Executive Search
Leadership decisions shape organizations.
We bring rigour, structure, and clarity to retained search for leadership roles — so organizations can hire with confidence.
The stakes
Leadership hiring carries lasting impact.
Leadership hires shape strategy, culture, and execution. The consequences of the wrong decision are significant — operationally, financially, and reputationally.
These are visible, high-stakes hires where judgment matters, and where leaders require full market access, disciplined evaluation, and a partner who understands the complexity of executive hiring.
The problem
Where leadership hiring breaks down.
Leadership hiring challenges rarely begin with candidate availability. They begin earlier. Success is not clearly defined. The role is not fully scoped. Stakeholders are not aligned on what great looks like.
From there, the process becomes harder — search lacks structure, evaluation becomes inconsistent, and decisions are made with less clarity than they should be.
Our approach brings rigour to the full process — from role definition and alignment through to disciplined search, evaluation, and decision support.
When to engage
Organizations engage Oxford + Richmond when:
Senior leaders engage Oxford + Richmond when a hiring decision is too consequential to leave to chance. Organizations typically engage us when:
Leadership Transitions
Appointing or replacing a senior leader during periods of change or growth.
Confidential Searches
Sensitive leadership replacements requiring discretion and careful market engagement.
Strategic Transformation
Hiring leaders capable of driving new initiatives, restructuring, or expansion.
Board and C-Suite Appointments
Roles where rigorous evaluation, independent validation, and full market access are essential.
Outcomes
Outcomes of a disciplined search.
Aligned Leadership Capability
Candidates are assessed against strategic priorities and operating realities — not just experience.
Stronger Decision Confidence
Structured evaluation, benchmarking and market insight support clear, well-informed, and defensible hiring decisions.
Sustained Organizational Impact
Effective leadership appointments strengthen execution, alignment, and long-term performance.
The model
A retained model designed for decision quality.
Oxford + Richmond operates through a retained search model not tied to compensation. This ensures the process is focused on identifying the right leader — not facilitating a transaction.
This structure aligns our work with the quality of the decision.
We do not work on contingency. Our retained model means our focus is on the quality of the decision and spending the time needed to get to the right candidates.
Our approach provides:
Full Market Access
Engagement with the complete talent market, including candidates who would not otherwise come to your attention.
Structured Evaluation
Disciplined assessment designed to support confident, defensible hiring decisions.
Targeted Market Insight and Benchmarking
Real-time visibility into talent availability, expectations, and compensation — informing better decisions.
Dedicated Partnership
Direct involvement from experienced partners throughout the search process.
Roles we support
Leadership hiring across board, executive, and critical roles.
We support leadership hiring across board, executive, and critical leadership roles for a wide range of industries.
Board of Directors
- Executive Director
- Chair of the Board
- Vice Chair
Executive Leadership
- Chief Executive Officer
- Chief Operating Officer
- Chief Financial Officer
- Chief Revenue Officer
- Chief Technology Officer
- Chief Human Resources Officer
- Senior Vice President and Vice President roles
Future Leaders
Emerging leaders with strategic responsibility across growing organizations.
Critical Leadership Roles
Positions central to transformation, growth, or operational performance.
A broad view
A broad view of leadership talent.
Oxford + Richmond operates across sectors to identify leaders who bring fresh thinking, diverse experience, and proven leadership capability.
By engaging talent markets beyond a single industry, organizations gain access to candidates who can introduce new perspectives and strengthen leadership teams.
Selected mandates
Recent leadership search engagements.
Transportation & Logistics
CEO — Transportation & Logistics Platform
Appointed a Chief Executive Officer to lead a large, multi-site transportation and logistics organization through its next phase of operational and commercial growth.
Private Equity
CFO — PE-Backed Platform
Partnered with a private equity firm to appoint a commercially minded CFO to drive value creation across a newly acquired industrial services platform.
Software
CRO — Global Software Organization
Identified and placed a Chief Revenue Officer to unify global sales strategy, accelerate growth, and build a scalable commercial engine across international markets.
Construction & Infrastructure
CTO — Construction & Infrastructure
Led the search for a Chief Technology Officer to modernize systems, enable data-driven operations, and build the infrastructure required to support national scale.
Retail & QSR
COO — National QSR Brand
Appointed a Chief Operating Officer to strengthen operational execution, align franchise performance, and introduce systems and technology to support national expansion.
Healthcare
Board Refresh — Healthcare Organization
Supported a comprehensive board refresh to introduce new perspectives on digital transformation, governance, and patient-centred care.
Full market access
The candidates you need aren't looking.
The most capable leaders in any market share a common trait — they are not available. They are not on job boards. They are not responding to LinkedIn messages from recruiters they don't know. They are employed, performing well, well compensated, and on a trajectory that gives them little reason to look elsewhere.
That is precisely why they are the right candidate for your role.
Reaching them requires something different from posting and waiting. It requires the ability to identify who they are, understand what would actually move them, and earn enough trust and credibility to have a real conversation — one where a leader who was not thinking about a career move begins to genuinely consider one.
We proactively map the market before we engage it — identifying the people who are succeeding in roles most analogous to yours and approaching them directly, with context and credibility. Not a cold pitch. A professional, discreet outreach that signals the opportunity is real, the organization is serious, and the process will respect their time.
Most will not be ready to move. Some will. And the ones who engage do so because the opportunity is genuinely compelling — and because they trust the firm bringing it to them has done its homework.
That is access your internal team cannot replicate, and that a contingency firm has neither the time nor the incentive to pursue.
Many of the leaders we place face a second, related challenge — not just the leadership hire, but the ongoing hiring that enables that leader to execute. That's what TalentSpoke™ was built for.
Learn about TalentSpoke™→Client stories
Partnerships that shape leadership outcomes.
Client engagements are described without identifying details. Many of our searches are confidential by design.
Let's begin
Let's discuss your leadership hiring priorities.
Whether you're appointing a critical leader or navigating a sensitive transition, Oxford + Richmond brings the structure, expertise, market insight, and judgment your decision requires.