Boutique & Independent Firm Forum - New York

Kate is a co-founder and Managing Partner of SEBA Executive Search, leading the firm's global Marketing & Revenue practice. Specializing in marketing, sales and business development engagements, Kate has over 20 years of search experience advising startups, growth, and Fortune 100 companies across technology, digital, consumer, financial, and professional service industries. Representative assignments include BoD, CMO, Chief Revenue Officer, VP Growth, SVP Product Marketing, VP Brand & Communications, VP Sales & Customer Success, and VP Partners & Alliances.

Before co-founding SEBA, Kate was Vice President in the Strategy and Finance Practice at A-L Associates Executive Search. There, she focused on strategy, corporate development, and joint venture search work for clients in technology, manufacturing, and financial services.

Kate is a recent Global Board Member of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) and Chair Emeritus of the AESC's Americas Council. She co-founded The Empowered CMO Network, a community of hundreds of women CMOs, and is an Advisor to USF's Marketing Department and The Product Marketing Community. Kate also serves on the board of A Chance in Life, a global non-profit serving underprivileged youth. She holds a B.A. from Dickinson College.

Kelsey Klausing, MS, is the Practice Manager for Hogan’s Solutions Partners team. She is responsible for assisting in the growth, delivery, and support of Hogan’s partners in their journeys to leverage personality assessments in their talent management strategies. Kelsey plays a key role in delivering projects and driving continuous value in partner relationships and identifying new opportunities to implement assessments to enhance partners’ talent management services.

Prior to joining the Hogan family, she was the manager of people science and optimization at Macy’s Inc., where she led the research, design, and implementation of pre-hire assessment tools to identify the best external talent. Kelsey built and secured assessments, interview guides, case studies, and the like. She also conducted ongoing scientific analysis of tools to ensure effectiveness and minimize risk.

While serving as an external consultant with Performance Assessment Network (a PSI business) for five years, Kelsey helped hundreds of clients add a layer of science into the art of hiring and development. She led client-facing projects involving job analyses, competency modeling, structured interview guides, assessment recommendations, and validation studies. Partnering with dozens of assessment vendors in the industry, she maintained the catalog of offerings and ensured the accuracy of assessment overviews, reports, and versions.

She earned her master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology from Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, where she researched diversity in the workplace and its impact on recruitment and employee engagement. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from Ball State University, where she majored in psychology and minored in interpersonal relationships and sociology.

Lynne is Managing Director for the Americas at the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC). Lynne is a business executive with 20+ years of demonstrated experience driving business growth across the public and private sectors. She has vast experience in the non-profit and professional services industries with a proven track record of building and strategically managing relationships with Fortune 500 and Am Law 100 firms.

Prior to joining AESC, Lynne served as a Director of Engagement with The Conference Board responsible for managing and developing new key relationships across the U.S. Prior to The Conference Board, Lynne served in Business Development leadership roles with Dow Jones, and Bloomberg LP, among others. She is currently the co-chapter chair for the New York chapter of Quorum Initiative, a professional organization dedicated to the advancement of executive women in business, culture, and public policy.

Lynne holds an EMBA from Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business, and a Bachelor of Arts from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio.

She is a lifelong learner with a passion for personal and professional growth and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion through leadership development and collaboration.

Tony Bolliger joined CareerSMITH, Inc. in 2003 after having spent ten years in the environmental and construction industries. Prior to joining CareerSMITH, he was employed as a Senior Project Manager for a billion-dollar environmental engineering and remediation firm located in Northern California. Projects included managing large-scale remediation programs for the Department of Defense, environmental consulting, technical assistance with hazardous waste management, and management of solid waste construction projects.

As President of CareerSMITH, Tony develops strong relationships with clients to fulfill a broad range of position levels and functions across multiple market sectors including Energy, Power, Infrastructure, Transportation, Government, and Environmental. He works closely with clients to fully understand their needs and provides oversight and leadership throughout the entire search execution process including directing research, candidate development, and interviewing and presenting qualified candidates. Tony is intimately involved throughout search execution to ensure successful integration of candidates into client organizations. This results in high quality candidates and long-term placements that make a strategic impact.

Tony partners with clients to develop strategic recruitment plans and his breadth of experience includes recruiting across a broad spectrum of leadership positions for clients looking to establish or to augment corporate management teams. This includes recruiting multiple key positions for his clients such as Chief Growth Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and other strategic leadership positions.

Tony is a national speaker at multiple engineering and construction industry conferences held throughout the year in which he shares his strong E&C industry knowledge, recruiting guidance, and industry trends in recruiting and retention. In addition, he leads CareerSMITH’s participation and sponsorship activities for multiple industry associations and organizations including SAME, ECC, EFCG, FMI, AEC Advisors, and IEHRA.

Tony is a Board Member of the Association of Executive Search & Leadership Consultants (AESC) Americas Council and was elected in 2019 as the Council Secretary and Treasurer. The AESC Americas Council consists of elected officers from AESC Member firms from North America and Latin America to provide market insights and ensure that the AESC represents the very best in the profession and a rigorous commitment to quality standards.

Tony earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Villanova University in Pennsylvania and is actively involved with Villanova’s alumni community. He also volunteers as a mentor and coach for his children’s youth sports league and participates with other local groups in his community.