Specialized executive search for the most senior leadership appointments — CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CHROs, CTOs, CMOs, and independent board directors — for organizations at every stage of maturity.
Board and C-suite recruitment is the most consequential search work we do. The appointments made at this layer shape organizational performance for years, and the engagement model required to make them well is distinct from search at any other level.
These engagements differ from standard senior search in three structural ways. The candidate population is small, often known personally to the search team rather than discoverable through database research. The engagement process is longer and involves more parties, frequently including the chair, the full board, the lead investor, and incumbent executives. And the consequences of a misfire are higher, which raises the bar on rigor at every stage — briefing, mapping, assessment, referencing, and offer construction.
Our practice in this area is built around senior consultant ownership of every engagement, deep market knowledge accumulated over years of comparable searches, and direct relationships with the executives most likely to be candidates for any given mandate.
The process at this level is more demanding than at lower seniority and runs to a longer timeline. The phases below describe how we structure these engagements.
We work directly with the chair, the nomination committee, or the full board to define the role, the strategic context, and the leadership profile. The brief is documented and signed off.
We identify the full population of qualified executives globally, including those not currently in role and those whose engagement requires senior-to-senior approach.
Senior consultant engagement with prioritized candidates, structured assessment against the brief, and presentation of a calibrated shortlist with detailed analysis.
Full board exposure to shortlist candidates, comprehensive referencing, offer construction with compensation committee input, and structured transition support.
Role definition, success criteria, and leadership profile documented and approved by the nomination committee or full board before search begins.
Global or regional view of the qualified candidate population, including those in current senior roles requiring careful engagement.
Direct engagement and structured assessment by named senior consultants, with no delegation of candidate relationship ownership.
Calibrated shortlist presented to the board in person, with detailed profiles, assessment narratives, and discussion of fit against the brief.
Multi-source structured referencing for the final candidate, often including informal market intelligence gathering beyond named references.
Cross-market benchmarking and compensation design input to support the compensation committee's offer construction.
Ongoing engagement through onboarding, including board exposure planning and structured first-90-day integration support.
C-suite and board engagements are governed by retained agreements that reflect the scope and complexity of senior-level search. Fees are structured on a milestone basis, and engagements include the named senior consultant as relationship lead throughout.
Timelines typically run sixteen to twenty-four weeks for CEO and C-suite mandates, with board appointments often shorter. We provide a structured replacement guarantee for placed executives who depart within a defined initial period.
Because of the discretion and senior consultant capacity required, we accept a limited number of C-suite engagements at any one time. We welcome an initial conversation with chairs, nomination committees, or CEOs considering an engagement of this nature.