Krishnan Rajagopalan is CEO Emeritus of Heidrick & Struggles, a  +$1B global leadership advisory firm providing executive search, leadership assessment and development, organization and team effectiveness, and culture shaping services.  Previously he was the long-standing  President and CEO and served on the Board of Directors of Heidrick & Struggles (NASDAQ: HSII), and led the firm’s global Management Committee.

With over 20 years of experience at the  C-suite and board level, he advises clients regularly on leadership, succession planning, organizational transformation, governance and culture. He has been recognized as one of the “100 Most Influential Executive Recruiters in the World” by Bloomberg Business Week. He is passionate about leveraging technology and has driven the tech enablement of the business and launched the first AI product focused on the executive-level. He is a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, both for the firm’s employees and its clients. Heidrick & Struggles was the first executive search and leadership advisory firm to pledge that on an annual basis at least half of its cumulative initial slates of board candidates presented to clients will be diverse.

Before joining Heidrick & Struggles, Krishnan served as a Vice President and Partner with a global management consulting firm, where he focused on strategy, operations, and transformation.  Earlier in his career, he was an engineer developing satellite communications systems.

Krishnan earned a Master of Business Administration degree from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and holds Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in engineering from Johns Hopkins University. He is also a recipient of the Johns Hopkins University Distinguished Alumnus Award. Additionally, Krishnan serves on the Boards of The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History,  NobleReach Foundation, the U.S.-China Business Council and  the TMF Group.