Odgers Berndtson, Continuing Expansion, Adds Four Recruiters

Executive search firm Odgers Berndtson has continued its recent expansion with the addition of four experienced and well-established executive search professionals to the firm:  Richard Kim, Diane Lavietes, Margaret Plympton, and Richard Modecki.

Mr. Kim was most recently the energy sector leader with Korn Ferry. Prior to beginning his career in search, he managed various corporate talent acquisition departments, consulted for energy companies, and originated/structured/traded natural gas. 

Ms. Lavietes has joined the New York office of Odgers as a partner and head of the firm’s U.S. consumer & retail practice. Before joining Odgers, she was a senior vice president at retail consumer boutique firm Berglass + Associates, where she worked across every function and title from the C-suite and executive board level through to vice president in the consumer sector. Her work has stretched from marketing, merchandising and creative to digital and IT. Through her knowledge of emerging technology across omni-channel retail, she has gained deep expertise in the digital retail world.

Before beginning her career in search, Ms. Lavietes was a marketing leader in the beauty and publishing industries working for The Walt Disney Company, American Express, The New York Times, Conde Nast, and Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spa.

An experienced search professional with deep university and academic expertise, Dr. Plympton has joined the Boston office of Odgers as a partner in its U.S. higher education practice. Before joining Odgers, she served as deputy chair and acting chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Prior to NEH, she was a consultant with the higher education and non-profit practice of executive search firm Witt Kieffer, supporting searches for deans, provosts and CFOs.

She previously served as the VP for finance and administration at Lehigh University and at Bucknell University, and also held administrative/finance roles at Yale University, Wellesley College, and Harvard University. She is also a past president of the Eastern Association of College and University Business Officers (EACUBO) and served as a board member of EDUCAUSE, the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), and other non-profit organizations.

Mr. Modecki has joined Odgers Berndtson as a principal in the firm’s technology practice based in its Washington, D.C. office. He brings over a decade of global executive recruiting experience to the firm having conducted searches for C-suite executives, as well as for highly specialized, mission-critical, and technical roles for technology-focused companies.

Mr. Modecki was most recently at Russell Reynolds Associates and began his career in Japan executing searches for bilingual executives as the Osaka branch manager of a Japanese executive search.