AESC Bestows Awards to Exemplars of Excellence in Executive Search and Leadership Consulting

The worldwide Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC) honors during today’s AESC APAC Conference in Sydney, Australia the achievements of two AESC Members for their outstanding contributions to the profession and to the community.

The AESC Commitment to the Community Award recognizes a strong commitment to service and volunteerism and goes to Paul Rush. Rush, a Partner in the Sydney Office of Odgers Berndtson, leads the CIO/CTO/CDO functional practice for Asia Pacific and Japan. He is also a member of the Global CIO functional lead team and manages several regional key accounts within the Telecommunications sector. He has been fortunate to work across the globe in the executive search profession. To be able to leverage his connections and relationships for good has been one of his proudest achievements.

Rush’s journey with Diabetes began when he invited Sturt Eastwood, CEO of Diabetes, to attend a charity golf day. Importantly, it was during a subsequent executive search process that Sturt himself was diagnosed with diabetes. Fast forward to Sturt joining Diabetes in Australia at which point Paul asked Sturt how he could help and they both landed on the idea of a charity golf day. The event is now entering its fifth year and is on track to raise over $500,000. What has been truly amazing is the amount and diversity of people who have, without question, contributed to the event—involving businesses both large and small across many sectors.

Rush commented, “It has been an honor and a privilege to partner with Sturt Eastwood and his team at Diabetes. Equally for Odgers Berndtson to get behind the initial idea and back that with sponsorship and commitment, time and effort, has been important. Without the commitment and backing of the team, locally and globally, this would not have been possible.”

The AESC Lifetime Achievement Award honors long-term achievement in the executive search and leadership consulting profession. This year’s award goes to Jo Fisher, Founder and Managing Director of Fisher Leadership. Based in Melbourne, Fisher has dedicated 20 years to the advancement of executive search. Known as an iconic leader in gender diversity, from the early 2000’s, Fisher insisted her firm would adhere to equal gender representation on short-lists for the breadth of senior executive roles they impacted. Since making this early mark on the industry, Fisher Leadership has been hugely influential in bringing multi-dimensional diversity to the fore.

Fisher commented, “When I began Fisher Leadership nearly 20 years ago, I wanted to directly impact more diversity around the decision-making table. Since then, we have broadened our focus on diversity—incorporating culture, linguistic, non-binary gender representation, age and ability into the mix. These targets work well from a bottom up perspective. But what we are really focused on now, is Cognitive Diversity—diversity of thought. Our impact in the senior and executive realm is really a top-down strategy, bringing more diverse minds to the decision-making table.”

Fisher points to a key factor of her own success as a leader—the ability to innovate and attract exceptional talent who share her passion for supporting socially positive outcomes. Fisher is a founding member of the Australian International Women’s Forum, a former Telstra Business Women’s Award Winner, a CEDA trustee, and an Adjunct Professor with Deakin University. She serves on several boards and committees including social enterprise Infoxchange P/L, JFE Global P/L, the AICD’s National Education Advisory Committee, the International Women’s Forum Australia, and WOMANZ.

AESC President and CEO, Karen Greenbaum, said: “We honor the exceptional achievements of these AESC Members. Through their commitment to excellence both within the profession and in the community at large, our award recipients are outstanding examples of how AESC Members both serve their clients worldwide as trusted advisors and make a positive impact in their communities, too.”  

About AESC

Since 1959, AESC has set the quality standard for the executive search and leadership advisory profession. AESC Members, ranging in size from large global executive search and leadership advisory firms and networks to regional and boutique firms, represent 16,000+ trusted professionals in 1,200+ offices, spanning 70+ countries. AESC Members are recognized leaders of global executive search and leadership advisory solutions. They leverage their access and expertise to place, find and develop more than 100,000 executives each year in board of directors and C-level positions for the world’s leading organizations of all types and sizes. Dedicated to strengthening leadership worldwide, AESC and its members share a deep commitment to the highest quality standards in executive search and leadership consulting—for the benefit of clients and the profession. We Shape. Connect. Educate. Learn more about us at aesc.org.