Why We Started Cowen Partners Executive Search

      Cowen Partners saw an opportunity not being met in the market. We saw that the industry had become complacent, dominated by large national firms. Executive search consultants whose processes were out of date with today’s modern demands has become standard. Or worse, large search firms were assigning searches to eager grads who had zero experience and no senior support to execute a successful search.

       

      Cowen Partners Focuses On One Principle: Quality

      Our team was developed to anticipate clients’ needs proactively, then develop a vast qualified candidate pool where personal attention replaced dated rolodexes. The reason why? Due diligence. It’s why we successfully place top executive talent in 38 days, on average.

       

      Cowen Partners | Precision Over Quantity

      We believe in sending the right candidates right away. That’s why our model focuses on precise placement of key talent. You don’t want a massive list of candidates, you want a list of the right candidates ready to lead. That’s where we come in and why clients come back to us, again and again, to place executive leadership.

      Our Team Places Talent For Trajectory Level Growth

      When you choose Cowen Partners, you get senior partner led searches, due diligence run networking, candidate vetting, critical review, and high level teamwork geared towards one goal: placing top talent, right away, for your role. This is how we became, and stay, a leading team of executive search consultants. Are you ready to make your next role the right one for massive growth?

       

      Make an Informed Hire With Cowen Partners

      Cowen Partners Core Values

       

      Ethics: We operate with integrity and always do what is best for both candidates and clients

       

      Committed: Everything we do is done on behalf of the client and with urgency

       

      Professionalism: We will always represent ourselves, clients, and candidates in a professional manner

       

      Confidentiality: We act as trusted advisors and keep all information confidential

       

      Diversity: We are committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion both internally and externally, proactively identifying and recruiting DEI talent

      At Cowen Partners, we embrace our responsibility to act as a good corporate citizen.

       

      We value our profession by advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion; our communities with our commitment to give back; and our planet through commercial work, pro bono search engagements, and ever more sustainable operations.

      Pro Bono Executive Search

       

      We believe in advancing social issues by providing access to world-class leaders through pro bono executive search services.

      Our experience spans the globe, covering countries and major cities across nearly every continent. We also specialize in a multitude of industries and professions.

      Giving back is emblematic of who we are, and it reflects the values of our firm.

      That’s why we are proud to give back and contribute in several ways, supporting a variety of causes and organizations.

      What to Look for When Hiring for Cybersecurity | CTO Recruiters | Technology Executive Search

      Community Service

       

      Our executive search consultants and staff have raised millions for charity and donated thousands of hours to community service.

      circle hands

      We are honored to give our time, donate services, sponsor food and gift drives, and raise funds to support an array of important causes that we care about deeply.

      From hosting and participating in fundraising events to sponsoring sports teams and beyond, we are relentlessly committed to:

      1. Supporting both small and large charities
      2. Donating our time, energy, and resources
      3. Advancing underfunded causes
      4. Giving back in meaningful ways

      Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

       

      At Cowen Partners, we are on a mission to strengthen DEI as a distinguishing feature of corporate culture, advancing DEI in both our profession and our client’s communities.

      Women Enriching Business

       

      A network for growth, opportunity, and advancement.

      5 Steps to Finding the Best Chief Technology Officer (CTO) | CTO Recruiters

      Environmental Sustainability

       

      From our dedication to sustainable operations to helping our clients and communities cope with complex environmental challenges, environmental sustainability plays an important role in what it means to be an exemplary global citizen.

      Research
      & Best Practices

       

      At Cowen Partners we strive to make the world a better place via research and best practices. They contribute to advancements in leadership, diversity equity and inclusion, learning, evidence-based decision-making, corporate culture and education.

