Corporate Development & M&A Search
Corporate development and M&A leaders who find, close, and integrate deals.
VPs and Heads of Corporate Development, M&A, and Strategy for public, PE-backed, and family-owned companies.
Hazeltine Executive Search recruits corporate development, M&A, and strategy leaders for public, PE-backed, and family-owned companies nationwide. Our network runs deepest with investment banking professionals, both those still in banking and those who started there and now lead deals in industry. Every search runs through The Hazeltine Process.
How corporate development searches run through The Hazeltine Process
- Recorded intake. We start with a recorded video intake with your hiring manager: the seat, the first year, and why it is worth a strong candidate's time.
- A Position Package candidates watch. We don't cold-pitch the role. We ask passive candidates if they would review a short Position Package, with your hiring manager on video, before the first call.
- Video interviews with finalists. Candidates complete a structured, recorded video interview. Your team watches and rates them in the Hazeltine Portal before spending an hour on anyone.
- AI does the prep. People make the calls. We use AI to research and prepare. Every conversation with you and with candidates is a person on the phone.
- Weekly check-ins and a year of follow-up. We calibrate with your team every week, and we stay with your hire through the first year.
See The Hazeltine Process →
We pick up the phone.
A lot of recruiting is LinkedIn InMails and emails sent out in bulk, hoping something sticks. We build a targeted list for every search, and our first outreach is a phone call. The best finance leaders aren't scrolling job boards or talking to five recruiters. They get plenty of messages and very few calls. Across hundreds of searches, the phone call has found our best candidates, the ones who weren't looking. Then the Position Package lets them see the hiring manager and the role on video before the first interview.
Searches we run
Head of Corporate Development
Owns the acquisition pipeline, from sourcing to close.
VP of M&A
Runs deals end to end, with banks, lenders, and diligence teams.
Head of Strategy
Shapes where the company competes and how it grows.
Integration leadership
Folds acquisitions into one company, one close, and one set of reports.
Roles we place
Head of Corporate Development · VP of Corporate Development · VP of M&A · Head of M&A · Head of Strategy
What we screen for
- Deals closed from the company side, not just modeled.
- Sourcing. Leaders who build a pipeline, not just wait for bankers.
- Integration. What happened after the deal closed.
- Fit with ownership. Public boards, sponsors, or families each want something different.
Situations we see often
- A PE platform plans to grow through add-on acquisitions and needs a leader to run them.
- A public company wants an in-house M&A function instead of relying only on bankers.
- A family-owned company is weighing acquisitions for the first time.
A lower middle market PE firm needed a Head of M&A for its largest platform to double through acquisitions. We evaluated more than 15 candidates with banking and portfolio M&A backgrounds and closed the search.Search example
Questions
Do you recruit corporate development leaders from investment banking?
Yes. Our network runs deepest with investment banking professionals, including those who have since moved into corporate development roles in industry.
Which companies do you run corporate development searches for?
Public, PE-backed, and family-owned companies, nationwide.
Is a corporate development search retained?
Yes. It runs through the same retained Hazeltine Process as our CFO searches.
