Cornell Search

Connecting Talent.

Supporting Growth.

Achieving Success.

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A leading boutique Executive Search and Advisory firm with a global presence.

Our Expertise

We’re search partners to venture capital and private equity firms, high-growth companies, and strategic consultancies.

We believe great people can be found everywhere. Our team is committed to seeking out and championing exceptional talent, whether it be from overlooked sources or outstanding academic and professional backgrounds.

Find out more about our coverage.

Funds

Our fund team partners with early-stage venture capital, growth equity and mid-market private equity firms, helping them to secure future leaders and partner level talent.

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High-growth companies

Our high-growth team works closely with organisations who are going through transformative change, high growth or periods of restructuring to help find them the best talent to make that happen.

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Advisory

Our advisory team works with leading strategy and management consultancies, helping them to build out their leadership capabilities as well as add future prospects to compliment the team.

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Senior Consultant

For a number of years, Cornell has worked alongside a boutique management consultancy that helps organisations solve the most important business problems. They pride themselves on the relationships they have with their clients and work across a range of sectors, from global multi-nationals to start-ups and public institutions.

Following a long standing relationship with the leadership team, Cornell were asked to support them in finding a senior consultant to join their team. Being a boutique firm, whilst leading in what they offer, they weren’t, at the time, as well known in the market and therefore they were keen to receive support in not only finding the best individual, but also in expanding their market presence.

Having worked with a number of operational focused consultancies we were fortunate to have a network of individuals who we could engage with in the first instance and in the end, one of those individuals secured the role within the company. However, in order to reach that goal, we also needed to engage with the wider market to ensure we found the best talent for the company. We conducted initial screening calls and in person interviews with those who were most relevant before presenting the best calibre individuals in a shortlist to the client to review and interview themselves. We continued to facilitate organisation of interviews as well as offer management when the successful candidate was identified.

As a result of our support, they have had greater interest from candidates across all levels of the organisation and we have continued to support with more senior mandates where the specifics of the individual experience is of greater importance.

Investment Director

Cornell were mandated by an investment and innovation firm specializing in the retail and consumer space to help find a Director for their Investment team. The initial engagement came from the CEO/co-founder of the fund who was keen to discuss securing a Director but also have a broader discussion around succession planning.

The diversity of the team that the client were building was of utmost importance and formed a key basis of the search, with our team proactively identifying and approaching minority ethnic and female investment professionals. Cornell were exclusively retained by the fund and both parties worked in close partnership throughout the assignment. To begin with, we spent a significant amount of time assessing the expectations of the relevant stakeholders to ensure we were fully aligned on their vision for the role and preferred background of this person. From these discussions we set out key milestones and deliverables to work towards, and we began holding weekly feedback sessions to keep the client up-to-date and benefit from key learnings and insights that had been gained.

As a primary step, Cornell carried out a comprehensive map of the European private equity market including the Middle East, specifically focusing on investment professionals at VP to Director level working within growth and buyout funds and with exposure to TMT, Consumer and/or Business Services – resulting in thousands of broadly relevant profiles. We then worked with the CEO to set specific criteria from which we compiled a priority list of candidates to be approached.

After a rigorous search and interview process carried out over a 3-month period, Cornell helped broker an offer to the successful candidate, maintaining a close relationship in the critical period between acceptance and start date. With a strong pipeline of candidates continuing to build in the background, the fund mandated Cornell once again to run a second recruitment drive for a slightly more junior Principal role, and the chosen candidate was screened and offered within a 2-month timeframe. Our relationship with this fund has continued to strengthen over the course of both searches, and we are currently engaged on further assignments.

Investment Director

We were mandated by a leading mid-market private equity firm in the UK who have operations in Australia and the USA in addition to their London Headquarters.

At the time of the initial mandate, the Fund were looking to add to their Growth Acceleration Team at the Investment Director level. One of their current Directors was temporarily stepping away from the business on maternity leave and the team required a replacement at short notice to hit the ground running with a ready-made skillset. Due to the immediate pipeline of projects this candidate would require in-depth understanding of Pricing Strategy and Sales Effectiveness, preferably combining a consulting background with real-world experience in a growth environment at an SME or start-up.

