Karlis Antons is a Partner at Stanton Chase Adelaide and serves clients globally from South Australia. Raised in a Latvian-speaking household in the United States, he is a global citizen who has lived in four countries and is passionate about creating positive impact by connecting exceptional people. With over 20 years of experience in corporate talent acquisition, HR business partnering, and global retained executive search, Karlis has worked across six continents, diverse cultures, and a very wide range of business sectors & functional areas. Throughout his career, Karlis has developed expertise and an extensive global network across industries including mining and natural resources, space and advanced tech, energy and renewables, studio production and entertainment, diversified industrial and infrastructure, biotech and life sciences, and consumer goods & services, among other industries.

For the first 15 years of his career, he specialized in retained executive search, taking on progressively larger roles in the United States, Hong Kong, and Canada, serving clients and candidates well beyond those borders. He then transitioned to corporate talent acquisition, joining Netflix in Hollywood during a period of rapid expansion. There, he built internal capabilities across animation, studio operations and analytics, production, and other key areas. In 2019, he fulfilled his dream of moving to Australia by obtaining a skilled migrant visa and relocating his family to South Australia.

In Adelaide, Karlis joined BHP, the world’s largest mining company, where he led executive talent acquisition and played a key role in shaping diverse, inclusive leadership teams globally – hiring 152 executives across all operations & functions worldwide during transformational years at BHP. Most recently, he served as Head of Global Talent Acquisition and Inclusion at Fleet Space Technologies, a space-tech scale-up, where he built highly technical and innovative teams across Australia, USA, and Canada scaling the global workforce by 45% including Machine Learning – AI, Manufacturing & Supply Chain, Technical Program Management, Hardware & Software Engineering, and Satellite Operations.

Karlis holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Management from the University of Rhode Island (USA), where he also played Division-1 tennis on a scholarship. A semester abroad at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane cemented his connection to Australia and deepened his desire to return. In his free time, he enjoys the outdoors, traveling, cooking, and spending time with his family.

Proudly hosted by the Andy Thomas Space Foundation, profits from the Australian Space Forum support the Foundation’s annual space education fund and student engagement programs to inspire the next generation of pioneers in Australian space.