Stanton Chase was born in 1990 from a small group of friends who each ran their own executive search firm and shared a conviction that things could be done better. The standard practices of the day left clients feeling uncertain, unsupported, and unsure of who was actually doing the work on their behalf. These courageous entrepreneurs came together to fix that. They built Stanton Chase on four core operating principles that remain as true today as they were at founding: every office is partner-owned; collaboration across the global network is celebrated as what is good for one is good for all; success is measured by client success; and a culture of friendship and trust is the international hallmark for every relationship. From those roots, Stanton Chase has grown into one of the world's top-ranked global retained executive search and leadership advisory firms, with more than 70 offices and 350 consultants across 45 countries, a customer satisfaction index of 8.910, and over 300 CEO and board-level placements annually. The firm that started with a handshake among friends has never lost that spirit.

We are a family of more than 350 specialized consultants working across 70 offices in 45 countries — not as employees of a faceless corporation, but as partners who own their practices. That distinction matters. Every Stanton Chase office is run by a managing partner who has skin in the game and a personal stake in the outcome of every assignment. We are proud members of the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC), and we support gender diversity at the board level through our membership in the 30% Clubs in Australia, Canada, Chile, the USA, and the UK. Our consultants have built careers in the industries and functions where leadership matters most — financial services, technology, life sciences, consumer goods, industrial sectors, and beyond — which means we understand your business because we have worked in businesses like yours. We are united by a deeply ingrained culture of friendship, meritocracy, and a shared belief that the right leadership can transform any organization.

We help pioneering companies find, assess, develop, and retain transformational leaders. Our flagship retained executive search service — powered by our exclusive Search+® process — goes far beyond scanning databases to identify exceptional executives, including those not actively looking, across more than 45 countries. We evaluate leaders at every level of the C-suite and board through our executive assessment practice, providing in-depth analysis of leadership ability, technical alignment, and cultural fit. Our board services span director and chair recruitment, board assessment, and governance consulting, bringing value, diversity, and robust oversight to every boardroom we serve. When the future of leadership is at stake, our succession planning expertise helps organizations build data-driven CEO and senior leadership pipelines before the need is urgent. And because 50 to 70 percent of executives fail within 18 months of taking a new role, our executive onboarding service ensures every leader we place is set up to succeed from day one — delivering value faster and reducing the risk of costly transitions.

We believe that the right leadership changes everything. A transformational leader does not just improve a quarterly result — they reshape cultures, accelerate innovation, and set entire organizations on a new trajectory. That conviction sits at the heart of everything we do at Stanton Chase. Our purpose is not simply to fill executive roles; it is to empower companies through revolutionary leadership, regardless of their industry, sector, or geography. We measure our impact not in placements made but in leaders who stay, succeed, and leave a lasting impression on the organizations they join. We believe people are at the center of a company's success, and we hold ourselves accountable to that belief in every search, every assessment, and every onboarding engagement we undertake.

These are the values that define every Stanton Chase consultant and every interaction we have — with clients, with candidates, and with one another. We approach each engagement with dedication, going deeper than the obvious pool of talent to find the rare individuals who deliver results. We act with courage, willing to challenge a client brief, point out bias, or pursue unconventional candidates when the situation calls for it. Empathy drives us to listen carefully — to understand not just the job description, but the culture, the ambition, and the unspoken expectations that determine whether a leader truly thrives. Passion keeps us engaged long after the contract is signed, from the first conversation through full onboarding and beyond. And our unwavering commitment means we do not hand off your assignment to a junior associate; the partner who starts your search finishes your search, and we will not rest until the right leader is in place and succeeding.

Most executive search firms sound alike. Stanton Chase is different in ways that matter. Ours is a partner-led model: the senior team you engage is the same team that works with you from kick-off to onboarding — no handoffs, no wondering who is actually doing the work. Our partners are owners, not employees, which means their professional reputation rides on the outcome of your assignment in the same way yours does. We have placed thousands of executives who do not just succeed in year one but throughout their tenure, across more than three decades and 45 countries — a track record that has earned us one of the highest client return rates in the industry. Our consultants have genuine industry experience; they know your market because they have worked in it. With 70 offices operating as one global team, you gain access to the world's broadest network of senior executive talent, guided by people with the local knowledge to know which names are truly exceptional in your market. Partnering with an executive search firm should remove stress, not add to it. At Stanton Chase, that has always been the point.

Stanton Chase approaches environmental, social, and governance responsibility not as a compliance exercise but as a genuine reflection of who we are. We publish a formal ESG Progress Report — most recently covering 2023 — that holds us accountable to measurable commitments across environmental sustainability, social impact, and governance transparency. Our global governance structure prioritizes board independence and transparent corporate oversight, overseen by an independent Governance Committee that evaluates board composition and ensures accountability to shareholders worldwide. On the environmental side, we continually review our operational practices to reduce our footprint across a network that spans 70 offices and 45 countries. We also integrate ESG considerations directly into our leadership advisory work, helping clients identify executives and board directors with the sustainability credentials and governance acumen needed to lead responsibly in a rapidly changing world.

We believe that all human beings are equal, that our world and all its inhabitants are worth protecting, and that the most vulnerable among us are the most deserving of our care. We may be a global organization, but our heart beats locally. Each of our offices has its finger on the pulse of the community it calls home, and our local teams are dedicated to identifying and supporting philanthropic programs that speak to the specific needs of each place we serve. We see our Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives as a real responsibility — not a marketing exercise. We know that we are fortunate to be in a position to give back, and we express that gratitude by striving, office by office and community by community, to be a force for good.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not aspirational language at Stanton Chase — they are core to our business model and how we operate every day. We have an underlying belief in the equal worth of every human being, and it is our mission to influence positive change in the leadership landscape. Currently 30 percent of our global placements are diverse hires, 55 percent of our employees are women, and 62 percent of our most recent hires are women. We attend regular training on diversity and inclusion and actively examine our own unconscious biases to ensure our candidate assessments are as objective as possible. We advocate an inclusion-first strategy with our clients, challenging briefs that inadvertently narrow the talent pool and consistently uncovering the hidden-gem candidates with diverse backgrounds that other firms miss. We were the only executive search firm to sign the White House Equal Pay Pledge, and we proudly led the AESC Pledge Against Racial and Social Injustice. For us, as one of our global DE&I leaders puts it, this is not about a pledge — it is about believing in the powerful impact of inclusion to drive performance and innovation.