TriSearch Expands Through Strategic Partnership
October 1, 2026 – TriSearch has entered into a strategic partnership with Northwest Talent Solutions founder Nikita R. Steals, who has joined the firm as vice president, client success. The arrangement combines Northwest Talent Solutions’ workforce transformation expertise and entrepreneurial agility with TriSearch’s national recruiting platform, scalable delivery capabilities and highly customized approach to client partnership. Northwest Talent Solutions continues to operate independently under Ms. Steals’ leadership.
The partnership is additive rather than absorptive–clients of both organizations gain access to a broader set of capabilities without either firm losing the focus that made it effective in the first place, TriSearch explained. Through this partnership, Nikita works alongside TriSearch’s team to support clients navigating growth and transformation.
Ms. Steals’ experience spans executive search, workforce planning, organizational design, talent strategy, HR transformation and AI-enabled workforce solutions. She has applied that range across technology, financial services, professional services, the public sector and other complex industries–environments where hiring decisions carry regulatory, operational and cultural weight well beyond the individual role.
During her career, Ms. Steals founded Ascension12, an executive search and talent solutions firm, and grew it to the point of securing a $3 million enterprise RPO engagement before the company was acquired by a global recruitment organization. In 2024, she founded Northwest Talent Solutions, an award-winning workforce transformation and talent advisory firm serving organizations across executive search, workforce planning, organizational design, talent intelligence and AI-enabled recruiting.
“Northwest Talent Solutions was built for organizations whose talent challenges do not resolve with a single hire–companies restructuring functions, entering new markets, absorbing acquisitions or rebuilding hiring capability from the ground up,” Ms. Steals said.
TriSearch is an international full-service talent acquisition, managed services and HR solutions firm. Founded in 2007, with a name change in 2015, the firm provides customized, collaborative and transparent recruiting partnerships, including IT, with deep sourcing, researching, and recruiting capabilities. Core IT practice areas include applications development, IT infrastructure, AI, machine learning and big data.
Related: Why Executive Search Firms Remain Essential for High-Stakes Leadership Hires
Using proprietary new models, such as Customized Partnership Recruitment (CPR), TriSearch is able to offer highly customizable and scalable talent solutions that focus on a client’s specific requirements. Tri-Search places professionals at all levels and across all functional areas, throughout the U.S., Canada and the U.K.
JGA Partners Alliance
TriSearch recently entered into a formal partnership with JGA Partners. The partnership strengthens JGA Partners’ ability to serve the executive search industry while preserving its long-standing independence when working with executive search firms as clients.
“By partnering with TriSearch, JGA Partners gains access to expanded recruiting resources, infrastructure, and technology that enhance its ability to support search firms and their clients, without becoming a competitor to them,” said James Abruzzo, founder of JGA Partners. “TriSearch is the ideal platform for JGA Partners to continue and deepen the work we have done with executive search firms for nearly a decade. We have partnered with each other for years, and we share a common history in the market. The trust, values, and philosophy around search were already there.”
Mr. Abruzzo also highlighted TriSearch’s referral partner practice as a particularly strong fit for the executive search ecosystem. “Many pure C-suite firms do not have the appetite or infrastructure for mid-level, director level, or RPO engagements, yet their clients still need those services,” he said. “TriSearch’s referral partner practice is a formal, transparent solution that allows search firms to retain their client relationships while expanding what they can offer. I’ve been a referral partner to the firm for years and loved its simplicity, transparency, and quite frankly, the easy of earning additional income for a simple introduction email.”
JGA Partners has built its reputation by advising, recruiting, and supporting executive search firms and their leaders across North America and internationally. That focus will remain unchanged. JGA Partners will continue to operate as a dedicated partner to search firm owners, providing partner and principal recruitment, compensation consulting, leadership advisory recruitment, and M&A services for firms exploring growth, succession, or sale.
Related: When to Use an Executive Search Firm
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