      LEADERSHIP

      Shawn Cole, President

      Shawn Cole is a serial entrepreneur and executive leader with over 15 years’ experience founding and running successful companies. Shawn’s business career has been centered on value creation for both turnarounds and startups with extensive experience in M&A, consolidations, and integrations. Shawn is frequently quoted in Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, and many

      Ash Wendt, President

      As a founding partner of Cowen Partners, Ash Wendt has drawn on his career experience in sales and executive recruiting to build a vibrant, dynamic firm. His results-driven approach is rooted in discipline and strength of purpose and the belief that Cowen Partners fulfills a need across industries. He excels in developing strategic processes to

      Thomas Paik, Managing Director

      Thomas has diverse experience supporting global brands going through transformational change. At Cowen Partners, Thomas supports executive searches in the areas of human resources, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and change management. Prior to joining Cowen Partners, Thomas was the Global Talent Acquisition Director for Mercy Corps – a leading international NGO (non-governmental organization) focusing on

      Sam Torres, Managing Director

      Sam Torres serves as a senior advisor, and executive recruiter for C-Suite leaders and administrators in the executive recruitment process by providing guidance on talent across all levels of senior leadership including CEO, COO, CIO, CFO, CMO, CTO, and Vice President. He personally manages the executive search process to find, recruit, and place top executive leaders. He

      EXECUTIVE SEARCH CASE STUDIES

      President Commercial Real Estate

      The Need  One of the east coast’s largest multi family real estate companies, Beacon Communities based in Boston, was in need of a highly experienced President of Property Management when a long term executive of the company announced their retirement. This position was highly transformative, overseeing seven regional SVPs, a growing portfolio of 140 diverse

      Head of Capital Markets – Solar Energy

      The Need  As the nation’s first consumer lending platform for solar energy, Sungage’s proprietary platform was scaling quickly and the CEO needed to diversify their capital sources to the fuel the rapidly growing residential solar loan program while providing consumers the most competitive rates available. The Solution Working with the CEO and executive staff, Cowen

      Global Head of Tax

      The Need: Tax Leadership Paradigm, the world’s largest Web3, Crypto, and Blockchain venture capital firm needed to address the evolving crypto and blockchain tax climate for their funds and portfolio companies globally. Cowen Partners Executive Search was identified as a strategic partner due to our deep understanding of global tax, tax laws, lobbying, and venture

      Global NGO Chief of Staff

      The Need BOMA is a U.S nonprofit organization and Kenyan NGO that provide the people and governments of Africa’s drylands with economic inclusion programs that increase resilience to multiple crises. BOMA retained Cowen Partners to find a Chief of Staff reporting into the CEO. BOMA is implementing a new strategic growth plan and needed a

      CEO Succession Billion+ Retailer

      The Need Bi-Mart approached Cowen Partners about conducting a CEO search to replace their long time CEO. After nearly 40 years at Bi-Mart it was time to pass the baton and without any clear internal successor, they needed help finding a qualified outside CEO candidate. The Solution It was clear from early on that this

      CFO Billion+ Energy Provider

      The Need Vicinity Energy, the nation’s largest district energy provider, had just been spun off from Veolia, one of the world’s largest public service providers, and they needed a CFO. Now owned by a French private equity group and with significant financial reporting, acquisitions, and integrations on the horizon, the CFO needed to have significant

      Global Seafood General Manager Search

      The Need Ocean Beauty, one of the nation’s largest and most recognized seafood companies had just built a brand new, state-of-the-art processing facility when they retained Cowen Partners’ services to find a world class General Manager. The Solution Cowen Partners identified four highly-qualified candidates across the country, all of whom worked directly for the competition.

      Pre IPO Sales, Marketing, and Finance

      The Need Fast growing and privately held Consumer Edge is one of the nation’s leading providers of alternative data to the world’s largest hedge funds and consumer brands. Lead by its CEO and Chief Revenue Officer, the company contacted Cowen Partners to help build out enterprise sales, data partnerships, demand generation marketing, and finance functions.

