Who Are the Leading Executive Recruiters to Take On Nvidia’s CEO Search?
November 13, 2026 – Nvidia has not publicly disclosed the name of the executive search firm handling its CEO search. While news outlets confirmed that Nvidia’s board hired an outside recruiting agency to identify candidates to succeed Jensen Huang, the specific firm remains confidential. In its November 12 leadership transition press release, Nvidia stated that the board is initiating a search for a permanent CEO and will evaluate both internal and external candidates. The company did not name a recruiting partner or set a timeline. Executive vice president and CFO Colette Kress is serving as interim CEO while the search takes place. Board member Harvey C. Jones was also appointed as Nvidia’s first-ever chair of the board. While the executive search firm is unnamed, reports have identified Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz as the outside law firm retained by the board to conduct the separate internal governance investigation.
Although Nvidia has not disclosed the recruiter, a search of this scale and confidentiality is almost certainly being handled by one of the Hunt Scanlon ‘Big Five’ global executive search firms. “Boards of trillion-dollar public companies rely exclusively on these firms for emergency, high-profile CEO successions,” said Scott A. Scanlon, CEO and of Hunt Scanlon Ventures based in Greenwich, Conn.
Because Nvidia’s board is looking for a leader with deep semiconductor and AI expertise who can manage immense geopolitical and regulatory scrutiny, said Mr. Scanlon, the mandate most likely rests with one of the following top contenders:
- Spencer Stuart: Widely considered the premier firm for Fortune 100 board and CEO succession. It has a dominant Silicon Valley technology practice and frequently handles emergency leadership transitions where extreme discretion is required;
- Heidrick & Struggles: Possesses one of the strongest global technology and semiconductor practices in the industry. They are heavily entrenched in Silicon Valley and frequently recruit C-suite executives for major chipmakers and AI infrastructure companies;
- Russell Reynolds Associates: Another top choice for high-stakes tech CEO searches, known for deep relationships with corporate boards and extensive experience assessing internal vs. external candidates during sudden leadership vacuums;
- Egon Zehnder: Known for its rigorous executive assessment methodology, making it a common choice when boards want to minimize leaks and avoid conflicts of interest across a massive global talent pool;
- Korn Ferry: The largest of the global firms by revenue, with vast scale to map out global semiconductor leadership and benchmark internal executives like Interim CEO Colette Kress and VP Ian Buck against external rivals.
Key Factors Driving the Board’s Choice
According to Mr. Scanlon, there are several important factors driving the Nvidia board’s choice of a search firm. “Off-limits” restrictions is one of them. In executive search, a firm cannot poach talent from companies where it currently does active recruiting. Nvidia’s board would have selected whichever top firm had the fewest “off-limits” conflicts with major target companies like Apple, AMD, Broadcom, Arm, and Google. Another key factor is board relationships. Newly appointed Nvidia chair Harvey C. Jones (former CEO of Synopsys) and Nvidia’s nominating and corporate governance committee would lean heavily on whichever firm they have trusted in past board director recruitments.
Why Bryan Buck is a Strong Possibility
Could a boutique executive search firm swoop in and grab the search? This is unlikely, but still possible. Bryan Buck, a managing partner and executive committee chair at ON Partners, has been Nvidia’s go-to external recruiter for major executive placements this year. He led the recent searches for Nvidia’s first-ever chief marketing officer (Alison Wagonfeld), chief accounting officer (Scott Gawel), and VP of global events & experiences (Jennifer Hartford). He also has deep semiconductor expertise. Unlike generalist recruiters, Mr. Buck specializes directly in the semiconductor, AI, and hardware sectors. And ON Partners itself originated in the semiconductor industry and regularly handles high-level searches for major chipmakers. Because ON Partners is a Hunt Scanlon Top 20 retained boutique firm rather than a massive global conglomerate, it often has fewer “off-limits” restrictions. This could give the firm and Mr. Buck greater freedom to poach sitting executives from rival tech and semiconductor giants where larger firms might be blocked.
