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RETAINED EXECUTIVE SEARCH /RESEARCH & EVALUATION LEADERSHIP /WASHINGTON, D.C. — 25 YEARS

Identify. Screen. Secure. The research leaders your next decade of evidence depends on.

For 25 years, the nation's most highly regarded research and non-profit institutions have retained Insight to place Senior Scientists, Directors, Principal Investigators, Scholars and Executive Management — across healthcare, social research, life sciences, financial services, public policy and education. Not resumes. Widely acknowledged leaders, secured confidentially.

CALCULATE RESEARCH LEADERSHIP ROI View the Search Ledger
FIELD TENURE
25 yrs
RESEARCH TEAM
14 spc
SECTORS COVERED
17 sec
ARCHIVED MANDATES
22 +

1050 CONNECTICUT AVE NW · 10TH FLOOR · WASHINGTON, DC 20036  —  CONFIDENTIALITY IS NOT A POLICY HERE. IT IS THE OPERATING SYSTEM.

RETAINED · NOT CONTINGENT
LIVE SEARCH BRIEF — ANONYMIZED FILE 25-114

CURRENT MANDATE

Walton Family Foundation

Strategic Learning & Evaluation Officer

$180K · CLOSED IN 4 MONTHS · 92 CANDIDATES MAPPED

TALENT MAP — 25-YEAR PLACEMENT CLUSTER

PASSIVE TALENT

95%

TYPICAL CLOSE

10–14 wks

LEAKS IN 25 YRS

0

INSIGHT · DC HQ▮ SECURE LINE OPEN
WALTON FAMILY FOUNDATION — STRATEGIC LEARNING & EVALUATION OFFICER ◆ PCORI — ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, CLINICAL EFFECTIVENESS ◆ COLERIDGE INITIATIVE — VP, RESEARCH OPERATIONS ◆ SOCIAL IMPACT — MANAGING DIRECTOR, DOMESTIC EVALUATION ◆ MEDSTAR HEALTH RESEARCH INSTITUTE — CHIEF SCIENTIST ◆ UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS — MANAGING DIRECTOR ◆ LEARNING POLICY INSTITUTE — RESEARCH DIRECTOR ◆ SRI INTERNATIONAL — DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR EDUCATION RESEARCH ◆ SUSAN G. KOMEN — DIRECTOR, PROGRAM EVALUATION ◆ MDRC — CENTER FOR DATA INSIGHTS ◆

ENGAGED BY THE NATION'S LEADING RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS

SELECTED CLIENTS & MANDATES — 25 YEARS

Walton Family Foundation
PCORI
Community Science
Social Impact
Insight Policy Research
ARL
Union of Concerned Scientists
MDRC
Susan G. Komen
MedStar Health Research
Learning Policy Institute
SRI International

// 01 — THE FAILURE LEDGER

A vacant research chair is not an HR problem. It is a grant problem.

Boards evaluating an $80K–$150K retained search are not buying recruiting. They are buying back stalled studies, expiring funding cycles, and a narrative they still control. Here is what is actually at stake when the seat stays empty — or gets filled wrong.

FIELD NOTE — 25 YEARS OF SEARCH COMMITTEES

"The searches that fail are almost never short on applicants. They are short on the three people who were never going to answer a job posting."

F-01

The vacancy bleeds the grant

A Senior Scientist seat empty for six months on a $4M award costs roughly $120,000 in stalled aims, delayed deliverables and jeopardized renewal scoring — before a single salary dollar.

5% OF AWARD VALUE / VACANT MONTH
RUN IT IN THE NAVIGATOR ↓
F-02

The wrong hire costs more than the vacancy

A mis-fit Principal Investigator runs $200,000+ in replacement, team attrition and funder confidence — a number that never appears in the budget line but always appears in the next site visit.

SALARY × 1.5–2.0
+ 9–12 MONTHS OF MOMENTUM
F-03

Contingency shops sell resumes, not research

Generalist recruiters optimize for volume and speed-to-submittal. Research leadership requires the inverse: exhaustive diligence, sector fluency in HLM designs and federal award mechanics, and the patience to court candidates who are not looking.

95% OF RESEARCH LEADERS ARE PASSIVE
THEY REQUIRE A PEER — NOT A POSTING
F-04

A leaked transition is a governance event

Word of a leadership change invites funder scrutiny, competitor poaching and internal flight before a successor exists. The search must be run like classified work: contained signal, leveled expectations, a controlled narrative.

CLEAR PROTOCOL — OUR 5-STEP
CONFIDENTIALITY OPERATING SYSTEM
F-05

"We do research placements" is not a mandate

Knowing the difference between a Scholar and a Senior Scientist — and between an R01 portfolio and a foundation evaluation portfolio — is the entire job. Generic capability statements are why boards get generic shortlists.

INSIGHT DOES 17 SECTORS.
ALL OF THEM RESEARCH. NOTHING ELSE.

// 02 — THE INSIGHT METHOD

Run like a study, guarded like a record.

FIVE PHASES. ONE ACCOUNTABLE PRINCIPAL. A 14-PERSON RESEARCH BENCH BEHIND EVERY MANDATE.

