Ren Systems Appoints Head of Product
May 26, 2026 – Ren Systems, an AI-powered relationship intelligence platform used by sales, business development, and professional services leaders, recently expanded with the addition of Nick Wynja as head of product. “As we’ve scaled Ren to 70+ enterprise customers and accelerated our feature release cycle, it became clear that we needed focused product leadership,” the company said in a LinkedIn post. “I’m excited to welcome Nick Wynja to lead product at Ren. He’s led teams and built products for the world’s largest brands and has been working in AI since before your chatbot was born.”
Mr. Wynja has successfully and repeatedly led small and large teams intersecting development, data science, and user experience to drive rapid, iterative product impact through well-considered product strategy for B2B SaaS platforms.
Previously, Mr. Wynja was director of product at Redbird and held multiple leadership roles at Feedback Loop, a DISQO company, including director of product, data, and senior product manager. Earlier in his career, he spent more than six years with Infor as senior product manager and product manager, and also held positions with Loverly, BNOTIONS Development and Internet Strategy, and Corus Entertainment.
Ren automates research, meeting prep, and outreach by understanding the users’ business objectives and syncing with their CRM, Outlook, calendar, and iOS contacts. Ren monitors hundreds of thousands of sources, surfaces timely and relevant alerts about key contacts and companies, and recommends actions to help uncover and win deals. Ren Systems was founded in 2019 by Mike Hayes, Matt Zames, Jon Zames, Canay Deniz, and Lionel Hertig, to help business leaders strengthen relationships in a world of increasing noise.
“Having worked on AI-powered capabilities for a decade, I can distinguish between substance and spectacle,” Mr. Wynja said. “The usage, ROI, and sheer enthusiasm that 10,000+ dealmakers at the world’s largest brands have for this product is something I’ve never seen before.”
“Ren gives you the information you need to reach out precisely when it matters most,” explained Mr. Deniz. “Other tools give dealmakers the who and how, but we give them the why and when.”
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“The CEOs were unanimous that the core of CRE—long-term client relationships and strategic dealmaking—remains uniquely human,” Mr. Deniz said. “That’s exactly the tension that led us to build Ren. If relationships are the core, then not missing the moments that matter in your network is the job. That’s hard. Less than 10 percent of your clients post on LinkedIn. The real signals (M&A rumors, leadership changes, office lease filings) live in places most professionals never see.
Recent Integration
Baird Global Investment Banking recently integrated Ren Systems. “It’s not every day a century-old financial institution changes how their investment bankers work,” said Mr. Deniz, CEO of Ren Systems. “It says a lot about Baird’s culture that they’re leaning in. Ross Williams, chief operating officer of Baird Global Investment Banking, is rolling out Ren Systems’ AI across 100+ investment bankers because the traditional toolkit wasn’t built for how dealmaking actually works today.”
Executive Search Continues Its Confident Climb As Transformation Takes Center Stage
The executive search industry entered 2026 from a position of strength. According to Hunt Scanlon, fee revenue at the 50 largest executive search firms in the U.S. / Americas – the global talent sector’s largest and most dominant region – jumped 11 percent last year, topping out at $6.69 billion. Seventy-five percent of search firms on the roster polled by Hunt Scanlon reported positive growth, with nearly half (24 firms), expanding by double digits. By every measure, it was a big year.
Leadership demand across private equity and venture capital, healthcare services and healthcare tech, financial services, technology, AI, and professional services swelled last year. Legal recruiting, particularly the business of finding elite law firm partners, accelerated as strategic expansions across the sector exposed acute high-impact partner shortages.
To read the full issue of Hunt Scanlon Media’s 2026 Rankings Edition of Executive Search Review, click here!
“It used to be you’d have Excel for modeling, PowerPoint for presentations,” Mr. Deniz said. “You would grab your screwdriver to screw something in, and you’d grab your hammer to nail it. But there’s this eye-opening experience when you start using these natural language tools where you expect more — Ren has the ability to surface key relationships and news and make it actionable in a way that previously didn’t exist.”
Baird is a global investment bank with more than 540 banking associates, offering corporations, entrepreneurs, private equity and other financial sponsors a broad range of advisory and financing solutions. Since 2021, Baird has completed over 800 advisory transactions, representing $396 billion in transaction value, and 343 financings, raising over $150 billion.
Related: How to Kick Off an Executive Search the Right Way
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