      Chief Technology Officer Search & IPO

      The Need The largest privately owned coffee chain in the U.S., owned by TSG Consumer Capital, was rapidly scaling to go public and needed an experienced Chief Technology Officer to modernize the company’s information technology systems, including fulfillment, inventory, POS, app, and drive through systems, with the goal of supporting continued growth. Ultimately, they tasked

      Enterprise Sales Leadership Recruiting

      The Need One of the nation’s largest performance management and business analytics consultancies was having trouble identifying, retaining, and recruiting qualified sales leadership. The company had relied unsuccessfully on referrals, job ads, and third-party recruiters for years without success. Experiencing high turnover and declining revenue, eCapital Advisors retained Cowen Partners to recruit a new board

      COO for National Fitness Chain

      The Need Svetness Fitness, one of the fastest growing in home personal training companies in the United States, retained Cowen Partners to find their first Chief Operating Officer. Svetness was experiencing double digit growth and had obtained the capital, and expertise of a private equity group to expand operations and they needed a COO who could

      Global Human Resources Leader

      The Need  Sciforma, an award-winning provider of portfolio and project management software, retained Cowen Partners to find a global leader of human resources. As Sciforma planned for future growth across the United States, Europe, and India, they needed a strategic HR Executive that could elevate the function and be a key business partner the executive team.  The Solution

      General Counsel Supporting Sales

      The Need  ETR (Enterprise Technology Research) needed a General Counsel to support their enterprise sales team in negotiations with some of the world’s largest technology companies, be a data privacy compliance and regulatory planning subject matter expert, and a strategic business partner to the CEO and Board. The Solution Cowen Partners met with each of

      COO & CFO for Fast-Growing CPG Company

      The Need Fast-growing consumer packaged goods company, LadyBoss Health & Weight Loss, had become a $200 Million business, ranking #4 on the Inc. Fastest Growing 500 list. Managed entirely by husband and wife co-founders it was time to hire some professional management to take the company to the next level. Including operations, finance, and marketing.

      REIT VP of Tax

      The Need  Unico Properties, one of the West Coast’s largest commercial real estate investment companies was right sizing and internalizing their strategic tax function when they contacted Cowen Partners for help identifying the right person.   The Solution In partnership with the CFO, CHRO, and head of Talent Acquisition Cowen Partners profiled Unico’s ideal candidate,

      A Look At Our 4-Step Executive Recruiting Process

       

      Cowen Partners has a proven executive recruitment process for finding, vetting, and providing curated candidates lists filled with top talent that lead to trajectory level growth for your company. Our process has been field tested and proven to work. This process is how we successfully place candidates across the entire C-suite range in every type of industry.

       

      Our greatest advantage is transparency of our process. Other executive search firms obscure their process, use confusing acronyms that are hard to understand, and purposefully conceal what they are doing. We know our process works and that other firms don’t have the skill to duplicate it. That’s why we share it with our clients before we are retained. Discover how you’ll find your next candidate by reviewing our process below.

       

      1: Tailor Our Search Strategy

       

      Every organization and industry is unique. There’s no ONE solution that will work for everyone. That’s why we work with your hiring managers and team members to identify what the right fit is by:

      • Identifying the core competencies they need
      • Matching their personality to your company culture
      • Matching compensation to expectation

       

      Our senior led executive search team finds these details using competitive compensation analysis to understand how location, industry, and economic trends determine fair valuation. This analysis allows us to fairly value their talents so you attract the right list of high-caliber candidates.

       

      2: Find And Curate Candidates

       

      After we’ve established the key traits we are looking for and what compensation will incentivize them, our team begins the recruitment drive. We reach out to matching candidates using existing lists and our network of resources.

       

      Our experience shows that the right candidate is identified 90% of the time in the first 30 days with this process.

       

      This process generates a list of 50-200 qualified candidates for an executive search. During this process, we stay in touch with you so we can work together to tighten search parameters for filtering. This is key to when we start the connecting process.

       

      3: Curating & Qualifying Candidates

       

      After we’ve established a list of qualified candidates, we move to evaluations. Our team implements the 10/5/2 search method. Here’s how it works:

       

      We take the qualified list and narrow it to the top ten candidates based on the qualifications, experience, company objectives, culture and behavioral fit our team established with yours. We schedule a meeting with the key members of your team to curate that list to the top 5 candidates. 

       

      We take the top 5 candidates through a rigorous, person led, due diligence process. This includes competency-based interviews, deep dive personality and culture assessments, and more. Our process is nuanced so we can tailor down to a list of bespoke picks ensuring immediate results. This approach also protects you from getting the right talent but the wrong fit for your company objectives and culture (mismatches, on average, costs clients $240,000).

       

      This process finds your next leader in as little as 6-9 weeks.

       

      4: Selecting Your Candidate

       

      Once our executive search team has narrowed your options, we share the results. You get a deep look into your candidates’ competency evaluations and behavioral assessments. You then get to select the two most qualified finalists.

       

      Our team matches your needs to our referencing process. Every step of the process is tailored to your needs and ideal outcome. From here, you move into negotiations. These are simple and transparent conversations due to pre-vetting and the compensation analysis from earlier.

       

      From here, the timeline shifts to your company and moves at your pace. We support you so you can act with both urgency and purpose.

       

      Once you reach an agreement, our team works with you to ensure onboarding moves quickly. We also schedule consistent check-ins to ensure the candidate is proving the right fit for your company’s long-term goals.

       

      Are you ready to connect with world class talent to grow your organization? Contact us using the form below and we’ll connect you with the right executive leader necessary for trajectory level growth.

      Join Our Nationally Ranked Executive Search Firm

      Do you have what it takes to find and recruit world-class executive talent for our clients?

       

      An Innovative Workspace

      At Cowen Partners, we pride ourselves on staying at the forefront of the executive recruiting field. We invest heavily in tools that support research, and our methods are continually redesigned, tested, and improved. We aren’t afraid to try new executive recruiting strategies and explore new ideas. Part of the reason our firm is nationally ranked is because we listen to our executive recruiters, carefully reviewing their feedback and giving them a voice in the company.

       

      An Opportunity for Growth

      When you become an executive recruiter for Cowen Partners, you enter a stable career track with many opportunities for growth. We understand you want to be challenged and to continue growing professionally. When you join our company, you’ll have the chance to lead unique client projects that will not only help clients successfully grow their business but will also keep you engaged with your work. If you’re looking for an exciting challenge with plenty of rewards, we have a plethora of opportunities for you to tackle.

       

      The Perfect Work/Life Balance

      To work hard, we believe our employees need plenty of rest which is why we offer a generous amount of paid time off. A healthy work/life balance is crucial to the happiness of our employees and makes it easier for everyone to do their job well. The office is also located in a walkable neighborhood, so employees have the opportunity to stretch their legs and take in the fresh air during the workday. We did our best to create a modern office where employees can feel at home and take advantage of flexible work hours.

       

      A Competitive Compensation

      In order to recruit the best talent for our clients, we need top talent working for our firm, which is why Cowen Partners offers a very competitive compensation and benefits package to all executive recruiters. We recognize the talent and experience you bring to the table, and we know you deserve to be fairly compensated for your skills. Along with a generous salary, Cowen Partners provides the resources you need to be successful in your position. Together with a team you can work to achieve great things for our clients. Your hard work will also be recognized by our company through bonuses and other compensation opportunities.

       

      A Diverse Workplace 

      Cowen Partners is committed to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace. We want employees to feel at home in the office and safe to be their true selves. Respect is of the upmost importance at Cowen Partners, and we strive to build a workplace that fosters empowerment and belonging amongst our employees. We believe having a diverse and inclusive workforce is part of what makes our team successful.  Different perspectives bring new ideas and innovative methods for achieving success. If you have a unique perspective to bring to the table, we want you on our team.

      Get in Touch.

      Fill out the email request form to speak with an executive recruiter.