Whaley Search Partners is a retained executive search and leadership advisory firm focused on Vice President, President, General Manager, and C-suite appointments. We help organizations define the mandate, reach the relevant market, assess executives carefully, and make a confident final decision.

We work with organizations facing important leadership decisions during growth, succession, transformation, integration, professionalization, or change. Clients may be privately owned, founder-led, family-owned, publicly traded, or private-equity-backed.

Our work is concentrated at the Vice President through C-suite level, including Presidents, General Managers, division leaders, functional executives, and other enterprise-critical appointments.

Retained search gives one firm responsibility for leading the assignment from role definition through offer and transition.

Contingency recruiting generally focuses on presenting candidates and earns a fee only if a placement is made. Retained search is designed for senior leadership decisions that require deeper research, assessment, confidentiality, and counsel.

Every engagement is personally led by the Managing Partner from the initial intake through candidate assessment, presentation, and final selection. Depending on the needs of the assignment, additional research and operational support may be used behind the scenes, but the client relationship is never delegated.

Heather personally conducts the substantive candidate interviews, evaluates each candidate against the agreed search criteria, and determines who is presented. You have one accountable partner throughout your search, with direct access whenever judgment, candor, or a difficult decision is required.

The search begins with a focused 60–90 minute intake with the hiring authority and relevant stakeholders. We go beyond the job description to clarify the business mandate, culture, stakeholders, success measures, compensation, risks, and conditions for success.

Timing depends on the mandate, candidate market, interview process, and speed of client decisions. We establish a realistic plan at the outset and maintain momentum without forcing a deadline that could compromise the outcome.

Most searches produce a carefully assessed shortlist of four to six executives. The goal is to present credible, differentiated choices that give the client a clear basis for comparison and decision-making.

It gives the client meaningful choices instead of several versions of the same candidate.

The shortlist intentionally includes a lighter option—an executive stepping into greater scope; an on-mandate option—an executive closely matching the brief; and a heavier option—an executive who has already operated at greater scale. This helps clients test assumptions and compare meaningful tradeoffs.

This deliberate contrast helps decision-makers calibrate what the role truly requires rather than defaulting to artificial consensus.

Yes. Many strong executives are not actively applying for roles. We discreetly approach leaders whose experience, results, motivation, leadership style, and circumstances may align with the mandate.

Every assessment is tied to what the next leader must accomplish.

We protect the whole relationship.

When we establish a protected client relationship, we do not recruit from that organization simply because an executive sits outside a placed leader’s direct reporting line. To us, partnership extends across the organization.

At the same time, we are deliberate about the clients and searches we accept. We stay close to the markets where our expertise creates an advantage while maintaining enough diversity across our client portfolio to preserve meaningful access to talent.

More clients do not always mean more access.

When a search firm represents a very large share of a market, a correspondingly large portion of that market may become unavailable as a source of talent.

We work deliberately to maintain the balance: deep expertise, broad access, and absolute clarity about whose interests we protect.

Yes. We have declined searches before, and we will do so again.

We take on an assignment only when we believe we can do exceptional work and the partnership is built on trust, candor, access, and mutual respect.

Sometimes that is an ethical decision. We take our responsibility to protect existing client relationships seriously, and there are situations where maintaining access to a company as a source of talent for a client is more important than pursuing that company as a prospective client. We will not bring executives in through one door while recruiting them out through another.

Other times, it is simply a matter of fit. If we do not believe we can align on the mandate, communicate candidly, or deliver at the standard the search deserves, we would rather decline the work than accept an assignment we are not confident we should undertake.

The objective is not to win every search. It is to take on the right searches and do them exceptionally well.

The client remains actively involved. The partnership works best when decision-makers provide access, prompt feedback, and continued alignment around the mandate while we lead the search.

Yes. We structure the interview process, prepare both sides, gather feedback, identify areas requiring deeper examination, coordinate references, support offer strategy, and help the client reach a well-informed decision.

Yes. Our role continues through resignation, counteroffer risk, transition, and early onboarding so the executive and organization can begin with greater alignment and momentum.

Our service charge is structured around defined search milestones, creating a performance-aligned model that keeps our interests closely aligned with the client’s throughout the assignment.

The specific payment schedule, milestone definitions, and all applicable terms are clearly outlined in every executed client search agreement.

Amounts already earned are not refunded because they compensate for professional work and expertise already delivered. Think of it much like engaging an experienced architect: changing direction later does not erase the value of the work already completed.

In more than 25 years of executive search work, Heather Whaley has never had a client cancel an assignment because she failed to deliver against the agreed search process.

If a qualifying Whaley Search Partners placement voluntarily resigns or is terminated for cause within two years of the executive’s start date, we start again from square one—new market work, outreach, assessment, advisory support, and execution.

Rather than charging a second full service charge, we repeat that work at a substantially reduced replacement service charge. It is not a free replacement search; the original assignment was completed and the circumstance triggering the replacement occurred afterward.

We believe that strikes the right balance: standing behind the placement and materially reducing the cost of doing the work again while recognizing the professional work already completed.

The specific replacement service charge, eligibility requirements, exclusions, notice requirements, and all controlling terms are clearly defined in every executed client search agreement. Full details are available in our Two-Year Replacement Commitment on the Results & Relationships page.

Yes. We handle confidential replacements, sensitive succession matters, newly created roles, and other leadership situations requiring discretion. The search strategy and information-sharing process are tailored to the situation.

We share information carefully and in stages.

Once mutual interest is established, we typically ask executives to sign an NDA before particularly sensitive information is disclosed. We also protect confidential client materials, including financial information, transaction details, organizational charts, and succession plans.

Yes. Executives may confidentially share their background for appropriate future mandates.

An introduction does not guarantee an immediate opportunity, and we do not contact a current employer or conduct references without the executive’s knowledge and permission.

We are best suited for organizations that value direct access, candid counsel, careful assessment, discretion, and active involvement from decision-makers.

Our retained model may not be the right fit when the priority is resume volume or engaging several firms on the same assignment.

Choose the conversation that fits your situation.

For companies: Tell us what is changing, what is at stake, and what the next leader must accomplish. A completed job description is not required.

For executives: Share your background and the types of leadership situations where your experience may be relevant. Introductions are handled confidentially.