True Appoints General Manager, International
April 20, 2022 – Executive recruiting firm True Search has named Kate Vanek as general manager, international. “Kate has a passion for talent management and a dynamic, inspirational leadership style,” said Joe Riggione, co-founder and co-CEO of True. “She’s a high-performance operator who combines her personal and business experiences to connect people and complex global organizations. She is an impressive leader with an extraordinary track record, and we are lucky to have her.” Ms. Vanek joins True from BlackRock where she held the dual responsibility of CFO of EMEA and COO of global finance. Her background has rich diversity of experience in finance, strategy and business operations, M&A, investor relations, DEI initiatives, and leadership development. She has managed global teams in leadership roles across a range of industries from financial services, data science, consumer behavior measurement to industrials. Ms. Vanek’s career also includes stints at Nielsen, Stanley Black & Decker, and Bear Sterns & Co.
“Kate’s experience in strategic business building prepares her to expand our offerings globally to meet the needs of our clients who rely on True’s talent expertise and platform to help them grow and thrive,” said Brad Stadler, co-founder and co-CEO of True.
“I’m thrilled to be joining True during this period of expansion, and I’m excited to help propel True’s vision to build the global talent management firm of the future,” said Ms. Vanek. “True’s special culture and commitment to investing in its people, combined with their world-class executive search expertise and cutting-edge platform make it a place I couldn’t be more proud to join.”
Serving the Private and Public Sectors
Working in both the private and public sectors, True Search has offices throughout the U.S. as well as the EMEA and APAC regions. Since the late 1990s, the firm’s founders have refined their search process with a blend of data-centric insights, relationship-building, and experience to produce a methodology that consistently improves hiring decisions and accelerates growth. Its clients include Jet, Work Front, and Summit Partners. True Search is a subsidiary of True Platform, a global portfolio of human capital services and products for high-growth tech and tech-enabled organizations. True recently placed No. 7 on the Hunt Scanlon Media “Top 50 Recruiters” ranking.
Related: True Search Expands Leadership Team
True recently named Chin Yee Ng as general manager, Asia-Pacific; Darci Galvin as vice president of global client services; William Che as chief information officer; and promoted Andrea Watt to chief people officer. “Each leader brings subject matter expertise to help support the increasing demand from True’s client base,” the search firm said in a statement. True experienced a record growth year in 2021, adding 399 employees to its global team and bringing total office count to 20 worldwide. “As True expands, our leadership needs evolve,” said Mr. Riggione. “Chin Yee, Darci, Will and Andrea will deliver the quality work and uphold the values True is known for as our company matures. Not only do they have proven track records, but they also are culturally aligned with the values of our company.”
Recent Funding
LLR Partners, a private equity firm based in Philadelphia, made an investment in True this past spring. The partnership is aimed at developing and expanding innovation within the talent space.
LLR Partners, which has raised more than $5 billion to fund investments across the technology and healthcare sectors, is said to have bought into True’s mission: to disrupt a stagnant industry in desperate need of tech-driven talent solutions. “They expressed interest and we were compelled to listen,” said Mr. Stadler at the time of the investment, “even though we were not looking for a financial partner. “Through our discussions, we quickly became aligned on how they could operationally and strategically support our long-term vision.”
“We also aligned on our ability to control our own destiny with no pressure to transact,” said Mr. Riggione. “Our collective vision is for True to remain independent and become the industry’s dominant brand. We couldn’t be more excited about partnering with LLR to get there.”
Related: True Search Recruits New CFO for PE-Backed MikMak
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media