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Ridgeway Partners Ranked a 2023 Top US Search Firm

By Press Releases, Ridgeway News

Our third annual public survey to determine the top US retained executive search firms ran from 1 st August until 31 st October 2023 and saw participation from over 18,000 senior executives that form both client and candidate groups. This year, we saw eight new entrants to the Top 49 Ranking List and comprises of five women owned firms.

In a guarded industry such as executive search, where public feedback is hard to come by, often potential clients have very little data to help them make the right decisions. Our survey data is used by over 180 clients to decide on which search firm to work with.

imageOur online public survey is designed to gather maximum feedback from respondents in under 60 seconds. The key information we gather from respondents are:

  • Professional career level of the participant
  • Participant profile – whether candidate or client
  • Industry of the participant
  • Search firm, each participant wishes to rate
  • Participant’s experience with the search firm and how likely are they to recommend a search firm to others (NPS)

Our survey focuses on retained executive search firms that use research driven methodology to identify and select the best available candidates. The ranking covers executive search firms that are headquartered and have the most number of Consultants in the US.

Our ranking is not solely based on revenue or size of the business. “Revenue-only” approach to ranking puts smaller firms and those not willing to disclose revenue at a disadvantage even though they are deeply valued and trusted by candidates and clients alike.

All our software products for search firms are free to use. This helps us manage the ranking process in an unbiased manner. If you are a search firm, you can gain access to our confidential job description sharing and tracking platform for free. Contact us at info@c-suitecvsecure.com

This ranking is the result of an evaluation process within the parameters set by C-Suite CV Secure, Inc., its affiliates, and partners if any. C-Suite CV Secure would not comment on the quality of executive search firms that are not included in the ranking, and their reputation is not disputed. For more information on logo licensing and methodology, please write to info@c-suitecvsecure.com

Talent Trends – Second Edition

By Newsletter

In my last newsletter, I talked about boards adding Directors from outside of their industry to get a fresh perspective. Are we seeing the same at the executive level? The short answer is it depends on the role’s function and the company’s industry; here are some of the key trends we’re seeing:

Roles where companies want candidates with industry experience  

  1. Sales & Marketing (Go-To-Market) Leaders
    1. Reasoning: Given it’s taking longer for candidates to be onboarded in this hybrid work environment, it would take a sales and marketing leader without prior industry experience longer to learn the firm’s industry landscape and understand their customer base’s pain points. Since companies want their go-to-market leaders to gain traction quickly, they’re often seeking GTM leaders who have this industry experience and already understand the customer base. What’s interesting is that while companies will stress the importance of sales leadership candidates having industry experience, companies remain adamant that they don’t want to take a short-term view and hire a candidate for their rolodex.
  2. Financial Services and Healthcare CIO’s, Chief Data Officers, & Chief Digital Officers
    1. Reasoning: Financial Services & Healthcare data is highly specialized (like Bloomberg Time Series data in financial services, or Electronic Medical Record data in healthcare).  So, for tech roles involved in overseeing data analytics/AI, such as the CIO, Chief Data Officer, or Chief Digital Officer, companies want that industry experience since the candidate will likely know what “questions to ask” from the data to identify trends.

Financial Services Appointment Examples:

  • UBS’ new Chief Digital Information Officer, Heather Beckman, who came from JPMorgan.
  • Western Alliance Bank’s new Chief Digital Officer, Jennifer Wilson, who came from BBVA.

Healthcare Appointment Examples:

  • Biogen and Bristol Meyers Squibb both took this approach when hiring industry veterans as their Head of Data Innovation (Abhishek Pratap) and Chief Data Analytics Officers (Gina Papush)

Tech Leaders outside Financial Services and Healthcare: Companies more open to hiring tech leaders from outside their industry.

Outside of financial services and healthcare, there are more cross-industry moves, such as:

Cross-Industry Executive Appointments outside of Financial Services/Healthcare:

  • Abercrombie hired Samir Desai as Chief Digital & Technology Officer. He was previously EVP, Tech at Equinox.
  • Best Buy hired Craig Brabec as SVP, Chief Data Analytics Officer. He was previously Chief Data Analytics Officer at McDonald’s.

It’s worth noting that if the tech role is more focused on the back-end tech infrastructure or the cyber security function, companies are more open to getting leaders from outside their industry as their mandate is less industry-specific and more fungible.

New solutions to win the war for talent: Get them early

Finally: the demand for the top tech talent is so fierce that companies are engaging this talent as early as possible, even when the talent is in college. This way, companies can avoid having to buy candidates out of their expensive deferred compensation packages once they’ve begun to climb the corporate ladder.

