Senior appointments for boards, investors, and leadership teams across Chicago and the American Midwest.
From the Loop to the industrial corridor, Vellaris advises on chief executive, C-suite, board, and specialist leadership mandates with research-led discipline and local market intelligence.
Chicago sits at the centre of one of the world's deepest industrial and consumer economies. Leadership decisions here carry operational weight — plants, supply chains, and brands with decades of equity — and boards expect a search partner who understands that operating reality, not just the résumé market.
Vellaris's Chicago team works with public companies, family-controlled businesses, private-equity-backed platforms, and growth ventures across the Midwest on their most sensitive leadership decisions. Every mandate combines deep sector knowledge with the rigorous, research-first method that defines the practice globally.
We meet clients and candidates by appointment across Chicago, with coverage extending through the Midwest.
The region's leadership market rewards operational depth, brand stewardship, and supply-chain fluency.
Industrial
Industrial leadership is measured in operational discipline, supply-chain resilience, and the ability to modernise complex physical operations without disruption.
Consumer & Retail
Consumer organizations require leaders fluent in brand, channel economics, and rapidly changing customer behaviour — with the operational rigour to convert insight into margin.
Senior consultants with sector depth, Midwest reach, and accountability from briefing to appointment.
Executive Recruiter
Eric leads senior commercial and operational searches for industrial, technology and consumer businesses across North America. He builds long-term relationships with operators well before a mandate opens, which is why his shortlists tend to include leaders who are not visible on the open market.
Chicago
View profileSenior Recruiter
Heather leads senior recruitment and candidate engagement for healthcare, professional services, and consumer clients across the United States. She is valued for her disciplined sourcing process, warm but direct communication, and for the care she takes in matching leaders to cultures they can genuinely shape.
Chicago
View profile“The appointment is never the end of the work. It is the moment the client finds out how well the work was done. I sign every shortlist personally because that accountability has to live somewhere.”
Adrian Vale works between New York and London and chairs the firm's appointment quality review. He signs every shortlist that leaves the practice personally.
Selected retained and interim searches in and around the Chicago market.
Live mandates change frequently. View the full opportunities list or contact the Chicago team for confidential briefings.
Published with the authorisation of each individual and organisation.
“Vellaris arrived with a map of the market before they arrived with a name. That sequence changed the quality of our board discussion entirely.”
Marianne ChevalierBoard Chair · Northbank Financial Group“They told us plainly that our preferred internal candidate was two years from ready, and showed the evidence. It was not what we wanted to hear, and it was right.”
David OkonjoChief Executive Officer · Meridian Industrial Holdings“Our regulator asked how the appointment was made. We handed over the coverage evidence and the assessment record without editing a line.”
Peter LindgrenChair, Nomination Committee · Baltic Mutual Insurance“The shortlist contained two people we would never have found and one we had dismissed too early. All three were credible.”
Anika RoyGroup HR Director · Solstice Consumer BrandsWhen the appointment matters, the search should begin with a conversation.
