ForceBrands Appoints Head of Executive Search
September 28, 2026 – ForceBrands, a hiring and talent solutions partner for the consumer industry, has strengthened its executive search practice with the addition of Brian Waivada. He will lead the team and oversee the practice’s continued expansion. “This appointment builds on the strength and momentum of our executive search practice,” said Rob Ganjon, CEO of ForceBrands. “We’ve spent 20 years building this company into the category leader, and adding an executive with Brian’s depth of experience will ensure we stay there. His combination of search expertise, operating experience, and deep familiarity with the private equity ecosystem will strengthen ForceBrands’ ability to support investors and consumer businesses navigating increasingly complex leadership and organizational decisions.”
Mr. Waivada brings more than 28 years of retained executive search and in-house talent acquisition experience, including extensive work with private equity firms and their portfolio companies. His career spans both sides of the talent equation: advising organizations through retained executive search and building talent acquisition functions within major global organizations.
Most recently, Mr. Waivada served as a partner at JM Search and a member of the firm’s technology practice. Over the course of his career, he has completed more than 500 executive searches. Executives he has placed have gone on to participate in more than 50 company exits representing over $35 billion in enterprise value. His experience includes searches for CEOs and general managers, CFOs and senior finance leaders, and private equity operating partners.
Previously, Mr. Waivada was a partner at Bespoke Partners, where he led the firm’s CEO and financial officer practices as the organization scaled and ultimately completed a sale to private equity. Before that, he was an early partner at True Search and played an instrumental role in its growth from approximately 30 employees to more than 300. His work at True focused heavily on CEO, CFO, COO, and operating partner searches for private equity-backed companies. Earlier in his career, Mr. Waivada led global talent acquisition functions at McKinsey and BlackRock and worked in private equity executive search at Heidrick & Struggles and Patriarch Partners.
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“I’m excited to build on ForceBrands’ 20-year track record and trusted relationships across the consumer industry,” said Mr. Waivada. “The firm’s category expertise and broader talent platform create a powerful foundation for executive search. I look forward to helping clients find the leaders they need for what’s next.”
Scaling Growth Through Transformative Talent
High-growth environments can compress time, magnify decisions, and expose leadership gaps in an instant. As companies move through periods of rapid expansion, the ability to build and evolve the right leadership team becomes increasingly critical to sustaining momentum and creating long-term value. Across private equity, venture capital, and technology-driven businesses, organizations are rethinking how they assess executive talent, strengthen leadership benches, and prepare teams for the demands of the next stage of growth. From founder-led recruiting and executive assessment to AI-enabled talent intelligence, cybersecurity leadership, and organizational design, the focus is shifting toward more deliberate, data-informed decisions about the people ultimately responsible for scaling the enterprise.
Hunt Scanlon Media will convene more than 250 private equity & venture capital operating partners, chief talent officers, and executive recruiters at The Marker Hotel in San Francisco on October 28, 2026. The program will explore how organizations across venture capital, private equity, and high-growth technology sectors are building the leadership infrastructure required to scale—examining how talent decisions, executive team design, and leadership assessment strategies are evolving to support sustained growth, innovation, and long-term enterprise value.
To register for Hunt Scanlon Media’s upcoming conference please click here!
Based in New York City, ForceBrands has spent two decades building a talent platform focused on the consumer sector, working with companies across food and beverage, beauty, wellness, consumer products, and other consumer-facing markets. Its executive search practice supports organizations seeking senior leaders across a range of functions, while the broader firm provides recruiting and talent solutions designed to address needs at multiple levels of an organization.
The addition of Mr. Waivada comes as consumer companies and their private equity sponsors continue to place greater emphasis on leadership teams capable of navigating growth, transformation, operational complexity, and changing market conditions. For search firms serving the sector, that has increased demand for executives with experience scaling businesses, working with investors, and operating effectively in environments where value creation and leadership performance are closely linked.
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
