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Working with executives to board members, and with emerging local start-ups to established companies large and small, Pekarsky & Co. excels at finding top talent and providing leadership development services that propel mission-critical learning, drive performance and align with strategy.
Pekarsky & Co. is an award-winning, independently owned and operated executive search and leadership advisory firm with offices in Calgary and Toronto. We serve exceptional clients across North America and source candidates and leadership best practices from around the globe.

Bringing nearly 100 years of combined experience in executive search and leadership development consulting, the award-winning team at Pekarsky & Co. deliver best practices from across the industry and around the world with the approachability and prairie practicality of a front porch visit.

For nearly 15 years we’ve seen the human capital industry transform. The largest Rolodex no longer wins the day; rather, the art of storytelling and relationship building have formed the foundation of the firm’s long-standing success. We excel at providing tailor-made client solutions for unique challenges. We know process, but we also know when to colour outside the lines. We co-create customized executive search and leadership development programs that drive results and meet the needs of our clients. We know that even in an automated age, great service, hard work and the human touch still matter.

SEE LESSONS WE'VE LEARNED »
The Ampersand: Unplugged is a podcast that explores issues of the day that impact our community, affect businesses large and small and explores issues that impact human capital and, more broadly, the human condition. We will tackle everything from leadership to diversity to post Covid office space. Our guests will be well known leaders of our community, political figures, sports celebrities and maybe even just a few fascinating folks you’ve never heard of. As with our monthly Ampersand blog post, which is fast approaching 150 editions over the past 11 years, the podcast promises to be thoughtful, provocative, informative and above all, authentic.

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99

*Successful Search Completion Rate

red line  TRUSTED BY  red line


Anthem
Calgary
Shell
Enbridge
CP
Enerflex
Jayman
MEG
Tourism Calgary
Nutrien
Paramount Resources
YYC
Enmax
Suncor
Tidewater

Don’t Believe Us? Listen to our Clients and Candidates!

After every single search, our client and our candidate receive a survey.
And they are tough markers! Yet, over all these years and over
1000 searches later, our community has rated us!
RESPONSIVENESS

4.78/5

COMMUNICATION

4.79/5

EXPERIENCE

4.96/5

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1000 *Number of searches we’ve successfully completed—so far.
1000

*Number of searches
we’ve successfully
completed—so far.

WE KNOW PEOPLE

We take a personal, customized approach to executive recruitment and leadership advisory mandates across multiple industries and functions. Our clients wouldn’t call us if it were easy.

Whether it’s a C-Suite executive of a for-profit, public company or an Executive Director of a charitable foundation; whether it’s executive and high potential coaching or our “Mission Critical 100” on-boarding program; whether you’re a seasoned Board Chair, a start-up contemplating a greenfield build, or a private equity backed portfolio company looking to drive value, WE KNOW PEOPLE.

WE KNOW RESULTS

If it’s an executive search mandate, we don’t stop until the role is filled. Fully 40% of our fees are not payable until the placed candidate signs on the dotted line. And we succeed often; fully 99% of all executive search mandates on which are engaged result in successful hires. On leadership advisory mandates, it’s a true partnership that lasts well beyond the specific mandate; we are cultivating lifelong partnerships that transcend the transactional.

Whether leading a search, coaching an executive, facilitating a retreat or running your management team through unconscious bias training, we understand very clearly that we are an extension of our client in the marketplace. Throughout the course of any mandate, a cast of hundreds is involved; either as potential candidates, helpful sources, decision makers within the client company; co-creators and collaborators on a specific project; or even the local bakery that delivers Pekarsky & Co. logoed cupcakes at the conclusion of any mandate. 

With every touch point, we are representing you in the market and we work just as hard to ensure the finalist candidate is the right fit as we do to ensure that every person who helps us along the way is acknowledged for their assistance in the process. This may seem self-evident but our experience working at other national and global search firms is that it’s not as obvious as you may think.

And when you engage us on a leadership advisory mandate, we quickly start speaking in the first-person plural; it’s not your retreat, it’s our collective effort. It’s not your success; it’s ours together. We go to market as one and we celebrate successes collectively.
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YOUR EXECUTIVE SEARCH AND LEADERSHIP ADVISORY TEAM

We get it: our credibility and our client’s credibility are intertwined. And we believe that who takes your message to market matters just as much as how it’s taken there.

Our team is highly educated, exceptionally well-trained and have chosen search as their vocation, not simply as their job. This is the essence of our offering and differentiates us from the large national or global firms.

