Which search firms know our industry?
Executive Search by Industry: What The Shortlist Report Finds
2 firms lead, appearing in 89.1–98.2% of 55 AI responses. The sample cannot separate them, so we do not pretend it can.
Two firms lead
Spencer Stuart and Korn Ferry come up most often here. They are close enough together that the order between them is not worth reading anything into.
Spencer Stuart54 of 55
Conducts CEO, board, and senior C-suite searches for large enterprises and succession planning.
Korn Ferry49 of 55
Conducts CEO, C-suite, board, and leadership assessment searches for large global organizations.
Based on 55 ChatGPT responses to this question, collected August 11, 2026–August 19, 2026. Firms are counted once per response. How we measure.
Which firm for which industry
8 of the 12 firms named an industry in the way ChatGPT described them, and they are grouped below in those words. A firm that named several industries appears under each of them, so the groups add up to more than 8. This is a reading of the descriptions rather than a second measurement — the counts, and every firm, are in the table.
Healthcare & life sciences
- Odgers
Conducts executive searches for nonprofits, associations, social-impact organizations, and healthcare/life-sciences providers, pharma, biotech, and healthtech.
- WittKieffer
Specializes in executive search for healthcare, higher education, and mission-driven organizations.
- Diversified Search Group
Conducts nonprofit, education, healthcare and mission-driven organization leadership searches.
- DHR Global
Conducts board and C-suite searches with broad financial-services coverage across banking, capital markets, PE/VC, and insurance.
- Koya Partners
Conducts executive searches for mission-driven organizations, nonprofits, higher education, and healthcare.
Nonprofits
- Odgers
Conducts executive searches for nonprofits, associations, social-impact organizations, and healthcare/life-sciences providers, pharma, biotech, and healthtech.
- WittKieffer
Specializes in executive search for healthcare, higher education, and mission-driven organizations.
- Diversified Search Group
Conducts nonprofit, education, healthcare and mission-driven organization leadership searches.
- Isaacson, Miller
Conducts executive search for foundations, nonprofits, higher education, and civic organizations.
- Koya Partners
Conducts executive searches for mission-driven organizations, nonprofits, higher education, and healthcare.
Education
- WittKieffer
Specializes in executive search for healthcare, higher education, and mission-driven organizations.
- Diversified Search Group
Conducts nonprofit, education, healthcare and mission-driven organization leadership searches.
- Isaacson, Miller
Conducts executive search for foundations, nonprofits, higher education, and civic organizations.
- Koya Partners
Conducts executive searches for mission-driven organizations, nonprofits, higher education, and healthcare.
Financial services
- Russell Reynolds Associates
Conducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large public companies and financial services.
- DHR Global
Conducts board and C-suite searches with broad financial-services coverage across banking, capital markets, PE/VC, and insurance.
Manufacturing & distribution
- PierceGray
Conducts CEO and operating executive searches for PE-backed manufacturing and industrial companies.
The ranking
| Firm | Responses | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 2 firms, 89.1–98.2% | |||
| Spencer Stuartspencerstuart.comConducts CEO, board, and senior C-suite searches for large enterprises and succession planning. | 54 of 55 | 98.2% | |
| Korn Ferrykornferry.comConducts CEO, C-suite, board, and leadership assessment searches for large global organizations. | 49 of 55 | 89.1% | |
| Tier 2 3 firms, 74.5–83.6% | |||
| Heidrick & StrugglesConducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large companies and PE-backed organizations. | 46 of 55 | 83.6% | |
| Russell Reynolds Associatesrussellreynolds.coConducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large public companies and financial services. | 45 of 55 | 81.8% | |
| Egon Zehnderegonzehnder.comExecutive search for CEO succession, board work, and leadership assessment across global enterprises. | 41 of 55 | 74.5% | |
| Tier 3 stands alone | |||
| Odgersodgers.comConducts executive searches for nonprofits, associations, social-impact organizations, and healthcare/life-sciences providers, pharma, biotech, and healthtech. | 23 of 55 | 41.8% | |
| Tier 4 6 firms, 14.5–21.8% | |||
| WittKiefferwittkieffer.comSpecializes in executive search for healthcare, higher education, and mission-driven organizations. | 12 of 55 | 21.8% | |
| Diversified Search Groupdiversifiedsearchgroup.comConducts nonprofit, education, healthcare and mission-driven organization leadership searches. | 11 of 55 | 20.0% | |
| DHR GlobalConducts board and C-suite searches with broad financial-services coverage across banking, capital markets, PE/VC, and insurance. | 10 of 55 | 18.2% | |
| Isaacson, MillerConducts executive search for foundations, nonprofits, higher education, and civic organizations. | 9 of 55 | 16.4% | |
| Koya PartnersConducts executive searches for mission-driven organizations, nonprofits, higher education, and healthcare. | 8 of 55 | 14.5% | |
| PierceGraypiercegray.comConducts CEO and operating executive searches for PE-backed manufacturing and industrial companies. | 8 of 55 | 14.5% | |
Key findings
- Spencer Stuart and Korn Ferry lead this sample, each named in 89.1–98.2% of 55 ChatGPT responses to the question “Which search firms know our industry?”, collected August 11, 2026–August 19, 2026.
