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Connecting People + Firms

Creating the future through people.

Are you ready to set yourself apart, solve your toughest challenges, and succeed on your own terms?

Talentstar has always been about people, and the firms they shape. For more than 35 years, we’ve helped firms in the AEC world — architecture, design, engineering, landscape, construction, real estate — evolve by aligning leadership with purpose, culture, and ambition.

It’s not about filling roles.
People decisions are business decisions.

It’s about understanding what your firm needs for resilient growth — finding, developing, and transitioning the people who can make that future real.


Talent Strategy
Executive Search
Leadership Evolution
Succession Planning

What We Do

Executive search is just the beginning.

Talentstar is our talent and leadership advisory — trusted by firm leaders when the stakes are high and the path isn’t clear.

We guide firms through leadership transitions, next-generation development, and ownership succession. Our work goes beyond matching skills and experience — we connect values, vision, and potential.

Our work is grounded in people who shape what’s next — inside firms and across the business of design.

We work across every stage of leadership:

  • We mentor rising talent

  • We guide mid-career professionals through development and transition

  • We advise senior leaders on legacy, ownership, and evolution

• Executive Search + Leadership Recruiting —

We recruit principals, directors, and senior leaders who are ready to lead — not just fit the role. Our searches focus on clarity, alignment, authorship, and the long-term health of the firm.

• Leadership Development + Leadership Succession Planning —

We help firms grow the leaders they need next. From team assessment and executive coaching to role-succession planning and readiness strategy, we support transitions that stick.

• Ownership Transition, Succession Strategy + Mergers & Aquisitions —

We guide founders and leadership teams through ownership changes, internal handoffs, and firm transitions — balancing financial strategy with leadership continuity, cultural integrity, and legacy.

We support transformation through three dimensions of talent:

  • Rising leaders shaping your evolving aesthetic, methodology, and vision.

  • Principals advancing design excellence through projects, clients, and teams

  • Senior leaders navigating succession, transition, or reinvention

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Talent is strategy. Leadership is the future.

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Why This Matters.

The future of your business doesn’t rest only on what you build, design, or deliver — it depends on the people trusted to lead it forward.

When the right people are in the right roles — aligned with purpose and supported to lead — everything else can flow. Culture becomes intentional. Teams evolve. Vision becomes action.

What Makes Us Different?

  • Strategic Focus Beyond Staffing

    Unlike traditional recruiters, we don’t just fill positions — we work at the intersection of talent, strategy, and enterprise growth.

    We help design firm leaders develop frameworks for long-term success, including ownership succession, leadership evolution, and cultivating the next generation.

  • Deep Industry Roots + Relationships

    Our network is cultivated — built and strengthened over time.

    With long-standing relationships across creative practice, plus personal experience with the business of design, we bring rare insight to both sides of the table — what firms want to achieve, and how top talent can be aligned and empowered to attain it.

  • Curated Services for Creative Leaders

    We are known for guiding leaders through pivotal moments — whether that’s scaling a practice, navigating transition, or rethinking competitive advantage.

    Our advisory services and expertise elevate our work far beyond traditional search services — anticipating inflection and change.

  • Talent Advocacy, Not Just Placement

    We champion the long game — mentoring, advising, and aligning individuals not only with specific roles, but with environments where they’ll thrive.

    This makes you a magnet for exceptional values-driven, high-potential professionals who will create long-term value for themselves and your firm.

  • A Reputation for Integrity, Insight + Discretion

    In an industry built on reputation and trust, we stand out for doing the right thing, making tough calls with care and consideration, and helping our clients make courageous decisions about people and purpose.

    Influence eclipses control. We respect your values and culture, and focus on understanding what matters most, and why.