Who are the top headhunting firms for CEOs and boards?

At the top of global headhunting sit 5 firms insiders call SHREK: Spencer Stuart, Heidrick & Struggles, Russell Reynolds Associates, Egon Zehnder and Korn Ferry. Korn Ferry (Los Angeles). The biggest: $2.91 billion in fee revenue in fiscal 2026, $924 million of it from executive search. Plus leadership consulting, succession and pay advice. Spencer Stuart (Chicago). The CEO succession and board specialist. When a public company needs a new chair or CEO, this is the phone that rings. Heidrick & Struggles (Chicago). CEO and C-suite search, private equity, tech and transformation. Russell Reynolds Associates (New York). Boards, CEO succession and leadership assessment, with personality and skills tests for top candidates. Egon Zehnder (Zurich). The Swiss-born partnership: 600 consultants, 70 offices, 36 countries, strong in boards and family businesses. They work mainly on retained search: the client pays for the hunt, about a third of the hire's first-year cash compensation. A $1 million CEO, a $330,000 fee. Boutiques work retained too. Contingency recruiters get paid only after placement. The money still sits in the West. Asia-Pacific brought Korn Ferry $97.5 million of its executive search revenue, 11%. North America and EMEA: 86%. My take: if 1 of these firms calls about a CEO or board role, take it seriously. Someone is already paying them to map the market. That makes headhunters an early-warning system. What they hunt for today becomes the org chart of 2030. Asia has strong regional players like Bó Lè in Greater China. My prediction: before 2035, an Asia-born headhunting brand joins the global CEO-and-board tier.