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About KMR Executive Search

Talent For What's Next

About KMR Executive Search

In the end, it’s all about your people, your team and your culture. Your basis for success. We understand the critical importance of having the right people in the right roles in order to achieve the perfect balance for your business.

It’s more than having a database full of names or thousands of resumes on file.  At KMR, we have a deep understanding of what employees and employers are looking for, and we utilize our in-depth search process to bring the two together.

We are not recruiters, we are partners and advisors.

But we are so much more

KMR offers so much more than just executive search and talent acquisition capabilities. Through its affiliation with strategic partners, KMR provides a full continuum of talent management and human resources solutions. These services are delivered by experts who possess the most extensive experience and strongest reputations within their respective fields. This full spectrum of talent management services is so impactful to an organization and to their employees.

Recent Searches

At KMR it’s so much more than having a database full of names or thousands of resumes on file. See below for a list of our recent searches:

  • CFO – Healthcare Service Provider
  • Dean of the Library – Higher Education
  • Director of Major Gifts – Not-for-Profit
  • SVP, Consumer Lending – Bank
  • VP, Business Development – Technology Consulting
  • CFO – Senior Healthcare/CCRC
  • CFO – Bank
  • VP, Sales (US) – Consumer Products
  • SVP, IT Audit – Bank
  • VP, Programs – Not-for-Profit
  • VP, Digital Strategy & Online Learning – Higher Education
  • Director, Legal Affairs – Higher Education
  • Director, Communications – Airline
  • Director, Marketing – Business Services
  • VP, Asset Based Lending – Bank
  • VP, Sales – Industrial
  • SVP, Chief Revenue Officer – Media
  • Manager, Public Relations – Airline
  • Director, Title IX & Equity Compliance – Higher Education
  • Director, Data & Digital Systems – Not-for-Profit

Meet the Team

Ken McGovern

President

Ken McGovern is the President of KMR Executive Search. He is based in our firm’s Farmington, CT office. Ken is a seasoned executive and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience creating and managing diverse teams and building dynamic cultures. As important as experience, background, and skill sets are in assessing a prospective new employee, Ken believes that fit and culture are equally critical components to identifying and hiring the next management team member who will positively impact an organization. His experience includes management search assignments within the market sectors of Healthcare, Financial Services, Information Technology, and Non-Profit, among others.

Prior to founding KMR, Ken was a Partner at Jobplex, a DHR International company, and a Managing Director at Horton International, both global retained executive search firms. Ken established a track record of managing the executive search process and assisting client organizations in their efforts to successfully identify and attract the highest quality management talent.

Prior to joining Horton, Ken served as Executive Vice President of Com-Pak services, a direct marketing production and print fulfillment provider which in 2010 acquired MarketPoint Direct, a private equity-owned marketing firm providing services to the publishing, financial services, and non-profit sectors. Ken was President of MarketPoint. Before MarketPoint he was founder and President of ValuMail, a retail advertising media that was acquired by the Tribune Company in 1999. Earlier in his career Ken held leadership positions with Valassis and Dun & Bradstreet.

Ken is a member of the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement of Southwestern New England and a Board Member of Avery Heights and Noble Horizons, senior care facilities. He is also a member of the World Affairs Council and the MetroHartford Alliance.

Ken holds a BA in Marketing from University of Hartford. He resides in Connecticut with his wife and has two grown children.

John Madigan

President & CEO, Executive Talent Services

John Madigan started Executive Talent Services in 2007 after extensive experience in corporate HR, specifically in the insurance and financial services sector. Most recently, he served as vice president of corporate staffing for The Hartford Financial Services Group. In that role, John led executive and professional recruiting for the enterprise, including field staffing for Property Casualty and Life businesses, college relations, assessment consulting and diversity staffing. John held that position since May 2003.

John joined The Hartford in 1996 as director of staffing for the company’s life insurance operations in Simsbury, Connecticut. He was named vice president in 1999 when he was tapped to manage human resources for The Hartford’s company-wide information technology organization.

Prior to joining The Hartford, John spent three years in the executive outplacement business as a vice president at Drake Beam Morin, an international career management and outplacement firm, and nearly a decade in human resources management at Aetna Life and Casualty. Earlier in his career he directed career placement services at the University of Hartford and had been a career counselor at Trinity College in Hartford.

John holds a B.A. in psychology, and a Master’s Degree in counseling from the University of Connecticut, where he also completed coursework toward a Ph.D. in adult learning.

For additional references, you can view John’s profile on LinkedIn and ZoomInfo.

V. Vanessa Williams

Founder & CEO, Leading Edge Consulting, LLC

Vanessa is the Founder and CEO of Leading Edge Consulting, LLC, a global executive coaching firm with offices in CT and FL, and an affiliate partner of Executive Talent Services (ETS). Vanessa brings an International background and vast experience in Executive Coaching, Women & Diversity Leadership Coaching, Leadership Advancement, Operations Leadership, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Strategic Business Planning, Management & Financial Reporting, and Change Management to the ETS team and scope of services.

Vanessa uses a holistic approach with her executive clients to identify success roadblocks and create metric driven action plans and targeted goal setting. She also works with business owners and c-suites to identify strategic goals and to build and engage high-performing collaborative teams.

In her corporate career, Vanessa was a Managing Director for Horton International, a retained global boutique executive search firm headquartered in West Hartford, CT. She also held senior level and C-suite positions leading high-powered executive global teams for Sun Life, Prudential, Mass Mutual, Aetna, and UConn Health.

Vanessa holds a Master of Science Degree in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Virginia State University, and is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation.

She serves on the Board of Trustees for Easter Seals, The New England Air Museum, and Amistad Center for Arts & Culture. She also serves on the Advisory Board for Reginald F. Lewis College Business Alumni at Virginia State University.