NEW YORK — Capstone Hill Search president Jamie McLaughlin will be stepping down from his role leading the PR industry talent search firm he helped create.

“It is with an extremely heavy heart that I am leaving my firm. I love my clients and adore my US and UK teams — the best I have ever worked with. I wish them all the success and luck they deserve,” McLaughlin told Holmes Report.

Managing consultant Gillian Williams will run the New York operation while the search for a new president is underway, CEO Jeremy Wrench said. McLaughlin’s last day is October 11.

McLaughlin has been with Capstone Hill since 2012, when he co-founded the firm’s London office, joining owners Wrench and David Cornelius, who launched the company in 2009. He has been based in New York since 2014, overseeing and expanding the US business by opening offices in Chicago and LA.

“It’s been an amazing journey,” McLaughlin said, adding that his tenure as president is ending on a high note. "2019 has been a stellar year. We achieved 80% growth in the US and in 2018, and we’ve already exceeded those successes and we’re just entering into Q4.”

"I’ve not had any real time off since I started working in a restaurant at age 13," said McLaughlin, adding that his short-term plans include “regrouping, recouping and planning my next move,” while continuing to serve on the Institute for Public Relations board. “I am excited and motivated to continue my journey, so I doubt this is the last the PR industry will have seen of me,” he said.

Melbourne-based Wrench said that after seven years together McLaughlin “steps away confident in the knowledge that, as a business, we have built an outstanding senior and highly experienced team in the US which will continue to provide the highest degree of professional support and consultation to our clients, candidates and partners.

“We thank Jamie for his time, energy and hard work invested in the business over the past seven years and wish him well in his future endeavours,” he said.