The employees promoted in the US include staff from Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington DC. Approximately 200 of the firm's 25,000 employees have the designation, Roberts says. The firm gives the designations once a year. "We place a huge amount of value on our people and our human capital," he says. The title does not change the person's job duties but "it places increasing responsibility on them as global leaders," Roberts says.

The recently promoted international directors are Stuart Crow, Chris Nicholl and Joe Stolarski from Singapore; Elaine Melonides, Dan Pufunt and Thomas Kirschbraun from Chicago; Ernst-Jan de Leeuw from the Netherlands; John Moran from Ireland; Dave Doupe and Bryan Jacobs from Los Angeles; Gavin Morgan, Jane Murray and Andrew Heithersay from Hong Kong; Kevin George from Australia; Blair Hagkull and Thierry Loue from Dubai; Yas Nakashima and Hirotaka Uchiyama from Japan; Walter Howell from Washington DC; Richard Norton, Chris Kiernan, James Thomas and Michael Tiplady from London; David Ironside from Germany; Cameron Scott from Shanghai; and Hector Klerian from Mexico.