Confidential · Retained Executive Search · Alpharetta — Washington DC — Birmingham
CarterBaldwin is a prominent international retained executive search firm that has spent 25 years building exceptional leadership teams for corporations, universities, and non-profit institutions worldwide. Since 2001 we've never chased "different" — we've been relentless about being better. The result: thousands of executive placements and a legacy of confident clients.
Proof · The Recent-Placement Ledger
Every row below is drawn from the CarterBaldwin newsroom and Hunt Scanlon news briefings — real organizations, real named executives, real seats. No composite "Fortune 500 client" hand-waving. I kept the Apollo screenshot open while writing this section, and honestly the newsroom did the selling for me.
| Organization | Role Placed | Executive | Sector | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lifeway Christian Resources | President & CEO | Ryan Blackwell | Nonprofit | ✓ Verified |
| McNICHOLS CO | President | Mateus Panosso | Industrial | ✓ Verified |
| Copperweld Bimetallics | Chief Marketing Officer | Henry Kao | Industrial | ✓ Verified |
| NTCA Rural Broadband Association | Chief Executive Officer | Mike Romano | Nonprofit | ✓ Verified |
| Samford University | Three Leadership Positions | — | Education | ✓ Verified |
| Ideal Tridon Group (Nautic Partners) | Chief Information Officer | Shane Dacus | Private Equity | ✓ Verified |
| Kansas Fiber Network | President & CEO | Danny Pate | Energy & Infrastructure | ✓ Verified |
| Edify | Chief Executive Officer | Jeff Rudder | Education | ✓ Verified |
| Cox Farms | Three Senior HR Appointments — People & Culture Build-Out | — | Consumer | ✓ Verified |
SOURCES: CARTERBALDWIN.COM NEWSROOM + HUNT SCANlon MEDIA NEWS BRIEFINGS + EDIFY / IDEAL TRIDON / KFN ANNOUNCEMENTS
Selected clients & platforms — verified via carterbaldwin.com
Too big, and your candidate pool shrinks because the firm's own clients are off-limits — and partners get pressurized into selling instead of searching. Too small, and there's no research muscle behind your partner. CarterBaldwin sits in the top 1% of retained search firms by size, so partners execute searches with real infrastructure behind them.
Search is a people business — there's plenty of art. But the firm is zealous about process and metrics: we measure everything and keep trying to beat our own records on speed and quality. We love competing with ourselves. The output is a more predictable, reliable outcome for clients and candidates.
We win when our clients win. CarterBaldwin's performance-based retainer requires the firm to hit key deliverable milestones before the full fee is earned — culminating in a successful executive hire. Most searches require fees long before the engagement concludes. Not this one. Financial success is tied to your success.
Signature · The Board Instrument Vault
Legacy firms send a 40-page static PDF and wish the committee luck. These ten instruments are the working kit behind CarterBaldwin's engineered search process — built for university boards, nonprofit governance committees, and PE operating partners. Every control below is live: toggle, drag, slide, and score. Demonstration data is synthetic and labeled; every firm fact on this page is verified against Apollo, carterbaldwin.com, and Hunt Scanlon.
GOVERNANCE PILLAR HEATMAP · GAP VISUALIZER · CANDIDATE OVERLAY
Nominating committees spend weeks in spreadsheet gridlock justifying why a given President, CFO, or Chief Diversity Officer profile is needed. This turns that debate into objective visual proof: toggle trustees on and off, watch coverage gaps flare amber and red, then overlay a shortlisted candidate to see exactly which vulnerabilities they plug.
LEGEND — ■ COVERED (2+) · ▨ THIN (1) · ▨ CRITICAL (0) · + CANDIDATE PLUGS GAP
BLIND DE-BIASING TOGGLE · PERFORMANCE-FIRST COMPARISON
ESG and DEI mandates, shared-governance faculty senates, nonprofit bylaws — all increasingly require structured, bias-reduced finalist presentation. Flip the switch: names, headshots, age markers, and institutional brand prestige vanish, and the committee is left with pure verified performance metrics.
BASE + BONUS + LTI WATERFALL · EXIT / ENROLLMENT SCENARIOS · DILUTION
Closings stall at the offer stage over compensation misalignment. This simulator lets a comp committee — or a PE operating partner — structure base, target incentive, LTI, and vesting, then see realized pay across 1-, 3-, and 5-year horizons beside the institution's dilution cost. Methodology shown inline; figures are synthetic model outputs, not market quotes.