Companies are engaging talent early by: 

  1. Setting up and funding innovation labs at universities and using this as a recruiting funnel (like Home Depot’s Technology Center at Georgia Tech or IBM’s Tech Ethics Lab at Notre Dame).
  2. Adding top AI & Computer Science professors as Advisors. These advisors can serve as recruiting/brand ambassadors by connecting their employer to their top students. By working with university professors, companies are able to have early access to up and coming talent. It’s also a win for the professors as the compensation they receive from the company is often significant compared to their university salary.

Examples of Companies Adding Advisors from Academia:

  • Amazon added Michael Kearns, a part-time computer and information science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, as a Scholar within Amazon Web Services
  • JPMorgan Chase & Co. appointed Manuela Veloso, a Carnegie Mellon University professor currently on leave, to be its Head of AI Research
  • CoPilot AI added Dr. Qingchen Wang as an Advisor. Dr. Wang is an Assistant Professor of Business Analytics at The University of Hong Kong.
Do you have comments, tips, questions, or need help finding talent?
Email me at: josh.king@ridgewaypartners.us
Call me at: (617) 694 7656 

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If someone you know would find this newsletter interesting, please forward this link to them and they can subscribe to our newsletters.

Talent Trends

By Newsletter
Boards are adding Directors from outside industries to gain a fresh perspective:  
While boards continue to add gender and racially-diverse candidates to comply with NASDAQ board diversity requirements (which now require NASDAQ-listed companies to submit a board diversity matrix), boards are also focused on a different type of diversity: diversity of thought. Many boards are adding directors from other industries to gain fresh, outside-the-box perspectives. In cases where the company is in a heavily regulated industry, such as financial services or healthcare, they’re often seeking to add board members who have shown they can be innovative within other strictly regulated industries.
 
Tech & Banking Cross-Industry Board Appointments
  • First Republic Bank named Rick Osterloh as Non-Executive Director (NED). He is Senior Vice President of Devices & Services at Google.
  • Alphabet Inc. named Ramón Chavez Márquez as NED. He previously served as CFO of Goldman Sachs.
  • PTC named Michal Katz as NED. She is the Head of Banking, Americas at Mizuho Americas.
Healthcare & Tech Cross-Industry Board Appointments
  • Humana named Brad D. Smith as NED He previously served as Executive Chairman, President and CEO of Intuit Inc.
  • Pear Therapeutics named Shiva Rajaraman as NED. He previously served as CTO of WeWork and VP of Commerce at Meta.
Consumer & Tech Cross-Industry Board Appointments
  • Clorox named Julia Denman as NED. She is Corporate Vice President and Head of Internal Audit Enterprise Risk and Compliance at Microsoft.
  • Coca-Cola named Carolyn Everson as NED. She is former Vice President of Global Marketing Solutions of Meta Platforms Inc.
  • Ralph Lauren named Debra Cupp as NED. She is Division President of Microsoft US.
 Stopping “quiet quitting” by appointing Heads of Digital Workforce / Employee Experience
 As companies have become more accepting of remote/hybrid work, they’ve shifted their focus to increasing employee engagement (in order to stop “quiet quitting”), improving onboarding and ensuring employees can be efficient regardless of location.
While these mandates have previously been overseen by the CIO, more companies are adding a dedicated Head of Digital Workforce / Employee Experience (EX).
How big of an impact can these execs have on your company’s bottom line? A big one when you consider: 
  • Companies who focused on Employee Experience achieved 1.8 greater revenue growth
  • Companies who use preboarding techniques  retain 81% of their first year hires (which is a staggering stat when you consider how often people are now changing jobs; the average employee tenure is only 1.1, years at Google, 1.8 years at Uber and 2.1 years at Dropbox).
 Examples of Employee Experience & Head of Digital Workplace Appointments 
  • TD hired Kevin Cassady as Global Head of Employee Enablement. He was previously Global Head Digital Workplace at PNC.
  • BlackRock hired Satish Sinha as Global Head, Digital Workplace Technology and Engineering. He previously served as Global Head, Digital Workplace Services at Zensar Technologies.
  • Morningstar hired Samuel Castano as Head of Global IT Employee Experience. He was Director of Digital End User Services, Strategy & Process Optimization at United Airlines.
Do you have comments, tips, questions, or need help finding talent?
Email me at: josh.king@ridgewaypartners.us
Call me at: (617) 694 7656 

Please help us spread the word!
If someone you know would find this newsletter interesting, please forward this link to them and they can subscribe to our newsletters.

Ridgeway Partners Ranked a Top US Search Firm

By Press Releases, Ridgeway News

NEW YORKOct. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — C-Suite CV Secure, Inc., a New York headquartered resume sharing and tracking technology company for C-Suite executives announced its 2022 ranking for America’s Top 49 Retained Executive Search firms.

