Connecting the right leader to the right moment.
A boutique search partnership for mission-driven companies and institutions.
Approach
Our standard
Exceptional leaders are measured by what they make possible in others — creating the conditions that turn a team's range of potential into collective impact.
We hold our own work to that standard: measured by the caliber of the leaders we place, and by the trusted relationships that endure beyond the search.
We know what the moment demands. And where to find the leaders who can meet it.
The ground a leader has to cover has grown significantly. We look beyond titles and linear paths to what candidates have built, led, and navigated, assessing how the capabilities developed across sectors, environments, and experiences will translate to the context at hand.
Senior judgment throughout
Two senior partners lead every search from definition through close, bringing continuity of judgment, direct communication, and full transparency as the mandate and market evolve.
A wider field by design
Our independence, original research, and decades of relationships give us broad access to the market, reaching beyond familiar networks and expected profiles to surface a wider range of experience and perspective.
Intelligence that compounds
We share what the market is telling us as the search unfolds, sharpening the search and the decision at hand.
People, not just placements
Every search is also an introduction to your organization. We engage candidates with candor, context, and respect, building trust whether or not the conversation leads to a hire.
Practice
From a pivotal hire to a leadership team buildout or founder transition, we bring senior attention and sustained engagement to every mandate.
Executive Search & Talent Strategy
CORE ENGAGEMENT
Retained Executive and Leadership Search
Every search begins by clarifying what success requires. We align stakeholders, map and assess the relevant market, and engage the leaders best equipped for the opportunity, bringing market intelligence and judgment through selection and close.
AROUND-THE-SEARCH ADVISORY
Talent & Market Intelligence
We map the relevant talent landscape, how roles and capabilities are evolving, and what it takes to compete, giving clients a clearer view of the market and the leadership they may need next.
Leadership Assessment
We assess candidates in context, looking beyond credentials to how they lead, adapt, influence, and decide. When requested, we add formal behavioral or psychometric evaluation through specialist assessment partners.
FUNCTIONAL EXPERTISE
Our work spans the leadership team, giving us a cross-functional view of how leadership roles connect and where capabilities translate.
CEO | Board | GTM & Growth | Finance | Legal & Compliance | Communications & Public Affairs | People & Talent | Engineering, Product & Design | Data & AI
INDUSTRY FOCUS
Our experience spans sectors where innovation, scientific discovery, regulation, and public trust often intersect.
Consumer & Retail | HealthTech & Healthcare | Climate | Financial Services | Hospitality & Real Estate | Foundations & Non-Profit | Government & Public Sector
Impact
Our work, by the numbers.
PARTNERSHIPS
100%
Returning clients
TRACK RECORD
300+
Leaders placed
REPRESENTATION
83%
Placement broadened the leadership team makeup
LONGEVITY
76%
Still leading or in an expanded role three+ years on
PRECISION
85%
Placements made from
first slate presented
TRUST
82%
Placed leaders return to build their teams
Beyond the numbers.
Team
Strategists, catalysts, and doers.
Decades of executive search across sectors and functions, informed by firsthand operating experience.
Karen Fullerton
Co-Founder, Partner
Karen leads global executive searches for high-growth companies and mission-driven institutions, from early stage through scale. Her cross-industry practice spans C-suite and functional leadership across GTM, product and engineering, finance, legal, and people.
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Before co-founding Ignite Agents, Karen led the San Francisco office of a boutique executive search firm placing leaders across the private and social sectors. Previously, she co-founded a search and talent strategy firm working with startups, market leaders, and VC and PE investors build leadership teams and strengthen workforce capacity. Earlier in her career, she built and led go-to-market and growth initiatives for early-stage and scaling technology and consumer businesses, both as an operator and consultant. Shaped by a global upbringing, she has lived and worked on four continents and began her career in global finance with ABN AMRO in Taipei, Taiwan.
Karen earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Georgia and completed Stanford University's Executive Program in Social Entrepreneurship. She lives in San Francisco and serves on the advisory board of The San Francisco Arts Education Project (SFArtsED).
Debbie Tang
Co-Founder, Partner
Debbie leads global executive searches across the private, public, and non-profit sectors, from Fortune 100 companies to universities, government agencies, and mission-driven institutions. She recruits senior executives across all functions (CEO, CFO, CHRO, General Counsel, Chief Legal Officer and Board Directors) in a wide variety of industries.
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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).
Contact
Whether you’re hiring your next leader or exploring your next chapter, we’d welcome the conversation.