In a year defined by both emerging opportunities and heightened expectations for leadership excellence, Pacific International Executive Search continued to chart a course of sustainable growth rooted in a company-wide growth mindset. Throughout 2025, we focused on monetising new opportunities, strengthening our strategic foundations, and elevating the value we deliver to clients across the globe. As we reflect on the past twelve months, one theme stands above all: when every member of an organisation embraces a growth mindset, continuous learning, adapting, collaborating, and innovating, sustainable success naturally follows.
Elevating Our Service Offering Through the Creation of an Advisory Board
This year marked a transformative milestone for Pacific: the creation of our Advisory Board. Comprising seasoned industry leaders with decades of C-suite insight, the Advisory Board enhances our ability to support clients with executive hiring decisions. Their unmatched expertise, paired with Pacific’s proven global track record and Executive Search excellence, enables us to identify high-impact leaders while reducing executive hiring risks, bringing an additional layer of strategic value to every search.
Strengthening and Expanding Our Global Partnerships
We sustained all key client partnerships established in 2024 and, building on this foundation, 2025 saw us form a record number of new collaborations across Industrial Goods Manufacturing, Chemical and Process Industries, Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology and Life Sciences, and Consumer Goods.
Our dedication to service excellence resulted in a particularly notable achievement, being appointed the exclusive senior-level talent partner for LSG Sky Chefs in America, further demonstrating the trust our clients place in our advisory-led approach.
Across the year, 164 senior leaders accepted new strategic opportunities with our clients, spanning 23 countries and five continents. And even as the external conversation around diversity and inclusion has quietened, our commitment has not. 42% of all placements were diverse hires, reinforcing our dedication to building inclusive leadership teams that drive real business impact.
Embedding a Growth Mindset Across Our Organisation
Our success in 2025 was deeply tied to our deliberate focus on defining, nurturing, and operationalising a growth mindset throughout Pacific. This approach shaped every corner of the business:
- Continuous learning: We introduced dedicated weekly training time and built a comprehensive training resources library accessible via our intranet.
- Excellence Academy Podcast: We launched our podcast series, with each episode unpacking a different element of the executive search process to support continuous skill development.
- Adoption of AI: We implemented AI tools to automate repetitive tasks, accelerate research, and enhance efficiency, allowing our teams to focus on more strategic work.
- Cross-border collaboration: Best-practice sharing intensified through company-wide training sessions and more global partnerships than ever before.
Together, these initiatives strengthened our internal capabilities and amplified the quality and consistency of service our clients and candidates experience.
Celebrating Our Team and Our Culture
This year’s annual sales conference took us to Toronto, Canada, an energising venue for team connection, knowledge sharing, and celebration of our achievements. The vibrant culture, warm hospitality, and unforgettable experiences sent us home recharged and excited for the 2026 gathering.
Our digital footprint also grew significantly. Our LinkedIn community expanded to over 135,000 followers, and our monthly newsletter, The Leadership Insider, reached 34,000 subscribers in its inaugural year, strengthening our ability to engage global talent and share leadership insights.
As our business evolved, so did our team. We welcomed new colleagues across all three offices, celebrated a record number of internal promotions, and wished others well as they began new chapters.
Welcoming Our First Head of People & Culture
A key development in 2025 was the appointment of our first-ever Head of People & Culture, a milestone that underscores our commitment to nurturing talent and strengthening our organisational foundations.
At Pacific, our growing team represents every stage of the career journey: those just entering the workforce, those progressing into leadership roles, and those expanding into cross-functional or global positions. Each path is unique, and each deserves to be developed on its own merits. The Head of People & Culture is instrumental in ensuring that every colleague is supported in their individual journey while keeping a clear focus on Pacific’s long-term trajectory. This strategic investment reinforces our belief that sustainable growth is only possible when our people grow with us.
Prioritising Mental Health and Well-Being
Executive search is a high-pressure environment, and supporting our team’s mental health remained a top priority in 2025. Alongside access to mental health support resources, we introduced and expanded a wide range of well-being initiatives, including quarterly team walks, daily Power 5 exercises, potlucks and baking activities, occasional yoga sessions, and regular team outings, from crazy golf to flight clubs.
These activities help create balance, build connection, and remind us that personal well-being fuels professional excellence.
Giving Back to Our Communities
Our commitment to supporting charitable causes remained strong this year. We continued our tradition of replacing holiday cards with a donation to The William Templeton Foundation for Young People’s Mental Health (YPMH), whose mission to improve youth mental health aligns closely with our values.
In 2026, we will take this support even further: six Pacificans will run the Cambridge Half-Marathon on March 8, accompanied by internal fundraising initiatives to raise additional support for YPMH.
If you’d like to contribute, you can do so through our JustGiving page.
David Howells, Group CEO of Pacific International, summed up 2025 with those words:
“As we conclude another year of remarkable progress, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to every member of our Pacific team. Your commitment to embracing a growth mindset, supporting one another, and striving for excellence has been the driving force behind our achievements in 2025.
To our valued clients, thank you for your trust, collaboration, and partnership. We are honoured to support your strategic growth journeys by helping you secure high-impact talent and remain dedicated to delivering exceptional, diverse, and future-ready talent solutions that help your organisations grow sustainably.
With our Advisory Board now in place, a strengthened global team, and an unwavering focus on innovation and people, I am incredibly optimistic about the year ahead. Together, I believe we will continue to raise the bar and achieve even greater heights. Cheers to 2026 and beyond.”
Wishing everyone a joyful holiday season and a prosperous year ahead!