Who runs board and chief executive searches?
Board and C-Suite Search: What The Shortlist Report Finds
Spencer Stuart appeared in 86.8% of 265 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 Stuart230 of 265
Conducts CEO, board, and senior C-suite searches for large enterprises and succession planning.
Russell Reynolds Associates183 of 265
Conducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large public companies and financial services.
Korn Ferry171 of 265
Conducts CEO, C-suite, board, and leadership assessment searches for large global organizations.
Egon Zehnder168 of 265
Executive search for CEO succession, board work, and leadership assessment across global enterprises.
Heidrick & Struggles168 of 265
Conducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large companies and PE-backed organizations.
+5 more namedin the table
Based on 265 ChatGPT responses to this question, collected August 11, 2026–October 8, 2026. Firms are counted once per response. How we measure.
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. | 230 of 265 | 86.8% | |
| Tier 2 4 firms, 63.4–69.1% | |||
| Russell Reynolds Associatesrussellreynolds.coConducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large public companies and financial services. | 183 of 265 | 69.1% | |
| Korn Ferrykornferry.comConducts CEO, C-suite, board, and leadership assessment searches for large global organizations. | 171 of 265 | 64.5% | |
| Egon Zehnderegonzehnder.comExecutive search for CEO succession, board work, and leadership assessment across global enterprises. | 168 of 265 | 63.4% | |
| Heidrick & StrugglesConducts CEO, C-suite, and board searches for large companies and PE-backed organizations. | 168 of 265 | 63.4% | |
| Tier 3 4 firms, 20.4–27.2% | |||
| ON PartnersRetained executive search for C-suite, board, and PE/VC portfolio-company placements. | 72 of 265 | 27.2% | |
| Boydenboyden.comConducts confidential senior executive searches, especially mid-market and international. | 71 of 265 | 26.8% | |
| Crist Kolder Associatescristkolder.comRecruits senior finance and operating executives, particularly CFOs and CEOs for large companies, private-equity-backed businesses, and public companies. | 56 of 265 | 21.1% | |
| DHR GlobalConducts board and C-suite searches with broad financial-services coverage across banking, capital markets, PE/VC, and insurance. | 54 of 265 | 20.4% | |
| Tier 4 stands alone | |||
| Odgers Berndtsonodgersberndtson.comConducts global C-suite, functional leadership, and CFO searches across listed companies, PE, and nonprofits. | 49 of 265 | 18.5% | |
Key findings
- Spencer Stuart leads this sample alone, named in 230 of 265 ChatGPT responses (86.8%) to the question “Who runs board and chief executive searches?”, collected August 11, 2026–October 8, 2026.
- 10 firms cleared the reporting threshold on “Who runs board and chief executive searches?” in ChatGPT as of October 8, 2026; the full table with response counts is below.
- Spencer Stuart appears in 8 of the 10 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 230 of 265 ChatGPT responses (86.8%). No other firm in this sample comes close enough to be grouped with it.
Tier 2 holds Russell Reynolds Associates, Korn Ferry, Egon Zehnder and Heidrick & Struggles, named in 168 to 183 of 265 responses (63.4–69.1%). 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 ON Partners, Boyden, Crist Kolder Associates and DHR Global, named in 54 to 72 of 265 responses (20.4–27.2%). 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 4 holds Odgers Berndtson, named in 49 to 49 of 265 responses (18.5–18.5%). 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.
The test is McNemar’s at 95%, applied against the same 265 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 230 of the 265 responses to this question (86.8%).
83 firms were named at least once across the sample. 10 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 8, 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). Board and C-Suite Search: What The Shortlist Report Finds. The Shortlist Report. https://www.shortlistreport.com/article/executive-search-enterprise-and-board
Underlying counts: CSV · JSON. Every answer they were counted from: plain text · JSON. All reusable under CC BY 4.0 with attribution.