Heidrick & Struggles retained the top position followed by Spencer Stuart, Russell Reynolds Associates, Korn Ferry, SPMB, Daversa Partners, JM Search, Diversified Search Group, DHR International and Bespoke Partners in the top 10 positions.

See the full list here: https://c-suitecvsecure.com/executive-search-ranking-2022

In a guarded industry such as executive search, where public feedback is hard to come by, often potential clients have very little data to help them make the right decisions. This is where the survey becomes relevant and significant – this survey ranking is the only trusted source of recent and genuine feedback directly gathered from the market. With strict controls in place, duplications and attempts of manipulation are detected.

This survey focuses on retained executive search firms that uses research driven methodology to identify and select the best available candidates. The ranking covers executive search firms that are headquartered and has the most number of Consultants in the US. C-Suite CV Secure survey data and ranking are the go-to source for executive search buyers who are keen on placing their time and money for the best results.

In 2022, the public survey ran from 7th October to 23rd October and forms an integral part of the overall ranking process. With over 7,800 respondents from over 54 industries and sectors, both candidates and clients provide valuable insights into their view of the market.

The ranking is not solely based on revenue or size of the business. “Revenue-only” approach to ranking puts smaller firms and those not willing to disclose revenue at a disadvantage even though they are deeply valued and trusted by candidates and clients alike.

About C-Suite CV Secure, Inc.: C-SuiteCVSecure.com is a New York headquartered, technology platform that enables senior executives to confidentially share and track resume helping them retain full control of their resume. The platform precisely tracks and reports Who viewed the resume, When and How many times. Executive Search firms uses the same platform to share their confidential job descriptions to protect client confidentiality.

SOURCE C-Suite CV Secure, Inc.

The Ridgeway Round Up – July 2022

By Newsletter

FROM THE TRENCHES:

How does your talent strategy stack up?

Is your talent strategy well-defined and efficient?

Amidst a two-year period of one of the strongest talent markets on record, it is critical to have a defined and efficient talent strategy. Consider this:

  • Proactively work to retain your “A” players. These high performers can choose between several offers. Acting quickly will put you in
    the driver’s seat.
  • Do you have ESG and DE&I initiatives? Prove it. They can tilt the candidate decision.
  • Recent market events including an inflationary environment, geo-political uncertainty, and downward pressure on firm revenues have impacted the hiring landscape. Be prepared for more difficult year-end conversations with your teams.

INDUSTRY NEWS NUGGETS

Coinbase Retracts Jobs to Recruits from BlackRock, Fidelity | Ignites

  • Feeling the pinch from plunging cryptocurrency prices, the trading platform has rescinded offers to more than 300 — including some who left jobs at BlackRock and Fidelity.

Workers Don’t Feel Quite as Powerful as They Used To | WSJ

  • Fears of an economic downturn are shaking some people’s career confidence, driving them toward stable jobs—and even back to offices

How to Keep New Hires From Quitting in the First 30 Days | WSJ

  • If companies don’t keep new hires engaged and motivated, they won’t hesitate to leave. The answer: ‘re-recruiting.’

Fund Shops’ Comp Costs Leaped 24% in 2021| Ignites

  • Publicly traded, pure-play asset managers put $24 billion toward compensation and benefits in 2021, data shows. All but two of the firms tracked by Ignites had higher earnings for their median-paid employee compared to 2020.

The Biggest Challenges for a Hybrid Workplace—and How to Overcome Them | WSJ

  • It won’t be easy to make sure hybrid and remote workers are productive and content. But it can be done

Interest in ESG cools as focus on transparency and standards heats | Pension & Investments

  • As global financial regulators focus on the disclosure of environmental, social, and governance factors — both for public companies and investment products — the exchange-traded fund business has set itself up for certain attention.

WHAT WE’RE READING & LISTENING TO

“WHO” – though written 10 years ago offers hiring managers insight on the importance and process to bring “A” players to your organzation

“Bitcoin Billionaires” from Ben Mezrich, the New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires and Bringing Down the House, comes Bitcoin Billionaires–the fascinating story of brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss’s big bet on cryptocurrency and its dazzling pay-off.

RECENT
RIDGEWAY
WORK

Leadership

  • CEO
  • Chief Marketing Officer
  • Chief Operating Officer
  • Chief Distribution Officer

Distribution

  • Head of Institutional Sales
  • ED, Consultant Relations (Alts)
  • Divisional Sales Manager
  •  Client Portfolio Manager

Investments

  • Chief Investment Officer (2)
  • Portfolio Manager – Int’l Equities
  • Portfolio Manager – Bank Loans
  • Emerging Market Debt Analyst

Operations / Analytics

  • Chief Compliance Officer
  • Sales Enablement Lead
  • Head of Service Operations

THE RIDGEWAY ASSET & WEALTH MANAGEMENT TEAM

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