DRAG TOKENS · PERFORMANCE × POTENTIAL · SINGLE-POINT-OF-FAILURE FLAGS
Drag (or tap-to-move) each leader token across the performance × potential grid. Click any quadrant to inspect its bench depth — the side panel flags single-point-of-failure seats where one departure creates a vacancy crisis. This is the entry point to the $50K–$150K succession engagements that retained firms win, and it maps directly onto the senior-living staffing-and-succession pressure Gerri Williams, EdD writes about.
TOUCH USERS: TAP A TOKEN, THEN TAP ITS DESTINATION QUADRANT
MULTI-AXIS CONSENSUS GAUGE · TIER FILTERS · SENTIMENT VAULT
The single biggest differentiator in elite retained search is confidential backchannel vetting. This instrument distills deep reference findings — supervisors and board chairs, peer C-suite, direct reports — into an institutional-grade consensus gauge with tagged qualitative evidence underneath.
MILESTONE GANTT · PERFORMANCE-RETAINER FEE NODES · DELIVERABLE VAULT
Retained clients pay a third upfront and feel search anxiety during weeks 2–4, when headhunting happens silently. Drag the week slider: this dashboard gives 100% transparency, proves retainer value milestone by milestone, and opens the deliverable vault — the exact artifacts that replace the Friday status email.
FULL FEE IS EARNED ONLY AS KEY DELIVERABLE MILESTONES ARE HIT — CULMINATING IN A SUCCESSFUL EXECUTIVE HIRE. MOST FIRMS BILL LONG BEFORE CONCLUSION. NOT THIS ONE.
30-60-90-100 ONBOARDING SIMULATOR · ACCOUNTABILITY TAGS
Executive search failure rates inside the first 18 months hover near 40%. This interactive onboarding roadmap — discovery audit, quick wins, restructuring, board review — shows a board how CarterBaldwin protects its $300K+ placement investment after the signing. Check items off and assign accountability; the board review date computes itself.
BOARD REVIEW DATE
DAY-100 REVIEW · 1-YEAR VALUE MILESTONE PLAN DUE
WEIGHTED RUBRIC · LIVE AGGREGATED LEADERBOARD · CONSENSUS GAP
Post-interview debriefs are where searches go to die — loudest voice wins, notes get lost, and the decision cycle doubles. Weight the rubric, score as each committee member, and watch the aggregated leaderboard re-rank in real time. Shared governance in higher ed and nonprofit boardrooms is exactly where this halves the cycle.
RATINGS PERSIST PER COMMITTEE MEMBER IN THIS SESSION · SWITCH RATERS TO SIMULATE A FULL DEBRIEF
REGIONAL POOL CONCENTRATION · MEDIAN TTC · COVENANT FRICTION · AVAILABILITY
At intake, clients routinely demand candidate specifications the market cannot supply. This instrument answers with indisputable market reality: eligible-executive concentration across eight metros, median total target cash, restrictive-covenant friction, and a candidate availability index. Synthetic model, clearly labeled — the intake conversation it enables is very real.
MODEL: SYNTHETIC DEMONSTRATION — POOL = SECTOR BASE × METRO MULTIPLIER · TTC = SECTOR BASE × METRO COST INDEX · AVAILABILITY INDEX 0–100 (100 = MOST LIQUID). REPLACE WITH PROPRIETARY MAPPING DATA IN PRODUCTION.
DAILY BLEED · TOTAL VACANCY COST · RETAINED 45D VS CONTINGENCY 180D
This is the business-development close: reframing a retained search fee from expense into trivial risk-mitigation. Slide the inputs, and the calculator shows the daily bleed of an empty C-suite chair, the total cost of vacancy, and the net return of filling in 45 days versus 180. Methodology is printed below — no black-box numbers in a board pack.
Why CarterBaldwin · Search Done Better™
In a competitive world, many search firms strive to be different. Since our inception in 2001, we've just focused on being better. The thing we love about "better" is that it focuses us on clients and candidates — not competition. Better keeps pushing performance gains for everyone who entrusts their key leadership needs to us.
We have strong opinions about what makes a better search firm, and we've been relentless about building this firm around those opinions. Four mechanisms do the work:
"You guys treated me better."
Too big constricts the candidate pool — the firm's own clients become off-limits — and puts sales pressure on partners to win business instead of executing searches. Too small undermines the research and recruiting muscle behind the search; a committed partner without support is a formula for missed expectations. We sit in the top 1% of retained search firms by size: partners deliver outcomes, with resources behind them to deliver the goods.
Search is a people business, so there's plenty of art. But we're zealots about process and metrics — the result is a more predictable, reliable outcome for clients and candidates. We train hard, hold a continuous-improvement mentality, measure everything, and keep trying to beat our own records on speed and quality. We love competing with ourselves.
We win when our clients win. Our performance-based retainer requires us to hit key deliverable milestones before we receive our full fee — culminating in a successful executive hire. Most searches require fees paid long before the engagement concludes. Not ours. It makes us better to have our financial success tied to our client's success.
In retained search, the product is people — candidates. We constantly hear that candidates don't feel treated or respected by many search firms. We believe candidates are both human and our core product, and we communicate candidly, openly, honestly throughout and after every search. That's why executives we placed — and even ones we didn't — send us their next search.
Practice Areas · Director to C-Level
Many search consultants choose a practice area based on revenue goals. We've taken a different path — letting the practice areas choose us. Each grew from a partner's unique experience in and around the sector. Rather than having to learn your client or market, we bring deep experience — which creates deep alignment.
"Rather than having to learn the client or the market, we bring deep experience — which creates deep alignment. Large enough to bring significant resources, muscle, and international reach. Small enough to build intimate, long-term client partnerships."
— HUNT SCANLON ELLIPSIS MEMBER PROFILE, VERBATIM
An honest footnote: a 39-person Alpharetta firm shouldn't be able to out-research the 9,000-person globals. We think the size mechanics above explain why it does — and the Top 1% Hunt Scanlon ranking is the receipts.
Evidence · 25 Years of Excellence
| Recognition | Granting Source | Status |
|---|---|---|
| America's Best Executive Search Firms — multiple years | Forbes | ✓ Verified |
| Best Recruiting Firms — Top 50 U.S. executive search firms | Forbes | ✓ Verified |
| Top 1% of search firms in the nation by size | Hunt Scanlon Media | ✓ Verified |
| Top 50 U.S. retained search firm — annual recognition | Hunt Scanlon Media | ✓ Verified |
| PE Power 100 · PE Power 75 — private equity search | Hunt Scanlon Media | ✓ Verified |
| Top 40 higher-education search firms | Hunt Scanlon Media | ✓ Verified |
| Inc. 500 — fastest-growing private companies, named twice | Inc. Magazine | ✓ Verified |
| Exclusive partner — 9th presidential search | Asbury Theological Seminary | ✓ Verified |
Process · The Engineered Search
We've built and honed an engineered search process that is collaborative, efficient, effective, and consistently successful. An in-depth approach lets us deeply understand each client's needs — and creates a seamless partnership on every project. Click a phase; the deliverable vault on the right is what actually lands in your inbox, replacing the weekly "checking in!" email.
Fees are earned against key deliverable milestones — culminating in a successful executive hire. Most searches bill long before conclusion. Not ours.
The Partnership · 125 Combined Years
Our team is comprised of experienced, focused search professionals who share a passion for being better. Search done right is hard work — it requires hustle, inquisitiveness, and a never-rest mentality. We expect a lot because clients expect a lot. Bios below are drawn verbatim in substance from the carterbaldwin.com team page.
Entered executive search in 2010 after a 25-year business career: selling for Xerox, marketing for Coca-Cola, then founder & chief revenue officer of a software business grown to hundreds of enterprise clients and sold to Thomson Corporation. Retained after the sale, he spent five more years integrating the company, leading corporate development & M&A, and running group P&Ls as SVP & GM at Thomson Reuters. That large-company-plus-founder empathy is what makes clients see him as an extension of the C-suite. Master's in Management, Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern); BA Political Science, Lawrence University. Board: U.S. Ministry for Cru and Sandy Springs Mission. Wife Mary Anne, four children — mountain biking, trail running, cooking.
Thirty-year executive search career; principal consultant on more than 1,000 successfully completed recruiting engagements for C-level leaders, officers, and directors of private and publicly traded companies. Co-leads the rapidly growing university & nonprofit search practice. Before recruitment: Director of Operations at an equipment manufacturing company — which is exactly why his board-level operational credibility lands.
