Kelly Shaw is an accomplished executive search and recruitment professional with over 20 years’ experience identifying and appointing exceptional leaders across the public, private, housing, health, education, charity and voluntary sectors.

Having begun her career within KPMG’s Executive Resourcing team, Kelly went on to develop her expertise with leading executive search consultancy GatenbySanderson before working independently. Through her boutique executive search practice, she partners with organisations to attract transformational leaders, delivering tailored search and selection solutions for some of the most challenging and hard-to-fill appointments.

Kelly specialises in Chief Executive, Director, Head of Service, Board Chair and Non-Executive Director recruitment. Renowned for her ability to identify diverse talent pools and attract candidates from across sectors, she combines traditional executive search methodologies with modern, intelligence-led research and market mapping techniques to deliver outstanding outcomes for clients.

Her experience extends beyond executive recruitment to include leadership assessment, salary benchmarking, market research, candidate attraction strategies and stakeholder engagement throughout complex appointment processes. She has a strong track record of successfully delivering both full recruitment campaigns and targeted executive search assignments across the UK.

Alongside her executive search career, Kelly has built an extensive non-executive portfolio and is passionate about supporting organisations that deliver positive social impact. She previously served as Vice Chair of York Housing Association and Chair of its HR & Governance Committee. She has also held Board positions with Syncora and SafeNet, part of the Calico Group, supporting organisations working across housing, health, employability and domestic abuse services. Kelly currently serves as a Board Member of Tyne Housing, contributing to initiatives that address homelessness, inequality and social exclusion.

Known for her integrity, collaborative approach and commitment to ethical recruitment, Kelly is passionate about creating fair, inclusive recruitment processes that enable organisations to access the widest possible pool of leadership talent.

Example projects: 

• Chief Executive recruitment across local, regional and national housing providers.
• Executive and senior leadership recruitment for specialist housing organisations.
• Board Chair and Non-Executive Director appointments across public and not-for-profit organisations.
• Senior appointments within local government authorities across England, Scotland and Wales.
• Leadership recruitment across health, education, charity and voluntary sector organisations.
• Difficult-to-fill and niche executive appointments requiring targeted search and market engagement.

Key areas of work:

• Executive Search & Selection
• Non-Executive and Board Recruitment
• Chief Executive Appointments
• Leadership Assessment
• Market Mapping & Research
• Salary Benchmarking
• Housing
• Local Government
• Health & Social Care
• Education
• Charity & Voluntary Sector
• