The person you need isn't looking.
Senior leaders worth hiring are employed and passive. We map the market and approach them directly, in confidence.
How executive search works →
ISG, International Service Group
Executive search for U.S. companies that can't afford the wrong hire.
We don't send you CVs. We bring you the person.
Retained, confidential search for board, C-suite and VP roles across the United States. Led from Miami, part of ISG, International Service Group, since 1999.
Looking for your next U.S. role? Join our candidate network →
Bart Ilnicki, M.A.
Managing Partner, ISG-Americas®
Executive search for U.S. companies.
- 1999
- ISG founded
- 3-4 weeks
- To first candidate profiles
- 3-5
- Leaders on the shortlist
- U.S.
- Roles we search for
Where we help
Your investors want a new CFO or CEO.
Private-equity-backed and growth companies replace leaders on a clock. We run searches built around the value-creation plan.
Financial Services and PE →You're building a U.S. leadership team for a company new to the U.S. market.
The hires are U.S.-based leaders who know this market. We run the search here, with you.
Start a search →What we do
Recruiting and executive search, and everything that sits around them.
Core practice
Executive Search
Retained, confidential, direct-approach search for board, C-suite and senior leadership mandates. No advertisement, no waiting for applications. We map the market, approach the people who are not looking, and present a shortlist we are willing to defend, with a written recommendation and an honest view of the risks. First profiles typically within three to four weeks.
Core practice
Recruiting
Professional and specialist hiring across every sector we serve, director, manager and senior individual contributor level. Database search, targeted advertising and direct sourcing, combined. Faster and lighter than a retained search, with the same standard of assessment behind every candidate we put in front of you.
Sector portfolio
Cross-sector by design.
Eight sector practices plus AI leadership, each backed by the ISG sector group behind it. We know the U.S. leaders in each sector, and who is ready for the next seat.
Core sector
Industry, Manufacturing, Aerospace & Defense
From aerospace and defense through advanced manufacturing and process, technical leadership, with a P&L attached to it.
Explore this sector →
Core sector
Travel, Leisure & Private
Hotel groups, resorts, management companies, gaming operators and PE-backed hospitality platforms, the sector where our network runs deepest.
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Core sector
Healthworld
Health systems, biotech, pharma and medical technology, ISG's dedicated healthcare division.
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Core sector
Financial Services
The deepest, highest-paying search market in the United States, and the one where nobody is applying.
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Growth sector
Technology
Technology, SaaS and digital-asset companies are rebuilding their leadership benches, and the top of the org chart moves first.
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Growth sector
Business Consultancy & Building & Construction
Two adjacent ISG sector groups with structural demand: professional-services leadership, and the people building the country.
Explore this sector →
Specialist sector
Commerce & Consumer
Retail, food and beverage, e-commerce and consumer brands, shaped by population shifts and margin pressure.
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Specialist sector
Transport & Logistics
Ports, air cargo, freight and national distribution networks.
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Cross-sector
AI Leadership
The fastest-growing title in the C-suite, a small, densely networked, almost entirely passive market.
Explore this practice →
The market has changed
The talent is now scarcer than the job.
2.0%
U.S. unemployment among accountants and auditors, 2025.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025 annual average
4.5 yrs
Average tenure of a sitting CFO at Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies.
76%
Of organizations now have a Chief AI Officer, up from 26% a year earlier.
Why the United States, why now
Companies are moving. Leadership has to follow.
When a company relocates or expands into a new U.S. market, the leadership has to be built locally. Within a year a senior bench has to be hired, in a market the business does not yet know. We are built for exactly that moment, wherever in the United States that market is.
Inbound
Companies relocating or expanding within the United States, rebuilding a leadership bench in a market where they have no local network yet.
Relocating
Companies moving their headquarters to a new U.S. city, and the leaders who need to be hired there, from someone who already knows that market and its people.
Incumbent
Established businesses upgrading the bench, with a search run to one standard by a partner who answers the phone.
Our approach
An AI-native practice, run by people.
A sourcing exercise that used to take two weeks produces a ranked long-list the same day. Market maps ship overnight. Every approach is written for the person receiving it. And every judgment that matters, who to present, who to cut, whether they will survive your board, is still made by someone who has done this for twenty-five years.
"We use technology to find more people, and judgment to present fewer."
How ISG works
A retained search, explained in plain language.
Confidentiality
Your search is private, and so are the conversations behind it.
A retained search is exclusive to us and never advertised. Your company name is only shared with a candidate once they have been qualified and briefed under a verbal NDA. Internal moves, board changes and replacements are handled without a footprint in the market. References are taken with your permission, on named targets, not by broadcasting your interest.
- 01
We agree the brief
A 60-minute working session to define the role, the person, the market to approach, and the engagement model. You sign, we start.
- 02
We approach the market
We map the target companies, identify the right people inside them, and approach each one directly and confidentially. No adverts, no inbound CVs.
- 03
We present a shortlist
Within three to four weeks, three to five interviewed and referenced candidates, with a written recommendation and an honest view of the risks.
- 04
We help you close
Interview coordination, offer negotiation and resignation support. We stay in the process until the candidate is in the seat.
Prefer a lighter engagement: contingent, exclusive or retained lite? See which engagement model fits your search →
For employers
Tell us the role. We'll tell you who's available.
Fifteen minutes is usually enough for us both to know whether we can help.
- 01We reply within one business day.
- 02A thirty-minute call to pressure-test the brief.
- 03A written proposal: scope, engagement model, timeline.
- 04First candidate profiles within three to four weeks of kick-off.
Confidential. Your brief is read only by the ISG-USA partner, never shared with candidates without your approval.
For candidates
Looking for your next role in the United States?
Join our candidate network. We work discreetly, and we only reach out when something fits.