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HIGHRIDGE SEARCH IS AN EXECUTIVE SEARCH FIRM specializing in real estate and hospitality. We partner with investment firms, private equity groups, operators, and developers to attract, develop, and retain the best talent both for their teams and portfolio companies.
Highridge Search is dedicated to exceptional results for our clients. We empower organizations with the tools they need to make strategic hiring decisions that have a lasting positive impact on their businesses. This involves a technical approach that recognizes that talent is your greatest investment.
Highridge Search has a unique vantage point in real estate executive search. We understand the evolving dynamics and opportunities within real estate and take the time to deeply understand your business, challenges, culture, and goals. This insight drives our bespoke search strategy, enabling us to deliver candidates who possess the necessary skills, fit, and potential. Importantly and uniquely, we are unabashedly focused on onboarding a successful hire into your organization. This area is a critical component of candidate success and one we focus on as a priority in our process.
At Highridge Search, we bring a technical approach to executive search. We seek to know everyone in the industry deeply and care about their talents, skills, motivations and drivers. On paper, we thoroughly assess professionals, their capabilities, relationships, expertise, cultural fit, and compensation. In practice, we recognize that talent assessment, interview structure and schedule, and onboarding significantly impact the outcome of any hiring process. Talent development and alignment are critical components to retaining your best talent.
Our goal is always the same – to ensure that the selected candidate possesses the necessary skills, competencies, and values to excel in their role and to contribute to the overall growth and success of the organization.
Our holistic approach emphasizes not only identifying top talent and constructing the right process to assess their fit, but also supporting their integration into the organization so that productivity is maximized early. We provide comprehensive onboarding strategies and support. We also prioritize talent retention strategies, recognizing that retaining exceptional professionals as a result of or during a hiring process is crucial for sustained success.
Our founding partners bring a wealth of firsthand industry experience to the assignments. We speak your language and understand your challenges and specific requirements. Hence, we genuinely comprehend the intricacies of the roles we seek to fill .
CEO & Founding Partner
Darin is the CEO and Founding Partner of Highridge Search. Highridge Seach is one in a collection of real estate and hospitality talent and search-related brands, which include KangarooStar (kangaoostar.com) and KangarooStar Post (kangaroostar-post.com).
Prior to founding Highridge Search, Darin was a senior leader at Korn Ferry for 15 years where she led the real estate investment businesses globally. She also led searches in corporate credit, infrastructure, private equity, among other areas.
Darin brings a technical understanding to search that has served her well helping clients hire senior executives across real estate, private equity, credit, investment banking, and lending and finance. Her past investment experience at both Soros Private Fund Management and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (“DLJ”, through acquisition, Credit Suisse) give her a technical understanding of strategy, the marketplace, and of candidate track records. She has been involved in some of the most notable hires, build-outs, and human capital strategies within these segments.
Darin earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science, Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude, from the Barnard College, Columbia University.
President & Founding Partner
Irina is the President and Founding Partner of Highridge Search, bringing 15 years of experience in development and hands-on transaction and asset management to executive recruitment of real estate and hospitality executives.
Prior to launching Highridge, Irina led her own investment and development advisory firm focusing on lifestyle-driven hospitality and mixed-use projects, including lodging, multi-family, food & beverage, and neighborhood-making. Irina worked closely with developers, investors, and operators on expansion strategies, project planning, acquisition/disposition, valuation, programming, and capital raising.
Irina held various investment and business development roles at Gansevoort Hotel Group, Credit Suisse Asset Management, Starwood Capital, and American Express. She began her career as an Investment Banking analyst with Merrill Lynch Global Telecom and Media Group in New York, where she focused both on M&A and corporate finance transactions followed by two years in Strategic Alliances at Level 3 Communications.
Irina earned a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Economics, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Chicago and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Director
Alexis is a Director at Highridge Search. Alexis started her search career at Korn Ferry where she worked directly with Darin White Eydenberg in the firm’s global real estate group. While she primarily focused on real estate and hospitality opportunities, she also supported execution in the investment banking, corporate credit, and private equity practices.
Most recently, Alexis was a Consultant within Sheffield Haworth’s Global Real Assets Group, where she spearheaded real estate credit and hospitality coverage in the US. She also has extensive experience in capital raising/investor relations, acquisitions, asset management, development, and broader C-Suite work, among other areas.
Before pivoting into search, Alexis started her career at Barclays in the sales and trading division.
Alexis earned a bachelor’s degree in public policy and international affairs from Princeton University.
Project Manager
Natalia heads up Project Management at Highridge Search. Natalia started her career in the US in real estate and provided residential and commercial brokerage, marketing, and pre-development consulting services while she was working at Corcoran Sunshine and Douglas Elliman.
Most recently, Natalia worked as a consultant for a European Family office. In this role, she supported the executive team, managing various US-based projects. Her responsibilities included providing executive support to departmental heads, project management of a range of US-based assignments, and executive coordination.
Before her experience in real estate, Natalia lived in Europe and worked at Euro RSCG and Potel et Chabot creating the creative side and business development.
Natalia earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Institut Supérieur de Gestion.
