Optimum Talent Acquires Conroy Ross Partners

January 25, 2017 – Optimum Talent has acquired executive search firm Conroy Ross Partners. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Optimum Talent team now includes 200 professionals operating from 15 offices.

Founded in 1994, Conroy Ross Partners is a national search firm with offices across Canada. It works with leadership teams to recruit a wide range of C-level executives and has expertise in both the private and public sectors, servicing a diverse group of clients across a range of industries.

“Optimum Talent and Conroy Ross Partners have been successful because we put our clients’ needs first,” said Optimum Talent CEO Ronald Dahms. “Merging the two businesses is an extension of our commitment to do what’s best for our clients.” As an integrated talent provider, he said, the firm is now able to provide better solutions throughout the entire talent lifecycle.


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“The Optimum Talent and Conroy Ross Partners partnership is rooted in a common vision and commitment to excellence for our clients. In 2014, we mapped out a three-phase strategy to get us where we are today, and have focused our efforts on achieving this goal since that time,” said Mike Bacchus, president of Western Canada at Optimum Talent and former CEO at Conroy Ross Partners. Great talent is a critical business differentiator, he noted, and the merger supports developing critical talent streams for clients.

Optimum Talent is a provider of human resources consulting services with expertise in career management, career transition, coaching, executive search and organizational psychology.

Growing M&A Activity Among Recruiters

M&A activity among executive search firms has picked up in recent months, from the Far East to Canada, the Americas and across the U.K. & Europe. Whether this points to mass consolidation throughout the sector remains to be seen. Here is a look at just a recent sampling from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

  • RSR Partners recently acquired executive search firm Higdon Partners. Founded in 1986 by Hank Higdon, Higdon Partners focuses exclusively on providing executive search services to asset and wealth management clients, including institutional, mutual fund, and high-net-worth organizations, as well as hedge funds, fund of funds, plan sponsors, endowments and foundations, private equity firms, family offices, consulting firms, and government agencies.
  • DHR International acquired Calgary-based executive search firm BluEra. The deal brings more than a dozen new employees to DHR and its Chicago-based partner company Jobplex. Founded in 2008, BluEra focuses on executive search, team transformation and executive coaching. It serves a wide array of industries with a particular concentration on the renewables, power, oil & gas, retail, telecommunications, and information technology sectors.
  • Diversified Search acquired San Francisco-based BioQuest, a recruiting boutique specialist serving healthcare innovators in the life sciences market. Under the terms of the agreement, BioQuest will operate as an independent, wholly-owned subsidiary within Diversified Search. With $37.5 million in annual fees prior to this acquisition, the deal with BioQuest will boost revenues at Diversified Search by about 10 percent and bring the firm’s consultant headcount to nearly 60.
  • Options Group recently acquired Broadstreet Global, a financial services search and strategic consulting firm based in Sydney, Australia. Broadstreet Global specializes in search and consulting for a number of interrelated sectors, including investment banking, capital markets, structured products, alternative asset classes and insurance. Its client base includes some of the world’s largest financial institutions, regional banks, asset managers, insurers and selective boutiques.
  • Heidrick & Struggles acquired Philosophy IB, a leadership consultant based in Florham Park, NJ. Philosophy IB was established in 2000 by founding partners Christine Lotze and Kaveh Naficy and today serves Fortune 100 companies focused on assisting clients execute their strategies by changing how people work. Heidrick also recently acquired JCA Group, a well-known London-based executive search advisory boutique. JCA Group is led by founding partners Jan Hall and Emma Fallon, and has 40 employees, including eight partners. The firm has been a leader in addressing gender disparity among boards, as a policy advocate and in placing women on boards in both non-executive and executive roles.

Contributed by Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor, Hunt Scanlon Media

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