Dr. Joseph Ruiz, SHRM-SCP

Dr. Joseph Ruiz is a Director at Stanton Chase Los Angeles and Stanton Chase San Francisco. He partners with growth-focused organizations to address their most consequential leadership challenges, finding executives who perform and developing leaders who transform. As a Director and West Coast Advisory Leader at Stanton Chase, he leads the firm’s executive search and leadership advisory practice in Northern California, with a primary focus on the Silicon Valley and Bay Area market. He brings an integrated capability spanning rigorous executive search, certified psychometric assessment, and structured leadership development, turning what most firms treat as a handoff into a seamless, end-to-end leadership partnership.

Joseph began his career in the U.S. Army before transitioning into financial and operational audit management for a Fortune 500 company, experiences that forged the analytical discipline and accountability mindset that define his leadership evaluation approach today. He subsequently built extensive expertise across global executive search and professional services organizations, founding, scaling, and exiting multiple firms spanning search, HR outsourcing, and leadership consulting. Across that body of work, he has successfully placed hundreds of C-suite and senior leaders at organizations ranging from PE-backed portfolio companies and high-growth technology firms to Fortune 500 enterprises and global life sciences companies, finding leaders who fit the moment, the culture, and the trajectory, not just the job description.

What distinguishes Joseph from his peers is the full arc of his client partnership. He delivers structured executive onboarding programs, evidence-based leadership development, and individualized executive coaching that transforms how leaders think, decide, and perform. Certified as an Executive Coach and Advanced Practitioner of Psychometric Assessments, he provides diagnostics that generate meaningful, actionable insight, helping organizations build bench strength, advance high-potential leaders, and develop the leadership readiness required to manage growth, transformation, and succession.

As a trusted advisor and thought partner, Joseph works closely with boards, CEOs, CHROs, and CFOs on leadership and workforce strategy, succession planning, and organizational effectiveness. Where most advisors follow the conversation on AI and the future of work, Joseph helps shape it, drawing on doctoral research to give clients a forward-looking perspective on the leadership imperatives that will define competitive advantage in the decade ahead. He has served as a board member of one of California’s largest virtual school organizations and on the advisory committee of one of California’s largest transfer institutions.

Joseph holds a Doctorate in Organizational Change Management and Leadership from the University of Southern California, a Master’s in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University, and a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Hope International University. He is a Certified Executive Coach through the University of Texas and holds senior certifications from SHRM, HRCI, and the AMA. Outside of work, he is married with four children and an avid fitness enthusiast who values time with family and travel above all else.