Top Executive Search & Leadership Advisory Firm in Michigan | Stanton Chase Detroit

Stanton Chase Detroit: Leading Executive Search & Leadership Advisory Firm in Michigan

Stanton Chase Detroit is one of the best executive search firms in Michigan, located at the epicenter of the North American automotive industry and home to Stanton Chase’s global subsector leadership in automotive. Our consultants recruit board directors, CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CTOs, CHROs, CxOs, Presidents, and other senior executives across automotive, commercial vehicle, defense, and general industrial sectors, for companies with public, private, and PE-based ownership structures. Rich Kolpasky, the Managing Director of Stanton Chase Detroit, personally manages all facets of search project execution and invests the time to understand the nuances of each client’s business and culture. When you hire Stanton Chase Detroit, you work directly with the people who do the work.

We also provide leadership assessment and development, director hiring and board services, succession planning, and executive onboarding. Our consultants bring hands-on manufacturing experience to every engagement, with extensive track records recruiting senior general management roles as well as functional leaders in sales and marketing, operations and manufacturing, strategy, finance, quality, and human resources.

Why is Stanton Chase Detroit the Best Executive Search Firm in Michigan?

Detroit’s automotive industry is going through the most consequential change in its history. Electrification, software-defined vehicles, supply chain reconfiguration, and the entry of non-traditional competitors have created a leadership environment where the executives who built their careers in the old model are not always the ones who can lead in the new one. Finding the leaders who can, and distinguishing them from the ones who cannot, requires an executive recruitment firm that understands this industry at a granular level. That is exactly what Stanton Chase Detroit does.

But automotive is only part of the picture. Southeast Michigan’s manufacturing base extends across commercial vehicles, defense, and general industrial, and many of the companies in these sectors face similar pressures: evolving technology, tighter margins, global competition, and a senior talent pool that is being recruited aggressively by everyone. Our consultants know this market because they have spent their careers in it. They understand what a successful COO looks like in a Tier 1 supplier versus a PE-backed industrial roll-up, and they know why a CFO who succeeded at a publicly traded OEM may not be the right fit for a mid-market manufacturer preparing for a sale.

Clients come to Stanton Chase Detroit for our honesty, integrity, and ability to produce results. They stay because we invest in the relationship. We advise on succession planning, leadership assessment, and board composition as ongoing partners, treating each engagement as part of a longer conversation about your organization’s leadership needs rather than a standalone transaction.

Through professional relationships built over years across Michigan, the broader Midwest, nationally, and internationally, we reach passive candidates who are not on job boards and are not engaging with other recruiters. And as part of Stanton Chase’s global presence of more than 70 offices across 45 countries, our Detroit team connects clients to executive talent worldwide. In an automotive industry that is now thoroughly global, that international reach matters more than it ever has.

What Sets Stanton Chase Detroit Apart from Other Executive Search Firms in Michigan?

• One of the best executive search firms in Michigan, with an established track record at the center of North America’s automotive and industrial economy
• One of the highest client return rates in the executive search industry, because clients come back when the work produces results
• Managing Director personally involved in every engagement, providing direct accountability, honesty, and integrity throughout the search process
• Built for Detroit’s industrial economy, where electrification, technology transformation, and global competition are redefining what executive leadership looks like
• Expertise across all ownership structures: public companies, private enterprises, and PE-backed businesses
• Ongoing client partnerships that extend into succession planning, board services, and leadership assessment
• Access to passive candidates through professional relationships cultivated over years across Michigan, the Midwest, nationally, and internationally
• Functional expertise spanning general management, sales and marketing, operations and manufacturing, strategy, finance, quality, human resources, and more
• Part of Stanton Chase’s 70+ offices in 45 countries, providing global search capabilities from the heart of America’s automotive industry

Who We Serve: Executive Recruitment for Organizations Operating in Michigan and Beyond

Detroit and Southeast Michigan remain the command center of the North American automotive industry, and the companies based here are making decisions right now that will determine who leads the next era of manufacturing, mobility, and industrial innovation. Whether you are an automotive OEM or supplier recruiting C-suite leadership through a period of transformation, a commercial vehicle or defense company seeking operational executives, a PE firm building out a portfolio company’s management team in the industrial space, or any manufacturer in the region that needs senior leaders who understand what it takes to run a factory floor and a boardroom, Stanton Chase Detroit can help.