Wilton & Bain Adds New Partners in New York and Boston
January 9, 2020 – Executive recruitment firm Wilton & Bain, which is headquartered in London but undergoing an important rollout in the U.S., has added two key professionals to its operations in America. Katie Vande Water, who will be working out of the Boston office, and Fred Davis, based in New York, have joined the firm as partners.
“After a very successful 2019, we are very excited to be able to add Katie and Fred to our business as partners,” said managing partner Lisa Peacock Edwards. “Our strategy to continue to disrupt the executive search and leadership advisory market is driven through key hires such as these. As Wilton & Bain builds out the business further, we need bright, entrepreneurial and innovative partners with a proven track record in their fields – both Katie and Fred deliver this for us. We are excited about what we can do together as a team.”
CEO David Heron spoke highly of both of the new partners. “We are delighted to welcome Fred and Katie to Wilton & Bain,” he said. “Their additions provide additional partner-level credibility to support Lisa and the team, and add more weight to our growing business in the United States from our offices in New York, Boston and San Francisco. Strategically, the U.S. is a critical market for the firm, and we are excited to have these key individuals as part of the organization as we continue to build the group”
Ms. Vande Water brings more than 25 years of financial services and life sciences expertise to her new role under managing partner Gary Landes. She successfully partners with clients to place senior-level executives throughout the investment management and research, private wealth management, investment operations and servicing, financial officers, audit, compliance and legal, and risk management sectors.
Growth Mode
Prior to joining Wilton & Bain, Ms. Vande Water served as a partner and managing director at other executive search firms specializing in financial services.
Mr. Davis is an executive search professional with more than 15 years of experience. Mr. Davis, who has generated immense success across recruitment engagements worldwide, has recruited key executives from HR, corporate finance and technology to risk, trading and strategy. He has a keen focus in quant finance and risk for global investment banks, hedge funds and asset managers.
Finding Transformative Leaders Fueling Growth & Innovation at Wilton & Bain
In the early years after its founding in 2001, London-based Wilton & Bain was content to be a respected, tightly focused professional services executive search firm. With technology as its niche, it was a good business, everyone agreed, and profitable. Yet it was relatively small and geographically limited.
Fast forward 18 years and behold a new picture: Wilton & Bain is making big gains in London and even more in the U.S., where it is in full growth and expansion mode. The firm has already planted its flag in New York (the new office opened last summer) and San Francisco (where it has had a presence since 2014). Here’s more . . . with big plans on the horizon.
Mr. Davis was formerly CEO of Opus FS where he built a global search practice focused on financial engineering, development and modeling and research for a Tier 1 investment bank and a Top 5 fund. In addition, Mr. Davis successfully led a large-scale engagement with a top blockchain technology firm with global growth ambitions. He is currently global quant finance and risk management partner.
Wilton & Bain provides executive search, interim management/consulting and technology resourcing services to the technology, professional services and converging digital markets. With offices in London, San Francisco, New York, Boston and Frankfurt, the firm has an expertise in technology to focus on digital transformation for clients across TMT, retail, consumer, financial services, private equity, insurance and utilities.
The firm has been in full growth and expansion mode in the U.S. It opened its San Francisco office in 2015, its New York location in 2018 and its Boston office just two months ago.
The firm’s business has grown considerably over the past five years from 30 to nearly 100 people, and five international offices. Over the next five years, the firm expects to boost headcount by as many as 50 people. It plans to triple U.S. business during that span, increasing the U.S. headcount and bringing in as much net fee income from its America-based operations as it has across Europe.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media