Heidrick & Struggles To Name Ex-Goldman Exec CEO

May 13, 2015 – January 31, 2014 — Heidrick & Struggles International Inc. hopes to name a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive its next CEO, according to an unconfirmed report today by Hunt Scanlon Media, a market research firm in Greenwich, Conn., that tracks the executive search industry.

Tracy Wolstencroft would succeed Kevin Kelly, who stepped down last summer and, according to Heidrick, left the search firm last fall. The post has been occupied on an interim basis by Heidrick veteran Jory Marino.

Mr. Wolstencroft retired from Goldman in 2010 after heading its municipal finance and infrastructure group in New York. He did not immediately return a call to his Greenwich home. “He will need to dive into the trenches on day one and stabilize a brand that has been hit hard with significant financial and partner losses during the last three years,” said Christopher Hunt, president of Hunt Scanlon Media.

A Heidrick spokesman said the firm had no timetable to name a new CEO, adding, “We can’t comment on speculation.” Heidrick shares are trading at about $17 each, up from a low of $11.38 in late 2012 but only a third of their peak in 2007. Compared with 2007 revenue of $648 million and net income of $56 million, the firm is projected to report $450 million in revenue and net income of $7 million for 2013, according to analyst reports tracked by Bloomberg LP. Net income is projected to rise to $12 million this year on $478 million in revenue.

Heidrick, founded 60 years ago in Chicago, has been conducting its own search for a CEO, according to Scott Scanlon, Hunt Scanlon Media’s managing director.

Source: 
Crain’s Chicago Business, by Steven R. Strahler
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20140131/NEWS01/140139928/heidrick-struggles-to-name-ex-goldman-exec-ceo-report