Executive Search Insights: How CPG & Retail Companies Find the Right Leaders

In this episode, Boyden Managing Director Issy Perez joins Fahad Jalal, CEO of QLU.AI, to explore how to identify and hire exceptional executive talent in today’s evolving landscape. Perez highlights how AI is transforming the speed of executive search—accelerating market mapping, research, and candidate identification—while emphasizing that the most critical aspects of the role remain deeply human, particularly assessing the “wake” leaders leave behind in terms of culture, team development, and long-term impact.

Drawing on his own career journey, he underscores the importance of early mentorship and building cross-functional experience across marketing, sales, supply chain, and finance to develop strong CEO and GM candidates. The conversation also stresses the need to move beyond rigid hiring checklists, encouraging companies to open the talent aperture and focus on underlying capabilities, culture fit, and leadership complementarity. Perez further discusses how boards, private equity stakeholders, and hiring teams can better align, avoid common pitfalls in executive searches, and ultimately secure leaders who drive sustainable organizational success.

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