Michelle Bedford-Shaw

Partner, Jack Hammer Global

For over 20 years, Michelle has helped leaders across Africa, placing C-suite and executive talent across retail, consumer goods, energy, industrials, and natural resources. As a Partner at Jack Hammer Global, where she’s spent the last 12 years building her practice, she leads with curiosity as much as expertise: equally at home discussing AI and data science, the realities of underground mining, or what’s shaping consumer behaviour today.

Her Law degree gave her the research rigour and data-driven instincts she brings to every search, but it’s her genuine love of people and their stories that keeps her in this work.

Born and raised in a small town in Zambia, Michelle carries a deep love for the continent’s diversity and she’s always ready with a story about a hidden gem of a place, or the best local delicacy off the braai. Outside of work, her proudest title is mom to two wonderfully chaotic little people (you may well have heard them on a Teams call), who keep her laughing and looking at the world a little differently.