So who are Fry & Brown?

We were recently asked by a client during a pitch why we hadn’t provided more background and personal information about us. We didn’t think people would be interested… but in case you are – here goes! This is how we became Fry & Brown.

Tracy’s route into recruitment was not exactly conventional. Armed with a music degree, and wanting to play her euphonium rather than teach, she took brass lessons at the Royal Military School of Music and then joined the Army, spending four years with the Royal Artillery Band in Woolwich. Alongside that, she completed a degree and, in what now feels like peak twenty-something energy, worked almost full time at Pizza Express on the side. Life in barracks as the only female, alongside the Royal Artillery Motorcycle Display Team, was certainly character-building. As well as learning to ride motorbikes, it also made Tracy think seriously about what she wanted from a career: more control on progression, more opportunity to be rewarded, and a route into the City. Recruitment felt like the right fit.

Jane’s route was more direct, but driven by instincts that still define how she works today. After studying Law and French at Manchester University, she moved straight into legal recruitment and quickly realised it suited her inquisitive nature (nosiness!) and love of meeting people. By the time Tracy arrived at Badenoch & Clark in 2001, Jane had already been there for around a year.

That was where Jane and Tracy met, 25 years ago! It was the real heyday of recruitment: unapologetically work-hard, play-hard, full of energy, and an industry where ambitious graduates could learn quickly, earn well and have a lot of fun in the process. They both quickly moved into leadership roles, and when they later joined Barclay Simpson in close succession, they built the in-house legal desk from scratch and spent ten years turning it into a successful specialist business.

Those years at Barclay Simpson were important professionally, but also personally. In many ways, it was time to grow up. Life moved on, alongside their careers. They both left London, with Jane moving to South Wales and Tracy to Buckinghamshire. Jane had two children and Tracy later adopted her girls. As often happens over the course of a decade, priorities broadened and their lives became fuller, busier and more rooted outside the office.

What never changed, was how much they enjoyed the work itself. Recruitment had always suited Tracy and Jane because it is, at its heart, about people. They are both naturally sociable and still genuinely enjoy meeting new people, and they love their chosen careers for exactly that reason. Long before Fry & Brown existed as a business, they both already knew that the relationships were the part of the job that mattered most to them.

By then, it had become increasingly obvious that they worked well together. They have complementary strengths; Jane is naturally commercial, has an amazing memory and is phenomenal at forming lasting relationships. Tracy loves tech, spreadsheets and lists and the administrative side of business. With similar values and a shared view of how recruitment should be done, when the timing was right, they decided to do something they had talked about for years and build a business of their own. Fry & Brown was born from a belief that specialist recruitment should feel personal, honest and genuinely useful, not transactional.

Outside of work, there is still plenty that keeps them busy. Music gigs and active social lives take them back to their early recruitment days. Tracy plays in a local brass band, Jane plays cricket and helps with her local girls’ team (which Fry & Brown sponsor). Tracy is no longer doing Ironman triathlons, but both still run and complete marathons. Those interests may be outside work, but they say something important about who Fry & Brown are: energetic, curious, committed, and still very much engaged with people and community.

Perhaps that is why Fry & Brown has always felt like such a natural step. We wanted to build a business with expertise, certainly, but also warmth, perspective and personality. We care about the details, and we have always believed that the best recruitment happens when you really listen: to what clients need, to what candidates want, and to what might make a career move right or wrong for someone.

So that is a little more about who we are, and how Fry & Brown came to be. For those who know us already, none of this will come as much of a surprise. For those who don’t, we hope it gives a better sense of the people behind the name.

Apr 2026