Stanton Chase
Building on Our Blueprint for Change: Responsible Business Report 2026 

Building on Our Blueprint for Change: Responsible Business Report 2026 

September 2026

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Summary:

Building on Our Blueprint for Change is the Stanton Chase 2026 Responsible Business Report. It opens with letters from the Global Chair and from the leaders of the firm’s sustainability and inclusive leadership functions. The report then returns to the six commitments the firm set itself and reports progress on each. The people chapters cover 632 colleagues in more than 70 offices across 45 countries, the mentoring every new colleague receives for a year, and the learning system now running firm-wide. Governance is described through the Golden Book, the code of conduct every colleague signs on joining. Those chapters also cover data privacy, harassment policy, the firm’s own survey panel of executives, and the limits placed on AI inside a search. Diversity is reported twice, once inside the firm and once in the leaders placed for clients. Women are 52.9% of colleagues and hold 39.7% of consultant roles, set against the mid-market benchmark of 32.9% recorded by Grant Thornton. Thirty percent of the executives placed are diverse hires. The report sets out how the search process protects that breadth at every stage. Later chapters cover client assignments, environmental measures taken by individual offices, community and pro bono contributions, and the research the firm publishes. It closes with six goals for 2027.

A firm that advises boards on leadership should be willing to be measured itself.

Our 2026 report, Building on Our Blueprint for Change, examines Stanton Chase twice over, as an employer and as an executive search firm. As an employer, it covers who we hire and develop, how the firm governs itself, and the environmental measures our offices have adopted. As a search firm, it covers the board and C-suite appointments we make for clients, the representation those placements add, and the searches we take on pro bono. Sitting across both are the policies that govern how we work, from AI use and data privacy to non-discrimination. Where a credible external benchmark exists, our figures are published against it.

The firm in 2026

Where we stand

632colleagues
worldwide
70+offices in
45 countries
11new offices
opened worldwide

Women at Stanton Chase

52.9%of our colleagues
are women

Across our consultants, researchers, advisors, and support teams worldwide.

Diverse hires

30%of the executives we
place are diverse hires

A diverse hire is an appointment that brings a leadership team representation it did not have before, whether that is race, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, neurodiversity, or gender.

Our governance

Who oversees the firm

10leaders on our Board and Governance Committee
9countries of residence among them
4regions represented: North America, EMEA, APAC, and LATAM

What Else the Report Covers

Beyond the figures above, the report contains information pertaining to:

  • The Golden Book and the Code of Conduct every colleague commits to on joining, including the ESG and sustainability principles written into it
  • The composition of the Board of Directors and the Governance Committee
  • Our AI, data security, data privacy, harassment, and non-discrimination policies
  • Selected client assignments completed during the reporting period, presented as case studies
  • Environmental sustainability measures adopted by individual offices
  • CSR initiatives and pro bono searches
  • ESG, sustainability, and inclusive leadership thought leadership published over the period

What Have We Committed to for 2027?

The report closes with six areas identified for improvement in 2027, covering overall diversity representation, ESG and sustainability measures across offices, and continued transparency and accountability.

How Can We Help?

At Stanton Chase, we're more than just an executive search and leadership consulting firm. We're your partner in leadership.

Our approach is different. We believe in customized and personal executive search, executive assessment, board services, succession planning, and leadership onboarding support.

We believe in your potential to achieve greatness and we'll do everything we can to help you get there.

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