Ogg and Gagnon will extend the firm’s ability to connect leadership decisions more directly to business performance and value creation.
“The most successful CEOs understand that value creation starts with clarity about how it is created and where leadership makes a difference,” said Sandy Ogg. “I’m excited to partner with Spencer Stuart to enhance the ways we help our clients connect their top priorities to the roles, teams and capabilities that drive performance.”
“CEOs need an advisor who understands where value is created, which roles matter most and how to mobilize the organization,” said Chris Gagnon. “Spencer Stuart combines deep leadership expertise with the trust of CEOs and boards and I’m excited to build on the Firm’s established strengths to help CEOs achieve their biggest ambitions.”
“CEO and board advisory is fundamental to who we are as a Firm and to the distinctive ways we support our clients,” said Colin Graham. “Our opportunity now is to bring these long-standing capabilities together around the moments that matter most in a CEO’s journey—from succession and transition through performance acceleration, transformation and value creation.”
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About Colin Graham
Graham has advised CEOs, boards and senior management teams for 25 years on their most consequential leadership priorities, including CEO and board succession, leadership assessment and development, and aligning leadership capabilities with business strategy. His industry expertise is centered around the Industrial and Industrial Technology sectors and their adjacencies. He previously led Spencer Stuart’s global Industrial Practice through a period of record growth and has long been a core member of the firm’s CEO, Board and Private Equity practices.
Before joining Spencer Stuart, Graham was a managing director at a board advisory and executive search firm, where he led its industrial technology practice and helped lead its CEO and private equity practices. He serves on the board of directors of The Opportunity Network, a national nonprofit headquartered in New York City.
About Sandy Ogg
Sandy Ogg is the founder of CEO.works and has spent more than 30 years working with CEOs and leadership teams around the world. His work focuses on helping leaders identify the leadership practices, roles and organizational choices that generate value for stakeholders.
From 2011 to 2016, Ogg served as an operating partner at Blackstone, working with the firm’s portfolio companies. Previously, he was Chief Human Resources Officer at Unilever, where he helped reshape the company’s operating framework and leadership system. Earlier in his career, he held roles at Motorola, Dove Associates, The VIA Consulting Group, which he founded, and The Center for Leadership Studies.
Ogg is chairman of the boards of Nord Anglia Education and Prometric and serves on SVP funds’ Advisory Council, where he is involved in management recruiting and leadership for portfolio companies.
Ogg began his career as a line officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, a master’s degree in human development from George Washington University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. He has served on the boards of INSEAD, Rotterdam School of Management, The European Academy for Business in Society and BBH Advertising. In 2015, he was inducted as a Fellow by the National Academy of Human Resources.
About Chris Gagnon
Chris Gagnon brings extensive experience in private equity, management consulting and leadership advisory. His work focuses on helping organizations apply Talent to Value principles to accelerate performance, increase enterprise value and align leadership with the priorities that matter most.
Before joining CEO.works, Gagnon was a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, where he helped build and lead the firm’s OrgSolutions group and served as co-leader of its Global Organization Practice. He has advised C-suite clients across private equity, finance and other sectors and has published in Harvard Business Review and McKinsey Quarterly.
About Spencer Stuart
Privately held since 1956, Spencer Stuart is a leading global advisory firm specializing in people, team and organizational performance — spanning more than 60 offices, over 30 countries and more than 50 practice specialties. Boards and executive leaders consistently turn to Spencer Stuart for senior-level executive search, board recruitment, board effectiveness, succession planning, executive assessment and development, culture change and performance acceleration for senior leadership teams. For more information on Spencer Stuart, please visit www.spencerstuart.com.