Sarah Van Steenburg is a consultant based in the Washington, DC office and a member of Spencer Stuart’s Boards Services Practice. Sarah is a trusted advisor known for building strong, deep relationships with both her clients and candidates to ensure long-term career and organizational success. Sarah is a community builder, convenor and connector and has a particular passion for diversity, equity and inclusion, bringing that lens and experience to her work for our clients.

Trusted connector and community builder

  • Prior to joining Spencer Stuart, Sarah spent more than a decade as a managing director at an international legal search firm. She advised clients on industry and talent management trends, strategic hiring and succession planning, and provided candidates with holistic coaching and guidance. She co-led a managing partners forum where law firm leadership and executives shared best management and culture-creating practices. Sarah also developed a particular expertise working with senior-level government officials from a broad range of regulatory agencies and the White House.
  • Sarah has a long a track record as a leader and expert in the DE&I space. She was a founding member of her previous firm’s Diversity Council and she chaired its African American Employee Resource Group. In 2014, she founded the Women of Color (WOC), a group for mid-to-senior career women of color attorneys to create a supportive, uplifting intersectional community with the goal of increasing representation among women of color in leadership positions.

Sarah received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, and Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law. She is board secretary for The Cradle, a 100-year old nonprofit adoption agency based in Chicago.

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