The two main elements to reconcile in this project were the candidate requirements and the time constraints. Given the immediacy of the team’s need, it was logical to focus our search on ex consultants currently contracting rather than in permanent employment in order to avoid lengthy notice periods. Fortunately, Cornell’s extensive history of working in the consulting market across Europe allowed the team to quickly identify and approach several individuals in this mould. We introduced the most relevant 7 candidates to the team to be interviewed and project-managed the entirety of the interview process up to and including offer management and salary negotiation. With one of the candidates receiving an offer and accepting in the same week, we successfully completed the mandate within 2 months of receiving the brief.

Subsequently Cornell have worked on an exclusive basis to find and secure an additional hire into the G.A.T., successfully completing a search for an Investment Manager within 3 months of taking the brief. The successful candidate combined an Oxbridge education, a top-tier strategic consulting background and strong technical ability in Python and SQL which will give the Fund additional scope to build advanced data analytics into their due diligence and growth generation capacities.

Head of Innovation Strategy

Cornell were mandated by a leading energy consultancy who have grown to become the largest dedicated power analytics provider in Europe. We were initially mandated by the German office of the organisation to find a German speaking individual who could help with the growth in this part of the business. Given the success we had with the German team, we were subsequently engaged by the UK office to find a Head of Strategy.

Being such a pivotal hire for the company, the process initially consisted of a market mapping exercise whereby we could understand how large the market was when it came to the seniority of the position as well as the need to have experience within the Energy sector. Upon completion of this, the Cornell team conducted initial conversations with those candidates that both the client and Cornell determined to be the most relevant and then discussed these further upon completion of the initial screening. The Cornell team continued to support with organisaion of interviews and offer negotiation and as a result, a successful Head of Strategy for the UK office was placed.

Since the initial engagement with the UK office, we have continued to work alongside the team, highlighting high calibre candidates to them on an ongoing basis, particularly with the challenges that come with a more regional office within the UK

Strategy Director

This client is a global leader in consulting, technology services and digital transformation who offer an array of integrated services combining technology with deep sector expertise. With operations in over 50 companies they have partnered with 85% of the 200 largest public companies on the Forbes Global 2000 list.

Cornell was initially mandated by the London office to support finding a director to sit within their consumer team. This individual would be based in the London office but would be required to travel as/when required and needed experience leading teams of various levels and sizes. The initial ideas we provided as a discussion point came from our well-established network and having discussed those individuals and determined who the leadership team were interested in, we were then able to expand the search, engage further individuals and have further discussions.

To guarantee that we were continuously aligned with the client on who was relevant for the role, there was a constant line of communication, with fortnightly meetings where we discussed profiles, realigned where necessary and also scheduled initial meetings with those candidates who were of interest. This resulted in the successful placement of a Director within the team.

Cornell have since supported on a number of mandates from analyst to director level within the business, as well as supporting with the growth of acquisitions/other areas of the business as well as within the businesses that they’ve acquired since first engagement.

Strategy Director

The Cornell team were mandated by a mid-sized professional services firm that works with public, private and third-sector organisations. They provide management consulting, IT consulting and technology 7 innovation services. With headquarters in London and other offices in Europe, the Nordics, the US, the Gulf and the Asia Pacific, they work with a multitude of global organisations.

The Cornell team was engaged by one of the firm’s Partners to support in the search for a Director within the business. They were already utilising their own network and the resources of their internal HR team, but were looking to understand different avenues that they could explore in order to find the most suitable candidate for the role.

Upon taking the brief, we leveraged our existing network, to source initial ideas that met the requisite requirements for the role. We then expanded our search to active headhunting using a variety of sources and ultimately filtered through a number of individuals with a relevant skill set. We then coordinated meetings between those candidates who were exceptional and PA’s leadership team.

At the conclusion of the process, we successfully placed an individual into the Director position within the business and continued to support ongoing searches across the business.

Head of Business Transformation

Cornell were mandated by an esteemed provider of fibre-based packaging for food & beverage, consumer goods and industrial applications, with a history stretching back 150 years. They have headquarters in Netherlands but operations around Europe and had recently been acquired by a large cap private equity fund.

We were mandated by the PE fund to build out the sub-board leadership capability of their newly acquired business and this multi-faceted build involved key hires across the Commercial Excellence, Operational Improvement and Post-Merger Integration verticals. The biggest challenge with this mandate was arguably the geographical flexibility that the ideal candidate needed to have as the business HQ is in the Netherlands.

We began with two diagnostic calls, initially with the PE fund and subsequently with the portfolio business’ HR functionality and CEO, assessing their various needs and establishing parameters for each role and specific areas of importance to focus on. It was also an important part of our job role to analyse the requirements/needs of both the fund and the portfolio company and determine the varying priorities to ensure both parties were happy with the eventual outcome.