- The gaps between Spencer Stuart and Korn Ferry are inside the margin of error at 55 responses, so The Shortlist Report groups them in one tier rather than ranking them against each other.
- 12 firms cleared the reporting threshold on “Which search firms know our industry?” in ChatGPT as of August 19, 2026; the full table with response counts is below.
- Spencer Stuart appears in 7 of the 7 executive search firms reports published by The Shortlist Report, the widest coverage of any firm named on this page.
- No firm paid to appear in this ranking; placement cannot be bought, and the counts come from ChatGPT responses rather than from submissions.
Why the tiers fall where they do
Tier 1 holds Spencer Stuart and Korn Ferry, named in 49 to 54 of the 55 ChatGPT responses. They are grouped rather than ranked because the gaps between them are inside the margin of error at this sample size — one extra mention would reorder them, so an order would be reporting noise as a finding.
Tier 2 holds Heidrick & Struggles, Russell Reynolds Associates and Egon Zehnder, named in 41 to 46 of 55 responses (74.5–83.6%). The sample does separate these firms from the tier above: the difference from the leading group is larger than the margin of error, which is what puts them in a tier of their own.
Tier 3 holds Odgers, named in 23 to 23 of 55 responses (41.8–41.8%). The sample does separate this firm from the tier above: the difference from the leading group is larger than the margin of error, which is what puts it in a tier of its own.
Tier 4 holds WittKieffer, Diversified Search Group, DHR Global, Isaacson, Miller, Koya Partners and PierceGray, named in 8 to 12 of 55 responses (14.5–21.8%). The sample does separate these firms from the tier above: the difference from the leading group is larger than the margin of error, which is what puts them in a tier of their own.
The test is McNemar’s at 95%, applied against the same 55 responses for every firm. The full reasoning, and what happened when we ranked one-to-N instead.
What the sample shows
2 firms lead this question: Spencer Stuart and Korn Ferry. They appear in 89.1–98.2% of the 55 responses. The gaps between them are inside the margin of error at this sample size, so they are listed together rather than ranked against each other.
109 firms were named at least once across the sample. 12 of them cleared the threshold of 2 responses and appear above; the rest were named once and are inside the noise.
How to read this
Firms are grouped into tiers, not ranked one to fifteen. A tier holds every firm whose 95% confidence interval overlaps the leader's, which is a long way of saying the sample cannot tell them apart. Order within a tier is arbitrary — read the counts, not the position.
Share is the percentage of responses that named the firm — not a quality score. A firm scoring low here may be excellent and simply under-written about online, which is a finding about its visibility rather than its work.
The same question was asked repeatedly because AI assistants do not answer identically twice. A single response would tell you almost nothing.
What this measurement does not tell you
- It is not a quality ranking. Share reflects how much has been written about a firm online, which is what an AI assistant reads. A capable firm nobody writes about scores low here.
- It is a reading from a date range, not a permanent standing. This sample was collected August 11, 2026–August 19, 2026; models change and so do their answers.
- It covers ChatGPT only. Other assistants answer differently, and we do not extrapolate across engines we have not measured.
- Order within a tier is arbitrary. Read the counts, not the position. Why we use tiers.
Cite this report
The Shortlist Report. (2026). Executive Search by Industry: What The Shortlist Report Finds. The Shortlist Report. https://www.shortlistreport.com/article/executive-search-by-industry
Underlying counts: CSV · JSON. Every answer they were counted from: plain text · JSON. All reusable under CC BY 4.0 with attribution.