Maeve Clifford

Maeve Clifford is a nationally recognized executive search leader. With more than 20 years of blended nonprofit and executive search experience, Maeve is known for uniting rigorous, data-informed practices with a deeply human approach to leadership search and advisory work.

Throughout her career, Maeve has led and advised on executive and C-suite searches, partnering with boards and hiring committees through moments of transition and opportunity. She brings a rare combination of search practitioner, strategist, and advisor—equally comfortable shaping strategy, managing client relationships, and diving into the details of research and assessment. Known for her judgment, steadiness, and curiosity, Maeve approaches each engagement with both rigor and empathy, helping organizations make leadership decisions that last.

As Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Pearl Street, Maeve oversees strategy, marketing, research, and learning & development, ensuring that the firm’s practices and presence reflect its values and commitment to excellence in search. Now as Senior Vice President and Managing Director with Lindauer, she ensures clients benefit from the combined research capabilities, talent networks, and executive search services that Lindauer and Pearl Street bring to the nonprofit sector.

Under Maeve’s leadership, Pearl Street has earned recognition for transparency, inclusion, and measurable results. She has also advanced business intelligence and data analytics initiatives that strengthen client outcomes and accelerat candidate pool development.

Maeve began her career in the nonprofit sector—holding roles at Harvard University, a charter school network, and community-based organizations—where she gained firsthand insight into the leadership qualities that drive mission success. She later played a key role in launching two national executive search firms, where she established and led the research functions, developing the methodologies, tools, and teams that elevated firmwide practices and advanced the discipline of search.

Maeve is active in professional networks that convene leaders across philanthropy, education, and the nonprofit community. A Boston native, she lives with her husband and son outside San Diego. Maeve holds a bachelor’s degree in American History from Wellesley College.