Buffkin / Baker Acquires HR-Focused Benson Executive Search
June 18, 2026 – Partner-led executive search firm Buffkin / Baker has acquired Boston, MA-based Benson Executive Search, a boutique firm focused on the human resources sector. Financial terms of deal were not disclosed. The acquisition strengthens Buffkin / Baker’s HR functional capabilities and gives the firm a stronger presence in the Northeast.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Benson Executive Search to Buffkin / Baker,” said Craig Buffkin, managing partner at Buffkin / Baker. “The addition of Benson Executive Search will significantly enhance our HR functional depth and expertise. “Their commitment to excellence, deep client relationships, and functional expertise align perfectly with our mission to deliver transformative leadership solutions. This acquisition represents an important step in our continued growth.”
“By leveraging our combined strengths across sectors like healthcare, private equity, life sciences, technology, higher education, and consumer, we can offer an even greater value to clients seeking top talent and candidates looking for new opportunities,” Mr. Buffkin continued. “We’re pleased to welcome these experienced search professionals, who’ll contribute to the firm’s growing team and further elevate our service offerings.”
Benson Executive Search places senior HR leaders across life sciences, technology, professional and financial services, manufacturing and logistics, healthcare, and industrial sectors.
With three decades of experience in the HR and people sector and a network of more than 20,000 executives, including leading HR professionals worldwide, Buffkin / Baker brings Benson Executive Search immediate access to a broader national network of candidates and clients, as well as the infrastructure of a full-service firm. Benson will continue to operate under its trusted name, now supported by the reach and resources of a leading national platform.
“We’ve spent years building a practice defined by deep expertise, genuine care for our work, and trusted relationships with both clients and candidates, and now we have the platform to take that work to an entirely new level,” said Alice Benson, CEO of Benson Executive Search. “Buffkin / Baker shares our commitment to excellence and leads with integrity, making this a natural fit for us. I’m excited about what this means for our clients, our candidates, and our team.”
Buffkin / Baker is a specialty boutique search firm composed of industry leaders in their respective fields and each has over a decade of retained search experience. Their focus as search professionals is to recruit leaders in digital marketing/advertising, technology, healthcare, media/entertainment, finance, higher education, and non-profit. The firm serves public, private, venture, and private equity-backed companies. Its office locations include Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Cleveland, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Simons Island, Tampa, Washington, D.C., and Winston-Salem.
Buffkin / Baker is a member of Panorama Search, an international federation of retained firms with 18 firms and over 30 offices globally. Buffkin / Baker formed in 2017 with the merger of the Buffkin Group and Baker and Associates LLC.
Recent Deals
Hunt Scanlon Ventures has facilitated a number of M&A transactions across the executive search space in recent months. Here is a look at a few:
Talento Human Capital has acquired R2 Global, a highly respected technology recruitment and staffing firm known for its niche expertise across cloud & data, business systems, and e-commerce. This strategic move will expand TalentoHC’s existing footprint in the technology sector and launch, as well as strengthen, its technology search & staffing service lines. “The combination of TalentoHC’s talent acquisition expertise with R2’s deep technical focus marks an exciting new chapter for both organizations,” said Juan Gaitan, CEO of TalentoHC, based in Coral Gables, FL. “R2’s agile approach to technology staffing and recruiting aligns perfectly with our mission to deliver tailored recruitment solutions. Together, as R2 Powered by Talento, we are positioned to become a premier go-to partner for IT talent and innovation,” he added. “TalentoHC and R2 Global customers will benefit tremendously from the portfolio of human capital offerings that the combined organizations now provide,” said Scott A. Scanlon, CEO and co-founder of Hunt Scanlon Ventures.
Global talent advisory firm ZRG has acquired Aspen Leadership Group, a search firm focused on placing and supporting top fundraising leaders and executive talent in educational institutions and the broader non-profit sector. “The addition of Aspen Leadership Group is nothing short of transformative,” said Larry Hartmann, CEO of ZRG. “Their expertise in development and advancement is the perfect complement to our growing education practice, and as we roll into 2025 we are unlocking the collective power of these exceptional niche businesses under the unified banner of ZRG’s education practice, creating unmatched solutions for academic and non-profit leadership.” Aspen Leadership Group, established in 2013, conducts a wide range of searches across the fundraising, education and non-profit sector and is widely considered the eminent leader in its field. Its clients include Brown University, PBS, Robin Hood, the Humane Society of the United States, the Leakey Foundation, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Denver Zoological Foundation, among others.
Talento Human Capital (TalentoHC) has acquired The PeterSan Group and PeterSan Legal Staffing. The merger brings expertise in legal recruiting to TalentoHC’s customer experience model and comprehensive human capital services, including retained executive search, professional and management recruiting, RPO, staff augmentation, and human capital consulting. Managing partners Peter Gosule, Peter Goldfeder, and Sandy Friedman of The PeterSan Group will lead the TalentoLegal business unit from New York City, where the firm has been rooted for three decades. “The PeterSan transaction fits in well with our platform strategy as we build onto our customer-centric model and expand our industry and functional vertical focus,” said Juan Gaitan, CEO of TalentoHC, based in Coral Gables, FL. “The intersection of these two approaches will create opportunities for continued growth and value for our customers, candidates, associates and shareholders.”
ZRG acquired Jamesbeck, a New York City-based recruitment firm specializing in senior-level talent for the broad investment management community across private market and traditional firms. “This strategic move aims to establish ZRG’s presence in asset management and will support the firm’s existing private markets clients by adding a new channel for senior roles at the management company level across investments, product, and fundraising,” said ZRG. “Jamesbeck has been at the forefront of decisive changes that have impacted asset management leadership for more than two decades,” said Scott A. Scanlon, CEO of Hunt Scanlon Ventures. “The firm’s acquisition by ZRG will be beneficial to clients across the global investment management space who have come to rely on its network, judgment and guidance around senior-level leadership talent,” he noted. Jamesbeck specializes in the investment management industry across public and private markets. The firm recruits senior-level talent across investing, distribution, product and C-suite positions on behalf of a range of clients from boutiques to the largest multi-product organizations. Jamesbeck’s Melissa Norris, managing partner, and Beth Rustin, founding partner, will become the co-heads of asset management search at ZRG.
Related: Inside The Deal: CEO Larry Hartmann Opens Up On ZRG’s Latest Strategic Acquisition
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
