Executive Search
Knight Gianella’s executive search focuses on national and international executive searches at the executive and CEO levels.
Since 1965, we have been passionate about finding the best executives for our clients. We place a particular focus on filling key positions that play a strategic role in the company and ensure a transformation:
- CEO Search/Succession
- Executive Board Members
- Key Positions
- She Placements (Diversity)
Our clients like to consult us for specific and sensitively designed succession arrangements or new appointments. Our qualities are many years of consulting experience, even in unusual entrepreneurial situations or personnel constellations. Our long-standing clients appreciate factual and objective advice free of conflicts of interest and white spots in the search for candidates. Our mandates are carried out discreetly, swiftly, and reliably.
We acquire the necessary transparency in the international manager market through our professional and internationally oriented research. We either know or find the personality you are looking for. This is proven by our outstanding and sustainable track record. Our success rate over recent years has been 98%, and repeat business is over 70%.
Board Appointments
Knight Gianella focuses on the national and international search for personalities for board chairmanships, board of directors, supervisory board, and foundation board committees.
We are recognized as one of the leading consulting firms for board appointments in German-speaking Europe. Our many years of experience and our exceptional network enable us to find the personalities our clients are looking for:
- Board Presidency
- Board Members
- Committee Management
- Trustee Board Members
- She Placements (Diversity)
Board renewal was not an issue for us only when international investors demanded better corporate governance and more professionalism in top management bodies. We have been dealing with these issues since 1989 and initiated the Bad Ragaz Board of Directors Days for this purpose, where we discuss current issues of “good corporate governance” on an annual basis at eye level with BoDs, BoDs, and CEOs of listed and large non-listed companies in Switzerland.
The partners of Knight Gianella guarantee independent cooperation free of conflicts of interest, respectively, without white spots in the search for candidates. It is also characterized by mutual trust and the courage to find innovative solutions to generate the best possible staffing for their clients. As trusted advisors, we guarantee our clients absolute discretion in executing mandates.
Board Evaluations
Knight Gianella focuses on the assessment and development of individual leaders and/or boards.
An evaluation is a match-making tool to create a common understanding not only of goals, but also of how to work together. The individual leaders can then better contribute to the team and also positively shape the reputation of the team both externally and internally. As Trusted Advisors, we support selected leaders and/or boards discreetly and on a personal basis so that they can operate in an optimal manner.
- Board of Directors
- Executive Committees
- Onboarding of new members
- Evaluation of potential successors
Thanks to our independent consulting and support in the evaluation process ("view from the outside"), the basis for a sustainable development of the board, respectively the team, is created. In this context, sensitive personnel issues and strategic problems within the board concerning the management of the company are discussed. Overriding problems arise concerning the composition of the management team, the corporate strategy, the structure or the organization and leadership. Our long-standing clients appreciate the discreet, reliable and sustainable cooperation as well as the personal, factual and objective advice.
Board & CEO Advisory
Knight Gianella's Board & CEO Advisory focuses on advising Board Chairmen, Nominating Committees (BoD NCC and CHROs) and CEOs.
As Trusted Advisors, we support Boards of Directors and CEOs in sensitive personnel issues and strategic problems related to the management of the company. We have been in the market since 1965 and are familiar with all possible stumbling blocks when filling key positions and making important leadership decisions. If the questions are relevant for a successful filling of a leadership position, or for the management of the company, we put them up for discussion. We are independent, fact-based and objective, operate free of conflicts of interest and are committed to finding sustainable solutions.
The focus areas of Board & CEO Advisory include:
- Chairman/CEO Succession Planning
- BoD/Management Committee Evaluation
- BoD/Management Competence Matrix
- BoD/CEO Sparrings
- Strategic Talent Pipeline
- Strategic Market Mapping
As different as our clients are, as different are the mandates entrusted to us. What they have in common is the demand for the best solution for the task at hand. During the processing of a mandate, overriding problems often become transparent. Questions arise regarding the composition of the management team, along the corporate strategy, the structure or the organization and leadership - be it in listed and large unlisted Swiss companies, in private equity or their portfolio companies. In addition, our advice is in demand for the preparation of initial public offerings (IPOs) and spin-offs as well as for start-ups in the growth phase.
