Egon Zehnder

Egon Zehnder International Ltd.

Company type	Partnership
Industry	Professional services
Founded	1964; 60 years ago (1964)[1]
Headquarters	Zurich, Switzerland[1]
Number of locations	65 offices in 36 countries[2]
Key people	Edilson Camara (CEO),[3] Michael Ensser (Chair)[4]
Products	Management consulting Leadership solutions Executive search
Revenue	CHF 883 million (2023)[5]
Number of employees	560 Consultants, 660 experts, 2300+ employees[2]
Website	egonzehnder.com

Egon Zehnder International Ltd. is a global management consulting and executive search firm. Egon Zehnder is the world's largest privately held executive search firm and the third largest executive search and talent strategy firm globally^[6] with an annual revenue of CHF 883 million.^[7] The firm offers services in Executive Search, Board Consulting and Leadership Strategy Services.

The firm was founded in 1964 by Egon P.S. Zehnder (1930–2021^[8]) (a 1956 Harvard Business School graduate) and would later grow to having 68 offices in 40 countries.^[2]

In 1992, The Wall Street Journal reported that Dr. Zehnder, who at the time was 62, had transitioned out of running the firm and that A. Daniel Meiland, who had been the firm's regional director for North America, would be named chairman of the executive committee and chief executive officer of the company.^[9]

In 2000, The Wall Street Journal reported that Egon Zehnder International (as the company was called at the time) was the largest executive search firm in Europe.^[1]

From 2008 to 2014, Damien O’Brien was the chief executive officer.^[4] O'Brien then served as chairman from 2010 to 2018.^[4] Jill Ader was his successor, and was elected as Chairperson June 2018.^[10] Michael Ensser took over as Chair on Nov. 1, 2022.^[11] Edilson Camara serves as CEO until October 31, 2024, after which Francesco Buquicchio will assume the role.^[12][3]

In 2022, Egon Zehnder had 560 consultants across 65 offices and 36 countries.^[13]

Egon Zehnder introduced Leaders & Daughters^[14] in March 2015 in London to provide a forum for addressing both the gender divide and the opportunity gap faced by the next generation of women leaders. The event brings together leaders and their daughters and mentees to discuss the obstacles women leaders face and how to tackle such obstacles.^[14]

The event, which marks its 6th year in 2020, is held across 32 cities worldwide and over 5,000 attendees annually.^[15]

As part of the Leaders & Daughters^[14] initiative, Egon Zehnder invites leaders to write letters to their daughters to collectively inspire, cultivate and pave a better future for the next generation of female leaders.^[16]

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Egon Zehnder has conducted exclusive research on diversity, inclusion and leadership.

The Leaders & Daughters 2017^[17] survey explores findings from over 7,000 professional female respondents worldwide in Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, India, the United States and the United Kingdom on topics ranging from career motivations and ambition to professional advancement and key influencers.^[18]

Egon Zehnder's The CEO: A Personal Reflection^[19] surveyed 402 CEOs from various industries, countries and corporate structures. They shared perspectives on the realities of the role, their preparation, their succession planning process, and how they lead and cope in these volatile times.^[20]

Egon Zehnder has tracked gender and international diversity on boards around the world for the past 18 years.^[21]

The 2012 European Board Diversity Analysis^[22] looked at the boards of 353 of the largest companies across 17 European countries between May and June 2012. The analysis aims to contrast and compare the progress made by European companies in diversifying their boards. Data was gathered to measure how many women are engaged as board members in Europe, what is the nature of their engagement – executive roles vs. non-executive roles, leadership roles on the board or within committees – and whether women’s participation on boards has increased or decreased over time. The research also looked briefly at wider definitions of diversity such as non-national board memberships.^[22]

The 2014 European Board Diversity Analysis^[23] – the sixth in a series of biennial studies initiated in 2004 – profiles the boards of 356 of the largest companies across 17 European countries. The 2014 study also includes a global perspective, exploring gender diversity across 568 large company boards in other regions of the world.^[24]

The Egon Zehnder 2016 Global Board Diversity Analysis (GBDA)^[25] evaluates board data from 1,491 public companies with market capitalization exceeding EUR 6bn across 44 countries.^[26]

Their 2018 report, Who's Really on Board?,^[27] analyzes BoardEx data from 1,610 public companies with market caps above 7 billion euros in 44 countries as of May 2018. In countries with fewer large companies, they use the six largest companies as measured by market capitalization.^[28]

The 2020 report analyzes data from 1,685 public companies with market caps above 6 billion euros in 44 countries.^[29]

Their 2022 report analyzed a total of 19,958 board seats – using data from 1,776 publicly-traded companies across 44 countries with a combined market capitalization of €8bn.^[30]

Media related to Egon Zehnder at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• The Focus online (corporate magazine)
• Leaders & Daughters (An Egon Zehnder Initiative) Official website