet at AltoPartners.

Vivat, floreat, crescat in aeternum.