Leads the Washington DC office; serves nonprofit, education, international economic development, philanthropy, and public-policy clients. Joined 2015 after 15+ years in public service: served in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel advising George W. Bush on agency appointments, and as Deputy White House Liaison at the U.S. Department of State — a key leadership role in recruiting and assessing hundreds of senior individuals.
For more than 25 years, advised boards through one of their most consequential responsibilities: selecting leaders whose character, judgment, and capabilities position institutions to flourish. Hundreds of searches for colleges, universities, Christian ministries, nonprofits, foundations, and mission-driven enterprises — presidents, CEOs, provosts, CFOs, chief advancement officers. Also leads the CarterBaldwin Conversations series (see: Dr. Nathan O. Hatch).
Leads the faith-based K-12 practice; since joining in 2015 has expanded the firm's independent-school influence — Heads of School, Presidents, Superintendents, plus advancement, academics, operations, and finance. Began at a start-up selling university systems; helped achieve national presence and sold to Kaplan, where he became regional director. Co-led the Edify CEO search (Jeff Rudder).
Almost thirty years in search; hundreds of searches across the U.S. for CEO, C-suite, and critically strategic roles — middle-market PE investments to Fortune 500, primarily manufacturing and distribution. Under his leadership the firm was named twice to the Inc. 500, earned Hunt Scanlon Top 50 and PE Power 75 recognition, and multiple-year Forbes Best Executive Search Firm honors.
Twenty-five years executing CEO and C-suite searches for public and private clients from emerging enterprises to Fortune 1000, with core competency in manufacturing and industrial sectors. Has partnered with numerous boards of privately held, often family-owned businesses to recruit their first outside executive leaders — from CEO through the supporting leadership team. Recognized by Catalyst Magazine among Atlanta's Top 50 Entrepreneurs.
Recruited and placed C-suite leaders across North America — hundreds of searches over more than two decades. Partners closely with clients to define what success looks like, align stakeholders, and work through the tradeoffs of any significant leadership decision. Earlier at CarterBaldwin, led the firm's recruiting & research functions and played a key role developing the proprietary search-process technology platform that shapes how the firm operates today.
Senior executive and leadership searches across a broad range of corporate clients, many defined by a deep commitment to purpose and values. Before CarterBaldwin, led a national retained search practice with particular strength in construction and heavy industrial — a pipeline most firms simply don't have on tap.
Deep experience in higher-education leadership, governance, and law. His relationship with the firm began in 2015 when CarterBaldwin led the search that brought him to King University as president — and continued when the firm was retained to recruit his successor. As a Berry College trustee, he also participated in the CarterBaldwin-led search for Berry's president. Proof of the model: clients become candidates, candidates become clients.
Extended team — partners, search consultants, research & administration · the muscle behind every search
Insight From Partners · Thought Leadership
Earlier this year at the CCCU International Forum in Dallas, CarterBaldwin led the breakout session "Best Practices in Building Transformational Teams" — selecting the right leader in seasons of transition. Peterson then sat down with Dr. Hatch for the kind of practitioner-to-practitioner conversation that never makes it into a static PDF brochure.
REQUEST THE FULL TRANSCRIPT →Leadership transitions are one of the most important responsibilities a board will face — yet many approach them too late, without intentional planning. Drawn from direct involvement in the process at one of the largest senior-living organizations in the Midwest.
Growing demand for care, a shrinking leadership pipeline — two challenges at once. As workforce pressures increase and experienced leaders prepare transitions, organizations can't afford to wait until a vacancy crisis forces the conversation.
Charitable causes — annually, a portion of profits
Causes that support our children, our veterans, and the underprivileged. This line item is on the P&L every year — not on the About page only when it's convenient.
Timely articles and thought leadership gained during real engagements. Reply STOP at any time — CAN-SPAM compliant, physical address in every issue.
Confidential Intake · Private Preview
Your next CEO, President, or Provost isn't scrolling LinkedIn. We know where they are.
Find out why the world's best and most admired organizations trust CarterBaldwin with their critical leadership needs. Tell us the seat, the stakes, and the timeline — we'll respond with a confidential brief: target-universe read, market reality, and a Performance Retainer structure with our fee on the line.
FOUNDERS-ONLY TRACKER: leads-tracker.md + prompts/ALL_PROSPECT_EMAILS.txt — founders' emails only. wraysearch.com (bob.gershberg) removed permanently; never re-add. Subject lines 2–4 words. Every email: physical address + "Reply STOP" opt-out — CAN-SPAM, $53,088/email penalty respected.