CEO Ann Ellis reflects on 30 years of Mauve Group

Mauve Group CEO and co-founder, Ann Ellis, founded Mauve in 1996. Since then, she has continued to carry the company from strength to strength, famously leading it from an office the size of broom cupboard in Italy, to an award-winning international enterprise offering global HR and advisory services in 150+ countries worldwide.

This year, as Mauve celebrates its 30th anniversary, launching the landmark year in London in February, the company plans to nest its celebrations under three overarching themes: Reflect, Connect, Evolve.

Reflecting on 30 years of success

Starting with reflection, Ellis recalls that the seed which sprouted Mauve came from her husband and co-founder, John Ellis’ working requirements.

John was actually a telecoms engineer and in the early 1990s, he and his colleagues needed support with making sure they were compliant in the countries where they were working. So, we set out to find a solution, and the company grew from there.

Could she have imagined that the company, the inception of which saw her posting invoices from small regional post offices, and driving across Europe for client meetings with her young daughter in the backseat, would one day operate in over 150 countries worldwide? “Not at all,” she insists.

When we started, my focus was on getting the business, getting the projects, and making sure we were doing things correctly, so I didn’t look much beyond the day-to-day. I could never have imagined it would grow to the scale it has – but I never discounted it either.

Nor should she. Today, Mauve has offices and team members all over the world, and wholly owned entities in more than 70 countries, working with trusted partners in many more. Over the past three decades of growing the business, Ellis notes that it’s not so much that global HR itself has changed, but rather, the realities HR professionals must face:

Nowadays, people don’t want to stay in the same company for 20 years plus, as they did in the past.

They want to move around, work remotely, work from other places. So, the world of HR has had to change to adapt to that, and Mauve has been ahead of the pack, championing flexible working arrangements since the 90s.

Reflecting back even further, Ellis credits her previous 20-year career in teaching for arming her with the skills needed to steer a global HR company to international success:

The skills you learn from being a teacher are: you have to be organised, be prepared for every day as it comes, have the confidence to speak to people, and you need patience and positivity.

All of which, she notes, are skills you need to head up a business in such a competitive, people-focused field.

And competitive it is, with the global HR tech market predicted to reach USD 69.6 billion by 2033. But this doesn’t faze Mauve. In fact, this small but mighty trailblazer of the Employer of Record (EOR) solution has only continued to thrive, outlasting 88% of businesses , and embracing new technologies while keeping people at the heart of its operations.

It is this “people-led, technology-supported” ethos that won the company 'HR Tech Provider of the Year' at 2025’s prestigious Personnel Today Awards, which Ellis deems one of the proudest moments of her career to date, alongside the thrill of winning the company’s first-ever project in Hungary, and then its first university client, Princeton University, and NGO client Teach for All, a global education non-profit.

Fostering global connection

Continuing the theme of connection, Ellis acknowledges that Mauve Group couldn’t have achieved the past three decades’ worth of success if it wasn’t for the support and commitment of its team members.

We’ve been very lucky to have had a lot of staff who  have stayed with us 10, 20 years. We even have four ladies with us for 25 years.  We value each and every one, and would like to say a big, huge thank you.

It’s no surprise Mauve boasts such high retention levels, as Ellis has always placed emphasis on supporting women in the workplace, and understanding that promoting and facilitating work-life balance is crucial to creating pathways for women in leadership.

Today, four out of five of Mauve’s directors are women, and Ellis says that being a female CEO is something she takes seriously.

I’m very proud of being a female CEO.

I think things have changed a lot from the days when I started, when I was often the only woman in the boardroom. Today, there are far more female CEOs and women take a more prominent role in business in general, which is very positive.

Looking to the future

So, looking towards the future, what would be Ellis’s advice to up-and-coming entrepreneurs who look to her for inspiration?

Always be confident in yourself, take calculated risks, and, if you fail, remember that you learn from your failures.

As for Mauve, Ellis has high hopes and lots of plans for the next 30 years.

I hope we can continue to develop and create services that our clients require, all the while remembering to provide that high quality service for which we are known, and always be trustworthy and honest.

Over the coming year, the company will continue to celebrate its 30^th year with a number of initiatives to be announced.

Further down the line, exciting service developments, office expansions, and plans for team growth mean the future is bright for Mauve Group.

Watch Ann Ellis' full interview, now.