Do CEO's talk to recruiters?

If anyone in the recruitment sector tried to speak to a CEO about recruiting they would no doubt get bounced and passed onto HR.  And most people would think of this as normal/fine/obvious etc.

Tesco's are expanding yet further with mini Argos-style non-food Homeplus stores according to Retail Week.  I'll bet Sir Terry Leahy is VERY interested in recruitment as without enough people, of the right quality, how else will Tesco continue to grow?