Following these initial briefing calls, we compiled a longlist of individuals who we felt had the skillset that the team were looking for as well as the geographical flexibility and cultural fit for the business. We had weekly roundtable calls with key stakeholders across both businesses and began to filter candidates who would engage with the clients themselves. Following an extensive interviewing programme and with both parties aligned on preferred candidates, the Cornell team negotiated and successfully closed offers for both roles, with further hiring planned, once these two individuals were successfully integrated into the business. The entire process was concluded within 4 months of our initial briefing.

Leadership Team Build Out

The client in question is a preventative health screening and diagnostics company, with the vision that society should focus on prevention and not cure. They provide services such as 48-hour blood test results, and mobile health units that can travel to businesses for their convenience. Ultimately, they are revolutionising the health care system, while improving employee satisfaction, sick leave, and absenteeism. While only founded in 2016, over the course of their initial 3 years, they grew to a turnover of over £400million, and without the support of any external funding.

At the point of mandating Cornell, the company were still in the early stages and as such were looking to bring on board senior talent to support and build upon their growth ambitions.

With transformational plans, a new Commercial Director, a Director of Operations, a Head of Corporate Institutions Sales and Head of Global Media Sales were priority hires for the business. After working closely with the client team to understand and confirm the key requirements for these roles, it was determined that successful hires would need to have experience in a top tier consulting firm as well as within a corporate/portfolio environment. An interest or experience in healthcare was preferred but a driven individual was key.

The Cornell team began by identifying the areas of the market that were most suitable to map as well as identifying those individuals in our existing network who would be suitable for the role. Cornell managed the initial screening interviews and ultimately shortlisted those individuals who were worth the client team meeting. As with all processes we support on, we also supported with any interview scheduling and offer management/salary negotiation as and when appropriate.

Director of Operations

Having worked with a number of the Board level team across their careers, Cornell were mandated by one of the UK’s largest gym operators to support in the growth and development of their leadership function. For this specific role, Cornell were engaged by the Chief Operating Officer and Commercial Director to lead the drive for key hires to the sub-board management team, in conjunction with directives from U.S. private equity fund. Our lengthy track record of operating in this space was a crucial factor in the management team’s decision to approach us for these hires.

Following consultation with the leadership team, we established their requirements as primarily comprising of two Director-level operational hires capable of owning a P&L; as well as someone to be their Head of Commercial to focus on furthering their customer acquisition capabilities in the UK.

Upon taking the brief we leveraged our existing network to source initial ideas that proved a yardstick for the standard and ability that the company were seeking. With these meetings as a benchmark, we set about structuring a thorough search, with a focus on ex consultants who had subsequently held commercial and operational roles in growing organisations. We filtered through a number of individuals with a relevant skill set and then coordinated meetings between those candidates who were exceptional and the client’s leadership team.

At the conclusion of the interview process, Cornell and the client aligned on three relevant candidates, at which time Cornell managed the provision of offers and salary- negotiation. We successfully secured two permanent hires and a further hire that initially began on a contract basis but subsequently received a permanent offer. We are currently re-engaging with the client as they look to build out their digital offering, specifically targeting a commercial product manager, a Head of Operational Transformation and a Head of Strategy.

Chief Operational Officer

Cornell were mandated by a soft facilities management service provider who offered commercial cleaning to a variety of sectors across the UK. The introduction came through a positive recommendation from an existing client relationship we had with a Private Equity backed business.

After an initial conversation with the Co-Founders of the company, Cornell were asked to direct the hiring of a senior level Chief Operational Officer. The initial steps of the process involved spending time understanding not only the business but also the culture of the team to ensure that the individuals we spoke to, fit with the different needs that the business had. They had recently onboarded a new CEO, so understanding his strengths and ideas for the business was also important when considering who would compliment his skillset.

Our search focused on both current and ex operational consultants who also had experience working “in-house” as the combined skillset this would offer, was what would most likely work for the team. With a plethora of potential candidates, we conducted initial screening calls to determine who functionally ticked the boxes and then arranged further in person meetings to get to know the personalities of these individuals, before finally presenting a shortlist of 8 individuals to the board level.

After 2 weeks of interviews with the client team, and an in person day at their offices, they made an offer and successfully onboarded an individual who is now supporting in their ongoing growth and hiring plans.