Diversified Search Appoints General Counsel
September 24, 2018 – Executive search firm Diversified Search, one of the top 10 executive recruitment firms in the U.S., has continued its recent expansion with the addition of seasoned Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) executive Denielle Pemberton-Heard as its new general counsel and managing director. She will be based in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office.
“Talented, driven, and with a deep professional network across multiple sectors, Denielle is a dream addition to Diversified Search,” said Dale E. Jones, president and CEO. “We are confident she will bring invaluable expertise and insight not only in her role as general counsel for the firm, but also across every one of our 17 individual practices.”
In addition, Ms. Pemberton-Heard will serve as a senior advisor to STEMconnector, a professional services firm committed to increasing the number of STEM-ready workers in the global talent pool. Owned by Diversified Search, it provides a platform to engage leaders in both public and private sectors who collectively are re-envisioning the workforce.
A highly experienced arts and entertainment executive, Ms. Pemberton-Heard most recently served as group counsel, programming and business affairs at PBS. In this capacity she directed transactional work related to the production, distribution and syndication of content across all platforms on behalf of PBS and its 300 plus member stations, and led negotiations between and among PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, on-air talent, program funders and foundations.
Before that, Ms. Pemberton-Heard served as group counsel for Thales Inc., a French-owned communications concern, and as VP of legal and business affairs at Time-Life. She has also held in-house positions at Discovery Communications and began her law career in private practice with Connecticut’s Wiggin and Dana. She was subsequently associated with the New York firm of Cowan Liebowitz and Latman, where she focused on intellectual property litigation.
General Counsel: A New Pathway to CEO
The general counsel role has been vital for companies maintaining an international presence. “The role and stature of the general counsel position has expanded globally,” said Paul Williams, a partner in MLA’s Chicago office.
Recent Expansion
Diversified has experienced a wave of growth in recent months. Recently, it named Michael Sarnoff as the new leader of its financial services practice and Lionel Anderson as managing director in the education, non-profit, and arts and culture practice. Mr. Sarnoff, who is based in Southern California, previously was co-founder and partner at Highland Road LLC, a boutique executive search and capital advisory firm in Los Angeles. His clients have included asset and investment managers, hedge funds, private equity and private debt funds, and investment banks, among others. Mr. Anderson will be based in Washington, D.C. His executive search career started at Isaacson, Miller, where he recruited senior leadership for colleges, universities and foundations. Within higher education, he has focused on presidential searches. Among his previous clients are the Chemical Heritage Foundation, Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Morehouse College, New York University, Northeastern University, Smith College, Temple University, Tuskegee University and the University of Bridgeport.
This spring, the firm added Kyung H. Yoon as a senior advisor. She brings added strength to the firm’s innovation and transformation, consumer and retail, CEO and board practices. Ms. Yoon is CEO and founder of the Silicon Valley-based Talent Age Associates, where she has developed talent strategies for the Fortune 500, multinational corporations and mid-cap/venture-backed companies in the technology, fashion, consumer, lifestyle and financial sectors. She was formerly vice chairman of Heidrick & Struggles and is regularly engaged as a corporate director, advisor and executive search and organizational consultant.
Prior to that, Diversified expanded into Boston with the addition of Molly A. Robb, a seasoned search executive with more than 20 years’ experience placing C-suite talent in the healthcare, private equity/venture capital and life sciences sectors. She joined the firm as a managing director and will work under the umbrella of San Francisco-based BioQuest, which became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Diversified Search in 2016. Ms. Robb joins Diversified from Horton International, where she served as a managing director specializing in recruiting senior-level healthcare investors and operating leaders within healthcare private equity and venture capital and both public and private life sciences companies.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
