Deepan Sakthithasan

Deepan leads executive recruitment across AI and the EMEA technology landscape at Hanover, partnering with public, venture-backed, and private equity–owned companies to deliver senior leadership and critical technical hires. His clients include publicly listed companies, high-growth venture-backed businesses and private equity portfolio companies. He has a proven track record delivering specialist searches across data, AI, and technology leadership, including Non-Executive Board mandates and C-suite appointments. He also partners with organisations to recruit senior AI, and technology leaders across both scale-up and enterprise environments.

Deepan works closely with his clients to place high-impact executives who drive value creation, operational efficiency and growth. With a deep understanding of portfolio environments, He identifies adaptable, results-driven leaders aligned with investment strategies and transformation agendas. His approach combines strong market insight, a rigorous search process, and a trusted network to deliver tailored recruitment solutions that enhance performance and maximise returns.

What did you want to be when you were younger?
Since a young age, I held aspirations of becoming a doctor, yet my love for cricket proved too great to ignore. I had the privilege of receiving coaching from the late father of Nasser Hussain, who played a significant role in nurturing my talents and fostering my dreams of playing professional cricket. Representing my country, Sri Lanka, at the highest level became my ultimate ambition.

What is your favourite quote?
“Some people can do one thing magnificently, like Michelangelo, and others make things like semiconductors or build 747 airplanes — that type of work requires legions of people. In order to do things well, that can’t be done by one person, you must find extraordinary people.” – Steve Jobs