PHASE 01

Mandate Mapping

Discovery intake with the board and outgoing lead. We codify the research agenda, funding architecture and the exact leadership complexity the seat demands.

PHASE 02

Passive Activation

Our research desk sources the 95% who will never apply — senior scientists and PIs identified through publication trails, award records and 25 years of sector relationships.

PHASE 03

Research-Grade Vetting

Structured diligence plus HOGAN-based leadership assessment. We test for grant stewardship, team science and funder fluency — not just domain citations.

PHASE 04

Calibrated Shortlist

A 4–6 candidate dossier with market mapping, comp benchmarks and walk-away analysis. You approve once a week; we handle everything between approvals.

PHASE 05

Secured Transition

Offer architecture, resignation choreography, onboarding through month six. A placement is not done when they sign — it is done when they are producing.

01

Exceedingly well networked — placements inside the organizations your candidates already respect.

02

Proven track record — clients have expanded programs and secured significant new awards on the strength of these hires.

03

Low effort for you — one weekly approval. Sourcing, vetting, calibration, negotiation and onboarding are ours.

// 03 — THE INSTRUMENT PANEL

Research Leadership ROI Navigator

Four working instruments, one dashboard. Real formulas, real benchmarks, anonymized placement data — the same arithmetic we bring to a board packet.

COST-OF-VACANCY MODEL · 5 INPUTS → 1 BOARD-READY NUMBER

// 04 — WHAT BOARDS RETAIN US FOR

Six engagements. One standard of evidence.

Every engagement is scoped, priced and staffed like a research project — with a named principal accountable for the outcome, not a commission split.

// 05 — SECTOR DEPTH

Seventeen sectors. One vocabulary: research.

EACH SECTOR BELOW MAPS TO A CLOSED MANDATE — FULL LEDGER IN SECTION 07.

// 06 — THE SEARCH LEDGER

Twenty-two mandates, on the record.

REF ORGANIZATION MANDATE DISCIPLINE

Searches managed by the Executive Search Partners of Insight Executive Search. For details on any mandate: aaron.schmidt@insightexecutivesearch.com — Aaron Schmidt, President & CEO.

// 07 — THE CONFIDENTIAL SEARCH TIMELINE

Ten to fourteen weeks, signal contained throughout.

Industry average for a research leadership seat is 6–9 months, with the mandate visible to everyone by week three. This is the schedule we run instead.

W1

Discovery & Containment

Intake with the committee. Mandate codified, market map drafted, CLEAR protocol activated. Nothing leaves the room.

W2–3

Passive Sourcing

The research desk activates cutting-edge identification methodologies across publications, awards and the 25-year network.

W4–6

Vetting & Calibration

Diligence, HOGAN assessment and walk-away analysis. The long list becomes a 4–6 dossier with comp and impact modeling.

W7–9

Committee Interviews

Structured panels, coordinated quietly. Feedback consolidated weekly; the shortlist recalibrates in real time.

W10+

Offer to Onboarding

Comp negotiation, resignation choreography, announcement drafted with you. We stay engaged through the first six months.

WHY BOARDS STAY

"Your confidence is our priority. We don't just keep secrets — we protect outcomes, so the institution moves forward without fear of disruption."

— INSIGHT OPERATING PRINCIPLE, SEARCH COMMITTEE BRIEFS

SUCCESSION & HIGH-STAKES TRANSITIONS

The real work of a C-suite transition isn't matching candidates — it's securing the process and the information from beginning to end. We manage the risks other firms overlook, because we know what is actually at stake.

// 08 — THE PRINCIPALS

The people your candidates will actually take calls from.

FIVE PRINCIPALS. A 14-PERSON RESEARCH BENCH. COMBINED FIELD TENURE ACROSS 90+ YEARS.

Aaron Schmidt, President & CEO
PRESIDENT & CEO

Aaron Schmidt

25 YEARS IN EXECUTIVE SEARCH

Has directed senior-level searches for the nation's most highly regarded research and non-profit institutions — placing widely acknowledged leaders across public policy, education, healthcare, workforce economics, survey research, statistics and life sciences.

Jon Cohen, Managing Principal

Jon Cohen

MANAGING PRINCIPAL · ~20 YEARS

National searches for leading researchers and non-profit executives. Active listening is the discipline — education, healthcare, economics, public policy, survey research, finance.

Channi Uhrmacher, Managing Research Consultant

Channi Uhrmacher

MANAGING RESEARCH CONSULTANT

Leads all research and candidate sourcing. Built the firm's identification methodologies for the public policy and social science sector — and trains the bench on them.

Moshe Shein, Principal Consultant

Moshe Shein

PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT

Leads searches for the nation's leading policy research organizations — education, healthcare, data science, human services, DEI, behavioral science. Non-profit and for-profit.

David Schmidt, Executive Adviser

David Schmidt

EXECUTIVE ADVISER · 35 YEARS

Economics, defense, technology, professional services, social research. Has worked with America's leading economists and advised senior members of several presidential administrations.