There is a leaning amongst the more traditional executive search firms toward ‘pale, stale and male’; both in their own makeup and the candidates and clients they represent. The world is changing and though our team believes the best candidate should always get the job, we believe that diversity of thought, gender and background makes us better and, by extension, makes our clients better too. We look and act like the community we serve.

HEADHUNTERS WITH HEART

We believe that being boutique means buying local and supporting local. When you live, play and work in the same community as your clients, vendors and competitors, there is nowhere to hide and no anonymity. We don’t give for the sake of giving. We give because it feels great and because we have a social conscience and because we believe that making our communities stronger, makes us stronger.


SEE OUR APPROACH
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Award-Winning Executive Recruiters

We are proud to announce that our firm was a winner of the Canadian Lawyer Magazine Readers' Choice Awards. We were also honoured in 2015 with a Business in Calgary Leaders Award recognizing our commitment to our community, and in 2016 we received an Alberta Venture Fast Growth 50 Award, as one of Alberta’s fastest growing companies.
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red line  IN THE KNOW  red line

We have completed hundreds of executive job searches, leveraging our cross-industry experience. We find the perfect fit for every search, from specialists to managers to the C-Suite.


INDUSTRIES SERVED
  • Agriculture
  • Arts & Culture
  • Automotive
  • Communications & High-tech
  • Education
  • Engineering & Construction
  • Financial Services
  • Forestry
  • Government/Municipalities
  • Healthcare
  • Legal
  • Manufacturing & Distribution
  • Marketing & Communications
  • Not-for-profit
  • Oil & Gas
  • Oilfield Services
  • Power & Utilities
  • Professional Services
  • Real Estate & Property Development
  • Renewable Energy
  • Retail
  • Tourism & Hospitality
  • Transportation & Logistics
FUNCTIONAL EXPERTISE
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Human Resources
  • Health & Safety
  • Legal
  • Board
  • Marketing, Communications & Board Development
  • Operations
  • Supply Chain
SAMPLING OF SEARCHES COMPLETED
  • Public Company and NFP Board Directors
  • Chief Executive Officers
  • Chief Financial Officer
  • General Counsel
  • Vice President, Human Resources
  • Corporate Legal Counsel
  • Executive Director
  • Law Firm Partners & Associates
  • Accounting Firm Partners & Associates
  • Director, Health & Safety
  • Director, Supply Chain
  • Director, Taxation
  • Director, Client Relations & Communications
  • Chief Marketing Officer
  • Government Relations
  • Manager, Training & Development
  • Manager, Information & Records Management
  • Post-Secondary Roles
SAMPLING OF LEADERSHIP MANDATES COMPLETED
  • Executive and High Potential Coaching
  • Total Assessment Experiences
  • “Mission Critical 100” - Executive and New Role On-Boarding
  • Succession Planning: Launching the Future Face of Leadership
  • Emerging Talent & High Potential Leadership Development
  • Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Where Words Meet Action
  • Unconscious Bias Training
  • Retreat Facilitation
INDUSTRIES SERVED
  • Agriculture
  • Arts & Culture
  • Automotive
  • Communications & High-tech
  • Education
  • Engineering & Construction
  • Financial Services
  • Forestry
  • Government / Municipalities
  • Healthcare
  • Legal
  • Manufacturing & Distribution
  • Marketing & Communications
  • Not-for-profit
  • Oil & Gas
  • Oilfield Services
  • Power & Utilities
  • Professional Services
  • Real Estate & Property Development
  • Renewable Energy
  • Retail
  • Tourism & Hospitality
  • Transportation & Logistics
FUNCTIONAL EXPERTISE
  • Accounting & Finance
  • Human Resources
  • Health & Safety
  • Legal
  • Board
  • Marketing, Communications & Board Development
  • Operations
  • Supply Chain
SAMPLING OF SEARCHES COMPLETED
  • Public Company and NFP Board Directors
  • Chief Executive Officers
  • Chief Financial Officer
  • General Counsel
  • Vice President, Human Resources
  • Corporate Legal Counsel
  • Executive Director
  • Law Firm Partners & Associates
  • Accounting Firm Partners & Associates
  • Director, Health & Safety
  • Director, Supply Chain
  • Director, Taxation
  • Director, Client Relations & Communications
  • Chief Marketing Officer
  • Government Relations
  • Manager, Training & Development
  • Manager, Information & Records Management
  • Post-Secondary Roles
SAMPLING OF LEADERSHIP MANDATES COMPLETED
  • Executive and High Potential Coaching
  • Total Assessment Experiences
  • “Mission Critical 100” - Executive and New Role On-Boarding
  • Succession Planning: Launching the Future Face of Leadership
  • Emerging Talent & High Potential Leadership Development
  • Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Where Words Meet Action
  • Unconscious Bias Training
  • Retreat Facilitation

