HR consultant: Top headhunter Egon Zehnder leaves

Munich. After 29 years with the market leader, Stephan Buchner is starting again. The headhunter moved from Egon Zehnder to Heidrick & Struggles on November 1st. Those involved confirmed this to the Handelsblatt when asked.

Buchner is the second top consultant to move from Egon Zehnder to Heidrick & Struggles within a short period of time. The 64-year-old saw no further development opportunities at the market leader, and not just because of his age. Something else convinced him.

When asked, Buchner said: "The strong entrepreneurial spirit at Heidrick & Struggles appeals to me. There has been a kind of optimism there since the financial investors got involved. There is massive investment in new technologies and growth." In addition, the performance of the individual is rewarded there without the team spirit suffering.

For Nicolas von Rosty, Heidrick & Struggles' head of Germany since 2021, the new addition is "an ideal reinforcement": "I am very pleased that we were able to convince Stephan Buchner, one of the most renowned consultants in German executive search, to come to us. His experience and networking position us at the highest level."

And it is not the first prominent move from the market leader in Europe and Germany, Egon Zehnder from Switzerland, to the US consultancy, which is one of the four leading US firms. In 2025, Kati Najipoor-Smith, who specializes in the automotive industry, moved to von Rosty. Heidrick & Struggles now has 29 consultants in this country, 19 of whom are partners. Egon Zehnder is significantly larger with around 80 consultants.

Stephan Buchner specializes in the consumer goods industry, retail as well as the media, entertainment and sports sectors in Germany and Europe. His top rankings include the two Adidas CEOs Kasper Rorsted and Björn Gulden.

He recently placed the incumbent Beiersdorf CEO Vincent Warnery on the supervisory board, the board of directors of the Danish toy manufacturer Lego and supported the two media companies RTL and Sky on their merger as a personnel consultant.

The doctor of business administration began his career at the media group Bertelsmann, where he worked, among other things, as assistant to CEO Mark Wössner and later as managing director in the USA, Canada and Switzerland.

In 1997 he moved to the Egon Zehnder personnel consultancy. There he was part of the international leadership team. He led the German consumer goods group for a total of ten years, was a member of the global consumer goods group and most recently part of the German leadership.

Buchner's departure is painful for Egon Zehnder. The consultancy had only recently changed its own age regulations in order to be able to retain experienced consultants such as Najipoor-Smith and Buchner. In an interview with Handelsblatt in March, Egon Zehnder Chair German Herrera announced that partners will no longer have to stop working at 62 in the future. A spokeswoman said about Buchner's move: "We wish him all the best for his future journey."

In the transformation of the German economy, headhunters and outplacement consultants are currently in high demand. The industry is also undergoing major changes. Changes are the order of the day – even in boutiques. Anke Hoffmann's consultancy in Berlin, which specializes in family businesses, was strengthened this year with the addition of former Kerkhoff CEO and BDO partner Frank Wiethoff. Almost at the same time, her long-time consultant colleague Robin Springsklee moved to competitor Heads!.