Which search firms know our industry?
Executive Search by Industry: What The Shortlist Report Finds
Spencer Stuart appeared in 93.2% of 234 AI responses to this question, ahead of everyone else.
Spencer Stuart leads
Spencer Stuart comes up more than any other firm on this question, by a clear margin.
Spencer Stuart218 of 234
Conducts CEO, board, and senior C-suite searches for large enterprises and succession planning.
Korn Ferry200 of 234
Conducts CEO, C-suite, board, and leadership assessment searches for large global organizations.
Russell Reynolds Associates196 of 234
Conducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large public companies and financial services.
Heidrick & Struggles182 of 234
Conducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large companies and PE-backed organizations.
Egon Zehnder145 of 234
Executive search for CEO succession, board work, and leadership assessment across global enterprises.
+7 more namedin the table
Based on 234 ChatGPT responses to this question, collected August 11, 2026–October 1, 2026. Firms are counted once per response. How we measure.
Which firm for which industry
7 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 7. 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.
- JM Search
Conducts CEO, CFO, COO searches for private-equity-backed and middle-market companies.
- DHR Global
Conducts board and C-suite searches with broad financial-services coverage across banking, capital markets, PE/VC, and insurance.
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.
- JM Search
Conducts CEO, CFO, COO searches for private-equity-backed and middle-market companies.
- Isaacson, Miller
Conducts executive search for foundations, nonprofits, higher education, and civic organizations.
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.
- JM Search
Conducts CEO, CFO, COO searches for private-equity-backed and middle-market companies.
- Isaacson, Miller
Conducts executive search for foundations, nonprofits, higher education, and civic organizations.
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.
The ranking
| Firm | Responses | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 stands alone | |||
| Spencer Stuartspencerstuart.comConducts CEO, board, and senior C-suite searches for large enterprises and succession planning. | 218 of 234 | 93.2% | |
| Tier 2 2 firms, 83.8–85.5% | |||
| Korn Ferrykornferry.comConducts CEO, C-suite, board, and leadership assessment searches for large global organizations. | 200 of 234 | 85.5% | |
| Russell Reynolds Associatesrussellreynolds.coConducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large public companies and financial services. | 196 of 234 | 83.8% | |
| Tier 3 stands alone | |||
| Heidrick & StrugglesConducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large companies and PE-backed organizations. | 182 of 234 | 77.8% | |
| Tier 4 stands alone | |||
| Egon Zehnderegonzehnder.comExecutive search for CEO succession, board work, and leadership assessment across global enterprises. | 145 of 234 | 62.0% | |
| Tier 5 2 firms, 26.9–32.9% | |||
| Odgersodgers.comConducts executive searches for nonprofits, associations, social-impact organizations, and healthcare/life-sciences providers, pharma, biotech, and healthtech. | 77 of 234 | 32.9% | |
| WittKiefferwittkieffer.comSpecializes in executive search for healthcare, higher education, and mission-driven organizations. | 63 of 234 | 26.9% | |
| Tier 6 5 firms, 17.5–20.9% | |||
| Cowen Partnerscowenpartners.comRetained executive search active in CFO, CRO, sales officer, and senior HR/C-suite placements including PE-backed companies. | 49 of 234 | 20.9% | |
| Diversified Search Groupdiversifiedsearchgroup.comConducts nonprofit, education, healthcare and mission-driven organization leadership searches. | 46 of 234 | 19.7% | |
| JM Searchjmsearch.comConducts CEO, CFO, COO searches for private-equity-backed and middle-market companies. | 44 of 234 | 18.8% | |
| Isaacson, MillerConducts executive search for foundations, nonprofits, higher education, and civic organizations. | 43 of 234 | 18.4% | |
| DHR GlobalConducts board and C-suite searches with broad financial-services coverage across banking, capital markets, PE/VC, and insurance. | 41 of 234 | 17.5% | |
Key findings
- Spencer Stuart leads this sample alone, named in 218 of 234 ChatGPT responses (93.2%) to the question “Which search firms know our industry?”, collected August 11, 2026–October 1, 2026.
- 12 firms cleared the reporting threshold on “Which search firms know our industry?” in ChatGPT as of October 1, 2026; the full table with response counts is below.
- Spencer Stuart appears in 7 of the 9 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, named in 218 of 234 ChatGPT responses (93.2%). No other firm in this sample comes close enough to be grouped with it.
Tier 2 holds Korn Ferry and Russell Reynolds Associates, named in 196 to 200 of 234 responses (83.8–85.5%). 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 Heidrick & Struggles, named in 182 to 182 of 234 responses (77.8–77.8%). 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 Egon Zehnder, named in 145 to 145 of 234 responses (62.0–62.0%). 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 5 holds Odgers and WittKieffer, named in 63 to 77 of 234 responses (26.9–32.9%). 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 6 holds Cowen Partners, Diversified Search Group, JM Search, Isaacson, Miller and DHR Global, named in 41 to 49 of 234 responses (17.5–20.9%). 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 234 responses for every firm. The full reasoning, and what happened when we ranked one-to-N instead.
What the sample shows
Spencer Stuart leads on its own, named in 218 of the 234 responses to this question (93.2%).
193 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–October 1, 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.