Connecting the right leader to the right moment.
Approach
We help organizations meet the leadership demands of growth, scale, and transformation.
Leadership expectations have multiplied. The bar keeps moving. Leaders who meet the moment are emerging from broader, less conventional paths than ever before.
We’ve spent decades building the judgment to recognize when leadership capability will translate across industries, business models, and moments of change, so our clients can act on a wider field with confidence.
Two senior partners lead every search. We are fully invested from the first conversation through onboarding. Every decision point benefits from combined experience, perspective, and judgment.
The right leader is never off the table. Our searches are expansive by design because exceptional leaders don’t always come from expected places. Any off-limits commitments are search-specific, not firm-wide.
Urgency is a given. We move quickly without sacrificing rigor, calibration, or candidate experience. With two partners fully invested, there is no tradeoff between speed and fidelity.
Team
Strategists, catalysts, and doers. Trusted search partners and advisors for complex leadership decisions.
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For nearly two decades, I've advised organizations through critical leadership moments. From founder-led startups and market leaders to philanthropic and mission-driven organizations, I place executive and operating leaders whose experience translates across sectors, business models, and moments of change. I view every search as an opportunity to widen the aperture and help clients identify exceptional leaders beyond the most familiar networks and profiles.
Before co-founding Ignite Agents, Karen was a Partner at Bridge Partners, where she placed executive leaders across the global social sector. Prior to Bridge, she founded and led a boutique executive search and talent advisory firm serving VC- and PE-backed growth companies.
Prior to executive search, Karen was a founder and early-stage operator in venture-backed tech, consumer markets, and economic mobility. Shaped by a global upbringing, she has lived and worked on four continents, beginning her career in global finance with ABN AMRO in Taipei.
Karen is active in the Bay Area community, contributing to organizations advancing health, wellness, and education including Edible Schoolyard and SFArtsED. She holds a BA in English from the University of Georgia and completed Stanford's Executive Program in Social Entrepreneurship (EPSE).
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Debbie leads global executive searches in both the private and public sectors, from Fortune 100 companies to universities and government agencies. She recruits senior executives across all functions (CEO, CFO, CHRO, General Counsel, Chief Legal Officer and Board Directors) in a wide variety of industries.
Before co-founding Ignite Agents, Debbie was a Partner at a boutique executive search firm, and spent over six years as a Managing Director in Major, Lindsey & Africa's in-house practice group. Prior to executive search, she was in-house counsel for Marriott International and served as General Counsel of an international restaurant chain. She began her career as an Associate at Troutman Sanders and Reed Smith.
Debbie is actively involved in the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) and the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia. She received a BA degree from McGill University and a JD from Washington & Lee School of Law, where she was on the Editorial Board of The Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice. She serves on the Boards of the Washington Project for the Arts (Co-chair of Governance Committee) and Norwood School (Vice-Chair & Chair of Committee on Trustees).
Focus
Founder-led companies. Investor-backed portfolios. Market leaders. Each navigating the intersection of purpose and markets.
We place board directors, senior executives, and operating leaders building for scale, leading with impact, and changing who gets to lead.
Industries & Sectors
Consumer Markets | Education | Financial Services | Healthcare & Life Sciences | Tech & AI | Philanthropy & Social Impact
Functional Practices
Board | CxO | GTM & Commercial | Legal & Compliance | Finance | Data & AI | People & Talent | Product