red line  PEOPLE ARE TALKING  red line

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Adam Pekarsky is a self-described recovering lawyer who didn’t find his true passion until the age of 39 when he started his own business in the midst of a crushing global economic crisis. He is now leading an award-winning executive search firm and regarded as a trusted advisor to the legal profession.

Adam is a provocative, at times irreverent, speaker who always gives thoughtful and engaging keynote speeches on a broad range of topics impacting the human condition and, more specifically, the lawyer human condition, if you accept the premise that lawyers are, in fact, human.

BOOK ADAM FOR YOUR NEXT EVENT
FAQ

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What happens if you’re unsuccessful filling the role?
We get it. You pay us a lot of money to find you the perfect candidate and you are absolutely right to ask ‘what if we pay you all this money and you don’t find us anyone?” There are three answers to this question. First, it almost never happens. In fact, our fill ratio over the course of our nearly 600 searches during our firm’s history is close to 99%.

Second, our fee structure motivates us to run through the finish line, no matter how long it takes. Unlike most traditional search firms who send invoices throughout the process, fully 2/3 of our fees are at risk until we successfully fill the role. Add to that, the Principals, Associates and Researchers on the project team for your search don’t get paid their performance bonus unless and until the search closes. Suffice to say, they don’t give up easily.

Third, in that one in a hundred times it does happen, usually our client has moved the goal posts during the course of the search.  So long as the search we are asked to execute upon reflects the “must haves” and core competencies as spelled out at the kick off meeting when the search is initiated and so long as the client isn’t entirely focused on hiring a purple squirrel, we’ll be successful. Full stop.
What is your area of search specialization?
Though we are best known for our expertise in legal search, we do much more than that. If the executive job exists at the corporate head office and is a manager-level role or above, we can help. Basically, any senior role in the company in legal, marketing, HR, finance, accounting or other areas broadly under the corporate services umbrella is our wheelhouse.

When times are booming, our task is to find a needle in a hay stack.  When the market is soft, our challenge is even greater: to find a needle in a needle stack.  Regardless of market conditions, you want to ensure you are hiring the very best person possible and we have the researches, resources and resourcefulness to do just that.
Why should we hire you when we can just post on our website and rely on LinkedIn?
Any time you are adding talent to your team, you have to ask yourself the following question:  Do you want to hire the best person who applies for the job or the best person, period?

We believe there is often a significant delta between the caliber of candidate who is actively seeking a job by applying to postings online and utilizing social networks such as LinkedIn and the candidate who is not actively looking for a job and, in many instances, doesn’t even have a resume or even a LinkedIn profile.  The best candidates are usually busy working, not busy looking.

When times are booming, our task is to find a needle in a hay stack.  When the market is soft, our challenge is even greater: to find a needle in a needle stack.  Regardless of market conditions, you want to ensure you are hiring the very best person possible and we have the researches, resources and resourcefulness to do just that.
Is your Executive Coaching program targeted only at high potentials or would you also work with individuals in an organization who are struggling?
Investment in coaching helps all individuals in an organization, and teams within an organization, foster new mindsets. Our coaching can be either Development coaching or Performance coaching. There are common elements to both: growing self-awareness, building executive presence, strengthening alignment and accountability, identifying key issues, priorities and strategies requiring support, developing team building skills and enhancing communication among internal and external stakeholders.

red line  THE AMPERSAND  red line

Bringing people together in a more personal, authentic way than an ‘and’ could ever do.


Making Hay – The Ampersand November 2023


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House Hunters – The Ampersand October 2023


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Making Hay – The Ampersand November 2023

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red line  CALGARY  red line

Suite 200, 137 – 8th Ave SW
Stephen Avenue Mall
Calgary, Alberta T2P 1B4
Phone: 403.263.4474
Visit Calgary office

red line  TORONTO  red line

Suite 2200, 161 Bay Street
Toronto, ON M5J 2S1
Phone: 403.407.1964
Visit Toronto office