THE RESEARCH BENCH

Stephen Broege · Senior Research Associate  —  Gregory Harris · Senior Executive Recruiter  —  Craig Lieberman · Senior Research Associate  —  Rebecca Runyan · Senior Research Associate  —  Michael Epstein · Associate  —  Mark Perez · Executive Search Associate  —  plus three additional research specialists. 14 TOTAL.

Meet us before you retain us

// 09 — OUTCOMES, DOCUMENTED

Three mandates, opened like case files.

CASE FILE 01 — NATIONAL FOUNDATION

Strategic Learning & Evaluation Officer

Walton Family Foundation

PLACED COMP
$180,000
SEARCH LENGTH
4 months
CANDIDATES MAPPED
92

MARKET MAP

A 40-org map of evaluation leaders across foundations, evaluation firms and university centers — 95% of them passive and unknown to the foundation's own network.

PROCESS

Peer-to-peer outreach under contained signal. Structured diligence on learning-agenda stewardship and board-level communication. Three recalibrations with the committee.

OUTCOME

A widely acknowledged evaluation leader secured in 4 months — with the strategic learning function operating inside the first grant cycle.

CASE FILE 02 — HEALTH RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Associate Director, Clinical Effectiveness & Decision Science

Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)

PLACED COMP
$200,000
SEARCH LENGTH
5 months
FINALIST DOSSIER
5 candidates

MARKET MAP

Decision-science leadership mapped across AHRQ-funded centers, academic medicine and comparative effectiveness networks — a market of fewer than 200 viable profiles nationally.

PROCESS

Contained outreach to sitting PIs who would never apply publicly. HOGAN assessment plus a funder-fluency panel. Walk-away points assessed before offers, not after.

OUTCOME

A decision-science leader placed at $200K in five months, with companion searches for Chief Research Infrastructure staffed from the same calibrated map.

CASE FILE 03 — NATIONAL EVALUATION FIRM

Senior Associate, Equitable Community Development

Community Science — Remote, National

PLACED COMP
$165,000
SEARCH LENGTH
10 weeks
GEOGRAPHY
Fully remote

MARKET MAP

Equity-centered evaluation talent sourced across community development finance, culturally responsive evaluation circles and university-community partnerships.

PROCESS

A remote-first protocol: calibrated video panels, written work-sample review, and a 20% passive-candidate premium modeled into the offer up front.

OUTCOME

Closed at $165K in ten weeks — the client's fastest senior hire, with zero leakage into a competitive consulting market.

// 10 — WHO RETAINS INSIGHT

Deep specialization. Not a broad net.

We decline searches outside research and evaluation leadership. That refusal is why, inside it, we are exceedingly well networked.

Non-Profit Executive Search

Presidents, CEOs and research executives for mission-driven institutions where the board — not the market — sets the bar.

Research & Evaluation Organizations

Senior scientists, PIs and directors who can carry an evaluation portfolio, a funder relationship and a research team simultaneously.

Associations & Foundations

Strategic learning, research analytics and program evaluation leadership — the roles that decide what evidence a field trusts.

Universities & Affiliated Research Centers

Center directors and scholars fluent in grant mechanics, tenure-track politics and the pace of academic science.

For-Profit Sector

Research management, policy experts, economists, data analytics and life sciences leadership — from market research to culturally responsive evaluation firms.

// 11 — TERMS OF ENGAGEMENT

Retained, because the seat can't afford to be shopped.

DIMENSION CONTINGENCY SHOP INSIGHT RETAINED
Fee structure20–30% of comp, due at hire$80K–$150K, staged across three milestones
IncentiveSpeed to submittalQuality of the one who stays
SourcingApplicants + database blasts14-person research desk; the passive 95%
AssessmentResume screen, one callHOGAN + research-grade diligence dossier
ConfidentialityMandate circulated widelyCLEAR protocol; zero leaks in 25 years
Market intelligenceNoneComp benchmarks + talent map included
If it doesn't workYou start over, paying twice30-day re-run at no cost · 12-month replacement

THE GUARANTEE

If the placement isn't right inside 30 days, we re-run the search at no cost. If they leave within 12 months, we replace them.

Boards at the nation's leading research organizations have trusted these terms for 25 years. The guarantee exists because the method makes it affordable to offer.

RUN THE MATH YOURSELF

A six-month vacancy on a $4M award costs ~$120K before salaries. The fee typically pays for itself inside the first avoided quarter.

Open the ROI Navigator →

// 12 — OPEN A CONFIDENTIAL FILE

Your next Principal Investigator is already on our map.

Start with a 30-minute search audit: your mandate, the market map we'd run, and a straight answer on whether a retained search is the right instrument. No deck, no pressure — the non-pressure environment is the point.

HEADQUARTERS

1050 Connecticut Ave NW
10th Floor
Washington, DC 20036-4316

BOOK A SEARCH AUDIT — RESPONSE WITHIN ONE BUSINESS DAY

Every inquiry is treated under the CLEAR protocol. Your mandate is never shared, listed or hinted at — including to candidates until you approve outreach.

INSIGHT EXECUTIVE SEARCH INC

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