The Company

Drinkwater Associates was founded in 1992 by Wendy Drinkwater after a successful career as Director of Research for the prestigious global search firm Korn/Ferry International (KFI). During Wendy’s tenure at KFI, she was responsible for name generation and reported directly to the CEO. Simultaneously, Wendy was accountable for candidate development and assisted the CEO and a number of partners successfully executing searches across a wide range of industries.

Drinkwater Associates conducts executive search engagements for retained executive search firms, corporations, consulting firms, private equity, venture and start up organizations. Drinkwater’s team is highly experienced and includes expertise in many industries at all levels – manager through CEO and Board levels, both nationally and internationally. Highly focused on outstanding quality and swift turn around at an attractive, economical price point, Drinkwater’s services include candidate development, research, name generation, competitive intelligence, reference checking, target list preparation and search strategy. Drinkwater Associates will modify its services to meet the exact specifications required by each client and every client is a reference.

Preceding KFI, Wendy was an Assistant Vice President of Securities for First Winthrop Corporation, responsible for raising equity to finance large scale commercial real estate ventures.

Wendy is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Testimonials

“Blue Heron has worked with Wendy several times to recruit portfolio company executives, board members, and in-house investment professionals.  In every instance, her searches have produced terrific candidates to choose from. Wendy does a very good job of matching candidate resumes and skills to those required for the opportunity.   Wendy and her team have been an absolute pleasure to work with and we will absolutely use her again in the future.”

Andrew Tichenor
Managing Partner, Blue Heron Capital

 

“Drinkwater Associates was by far the most effective Executive Recruiting firm we have ever used. Wendy and her team were responsible for virtually all our Senior and Executive hires during our very high growth (100%/year) phase. They knew our culture and profile inside and out, lasered in on just the right people (who were happy and not looking) and sold them so effectively they would end up joining us. I can’t imagine how we could have grown at the rates we did without Wendy and her team as our secret weapon.”

J. Stuart Moore
Co-Founder (and former Co-CEO) Sapient Corporation

 

“Our requirements for a new COO/CFO were so stringent and specialized that I was a bit skeptical any recruiter not deeply familiar with our niche business could find such a unique needle in the tangled haystack of potential talent in our market.  But Wendy Drinkwater and her team found precisely the person we needed, faster than I anticipated, and with a measure of professionalism, good cheer, and personal warmth that I found extraordinarily refreshing and reassuring.  I would counsel any company beginning an executive search to bring in “Team Drinkwater.”  I especially appreciate their eminently fair and reasonable compensation model, which is a tremendous value in addition to the sophistication, skill, and tenacity Wendy and her associates brought to our successful search.”

Tim Kersten
Chief Executive Officer
RobbinsKersten Direct

 

“Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with just about every major global search firm. In my experience Drinkwater Assocates has provided as good (if not better) results at a significantly better price point.”

Austin Cooke
Head of HR & Global Recruiting, Vistaprint (Nasdaq : VPRT)
Head of Global Recruiting, Sapient (Nasdaq : SAPE)

 

“As someone who is an operator and also active on a number of Boards, I have worked with Drinkwater Associates to source and hire CEO’s along with sales, marketing and technical people within a range of industries including e-learning, software, and medical manufacturing. I have worked with a number of firms, but none better than Drinkwater Associates. Regardless of the task, they have consistently produced timely results well below the cost of other leading search firms.”

Henry White
CEO, Intac International

 

“I have worked with Drinkwater Associates for approximately 15 years. Wendy and her team have conducted at least 15-20 executive searches on a nation basis both for Brook and prior to that for S&H Greenpoints, my prior company. We continue to turn to Drinkwater for c-level search work for several reasons, primarily the quality of the work and the responsiveness to our need for highly targeted, personalized search work. The team at Drinkwater has always taken the time to fully understand the specific nature of the portfolio company in question and the specific attributes we are looking for in an executive. The vast majority of the searches have led to a successful placement. We also feel the pricing model has been effective for us as it allows us to simultaneously pursue a retained search with Drinkwater while continuing to mine our own network for potential candidates. I would whole heartedly recommend Drinkwater to any party with similar c-level search requirements”

Walter Beinecke
Partner, Brook Venture Partners, LLC

 

“Drinkwater and Associates has recruited several key positions for us. Their approach is crisp and concise. I have been very impressed with their ability to “hit the mark” not only in qualified candidates, but maintaining challenging geographic limitations.”

James R. Milligan
CEO, Medical Mastermind

 

Contact

Wendy A. Drinkwater
Drinkwater Associates
123 Washington Street
PH 56A
New York, NY 10006
978.985.9425
Email Wendy Drinkwater