ON Partners Recruits Chief Marketing Officer for NVIDIA
ON Partners recently assisted in the recruitment of Alison Wagonfeld as chief marketing officer of NVIDIA. “We placed Alison Wagonfeld as the chief marketing officer of NVIDIA, one of the most selective CMO mandates in global technology,” Bryan Buck said in a LinkedIn post. “In reality, there were only a handful of leaders globally who had built, scaled, and operated marketing at the level NVIDIA needs next. That kind of scarcity is becoming more common. Not because talent is disappearing, but because the bar keeps moving.”
“When CEOs and boards add a senior executive to their ranks, they’re not just filling a seat,” Mr. Buck continued. “They’re adding a capability the organization needs for what’s coming next. Sometimes that capability strengthens what already exists. Oftentimes, it’s to build a muscle the company doesn’t yet have. Right now, the two competencies I see CEOs and boards prioritizing most are perspective and adaptability. Perspective comes from leaders who’ve already navigated real inflection points: taking a company through scale, or steering a fundamental shift in the business model.”
Why the Board Might Still Choose a “Big Five” Firm
While an internal HR or executive team typically hires a boutique partner like Bryan Buck for functional C-suite roles (like CMO or CAO), an emergency CEO replacement triggered by a corporate governance crisis is controlled entirely by the board of directors, said Mr. Scanlon. “From a public governance and optics standpoint any board in this situation is looking for cover,” he said. “The SHREK firms provide that.” Independent directors – especially under the newly appointed board chair – often default to mega-firms like Spencer Stuart or Heidrick & Struggles to insulate themselves from shareholder scrutiny during a crisis succession. “That institutional comfort is paramount in emergency leadership crises like this one,” said Mr. Scanlon. Finally, benchmarking internal frontrunners (such as interim CEO Colette Kress and VP Ian Buck – no relation to Bryan Buck) against sitting public company CEOs, requires massive global research infrastructure and formal psychometric board assessments.
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So, who has the search? Heidrick & Struggles handled high-profile executive searches for both Apple and Google. The firm’s legendary Silicon Valley headhunter John Thompson led several of these landmark assignments for the firm. Heidrick & Struggles conducted the search that brought in Eric Schmidt from Novell to serve as Google’s CEO alongside founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Google paid Heidrick partially in stock warrants as part of the arrangement. Heidrick later sold those shares after Google’s 2004 IPO for nearly $130 million. Later Google and Alphabet CEO transitions – such as Larry Page returning in 2011 and Sundar Pichai taking over in 2015 – were internal promotions rather than external searches. Heidrick recruiter Gerry Roche famously recruited PepsiCo president John Sculley to become Apple’s CEO. Following Gil Amelio’s ouster in 1997, Apple’s board hired Mr. Thompson to find a new chief executive before Steve Jobs ultimately decided to stay on permanently. While Mr. Thompson is widely credited in Silicon Valley for helping recruit Tim Cook to Apple in 1998, Mr. Cook joined initially as SVP of Worldwide Operations. He was later promoted internally to CEO by Steve Jobs in 2011.
Heidrick & Struggles’ global semiconductor practice is led by Jeff Otto, a veteran chip industry executive and search consultant based across San Francisco and Atlanta. While specific client mandates are confidential, the firm regularly leads public CEO and board searches across the global chip ecosystem. Mr. Otto joined Heidrick in mid-2025 to lead its global semiconductor sector within the firm’s technology & services practice. He previously spent nine years leading Egon Zehnder’s North America semiconductor practice and brings direct industry roots from roles at MEMC Electronic Materials and General Electric. He collaborates closely with Chris Bray, global managing partner of the technology & services practice, as well as Nicholas DeMagistris (digital infrastructure) and Ryan Bulkoski (AI & technology officers).
While Heidrick is an obviously good choice, industry insiders say Spencer Stuart has the assignment. “Whoever has the assignment – and there is no emergency CEO search in recent memory with the gravitas attached to this one – there will be additional housecleaning post-search,” said Mr. Scanlon. “The entire Nvidia board failed in their checks and balances duties and they ultimately should be held accountable for failing to construct a succession plan for a company that is widely considered central to the AI ecosystem. The magnitude of this board’s failure in succession planning will be talked about in Ivy League case studies for decades. For the search firm picked to handle this plum assignment, their work is only just beginning,” he said.
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
