President & CEO

kim@centerstonesearch.com For more than 20 years, Kim Villeneuve has placed CEOs and executive teams and built boards for companies ranging from new ventures to billion-dollar-plus organizations. Kim has applied her high-touch approach to such retail clients as Nordstrom, ULTA, Warnaco and Intercontinental Hotels Group, and foodservice clients including Jamba Juice, Au Bon Pain and El Pollo Loco.

Before founding Villeneuve Associates (now CenterStone Executive Search) in 1998, Kim oversaw three regional offices as a managing partner in a boutique executive search firm acquired by Korn/Ferry International. Prior to her work in the search industry, Kim came from a $1 billion multi-unit retail division of Carter Hawley Hale, where as an officer of the company she was responsible for organizational development and succession planning.

Offers exceptional analysis

Leading teams in Seattle and New York, Kim heads up search with an eye toward organizational development. She is praised by clients for her careful listening and quick, precise observations.

“We are particularly attuned to organization culture within our client companies,” says Kim. “You have to know, ‘Can this candidate lead a thousand-restaurant chain?’ but also ‘Can this candidate create a synergy with their executive team and Board?’ We are very thoughtful about building and enhancing teams, and perpetuating culture through retention of those teams.”

Kim listens carefully, asks astute questions and brings exceptional analysis to the key issue: “Is the organization attracting the right talent?” She values the balance of considering a company’s current needs with an eye toward future growth.

“People return to us for search leadership because they come to expect the scope of our reach in the industry and our ability to attract extraordinary talent,” she says. “Clients recognize that we deliver a very effective outcome.”

Kim is known for her search skills working with established company leaders in addition to founders and venture-capital boards. She is often engaged to handle thorny assignments of succession planning to include highly sensitive searches, whether for startup, emerging or mature businesses.

Promotes knowledge around leadership

A veteran speaker on recruiting and leadership at universities and professional trade associations, Kim has been honored by the American Society of Training and Development as Speaker of the Year and Professional of the Year. She has been a guest writer for the Wall Street Journal, the National Retail Federation and Nation’s Discount Stores, among others. She has published numerous articles on shaping organization culture and transformational leadership, and is committed to promoting leadership development by offering time and expertise to groups such as the National Retail Federation and to the University of Washington, where she serves on the Retail Management Corporate Council for the Foster School of Business.

Kim is currently working toward her Doctorate with the George Washington University School of Education and Human Development, where her emphasis of study is executive and board leadership, corporate governance and organizational development. She holds a master’s degree in management from the University of Redlands.

She has been chairman of the board for the South Central Family Health Center in Los Angeles. She was honored with the Sammi Award of Distinction for “Learning Promotion for Youth,” and in 2007 was inducted into the Washington State DECA Hall of Fame for her contributions as a member of the board of directors and in facilitating connections between executives and emerging business students.