Koya Leadership Partners Acquires Social Impact Rival

Koya Leadership Partners Acquires Social Impact Rival

July 23, 2018 – Acquisitions continue to make big news in the executive search industry. The latest: Non-profit search specialist Koya Leadership Partners has acquired Commongood Careers, which specializes in recruiting leaders nationwide for organizations committed to social impact. The acquisition also enables Koya to partner with talent across the career lifespan. Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Commongood Careers, headquartered in Boston, specializes in recruiting leaders nationwide for positions from the manager level up to the C-suite at organizations committed to social impact. Commongood’s clients include GreenLight Fund, Center for Effective Philanthropy, New Profit, Tipping Point and many others.

“Commongood Careers is well known and respected for providing customized attention and for serving as true partners to mission-driven clients,” said Katie Bouton, founder and CEO of Koya. “Under the leadership of CEO and co-founder Cassie Scarano, Commongood Careers has a strong commitment to social change and a deep knowledge of the non-profit sector. There’s a powerful alignment between our two firms’ services and our collective focus on long-term success of the sector through talent.”

Friendly Partners

Ms. Bouton said Koya and Commongood have been friendly partners in the executive search space for nearly 15 years. “We’ve admired each other’s work, and referred business to one another,” she said. “I’m so pleased Cassie and some of her team will be joining Koya, and I’m confident that we’ll do great things together.”

Ms. Scarano provides strategic vision and daily management for Commongood Careers. She has led development of the firm’s search model and continues to ensure the quality of its service delivery today. With deep experience in non-profit management and hiring, Ms. Scarano has personally managed over 80 searches for clients such as Jumpstart, Nonprofit Finance Fund, Year Up and Peer Health Exchange.

“Commongood Careers was founded to address the need that smaller to mid-size non-profits had to find, recruit and retain exceptional talent,” said Ms. Scarano. “By joining Koya, we’re combining our significant experience, assets and resources, and increasing efficiency in the space. Together, we’ll also be able to partner with mission-driven professionals at every step of their career – from Millennials in the early years to emerging leaders to seasoned CEOs. This unique lifecycle approach will allow us to identify and cultivate the most promising leaders and draw from a wide range of talent at all stages of their career.”

This acquisition follows Koya’s recent purchase of New York-based recruitment firm ReWork and its sourcing platform technology. Koya is leveraging ReWork’s technology to engage with candidates more deeply around their social mission and desired impact in the world, said Koya. The firm also plans to use its newly acquired technological capabilities to broaden its network of potential candidates, particularly with Millennials.

Non-Profit Specialists

Boston-based Koya Leadership Partners is a national executive search and human capital consulting firm that works exclusively with non-profits and social enterprises. This year, the firm was again recognized by Hunt Scanlon Media as one of the top 50 search firms in the Americas.

Koya has developed a national reputation for identifying executive directors and CEOs across the non-profit sector, including those for Hudson Webber Foundation, the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania, American Red Cross of Chicago & Northern Illinois, Glazer Children’s Museum and Tourette Association of America, among many others.

Recent M&A activity

Acquisitions have kept the executive search industry in a state of flux. Here’s a sampling of recent acquisitions taken from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

StevenDouglas has acquired Tallience, a full-service technology search, staffing and consulting firm located in Fort Lauderdale, FL. As part of the acquisition, founding partner Tim Baron is joining Sunrise, FL-based StevenDouglas as managing director of its Washington, D.C. metro office.

London-headquartered Marlin Hawk has acquired Winter Circle, the invitation-only digital network for senior executives. The two firms will create the Marlin Hawk Group which will provide an array of talent solutions to help empower internal executive search teams through technology.

London-based Sheffield Haworth acquired Gillamor Stephens, a digital and technology sector recruiting specialist. The firm’s work focuses on hiring board-level executives for both publicly listed and venture capital/private equity backed technology businesses in the U.K. and across Europe. 

ZRG Partners acquired certain assets of the Epsen Fuller Group. As part of the agreement, Thomas Fuller, formerly the managing partner and CEO of Epsen Fuller Group, is joining ZRG as managing director & global practice leader for the firm’s consumer sector. 

McDermott & Bull has acquired Denver-based Prime-Core Executive Search. Ken Dropiewski, as a result, joins the firm as a principal consultant in the sciences group, specializing in the med-tech space. “The addition of Ken to our firm is a huge win for McDermott & Bull,” said CEO Rod McDermott.

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

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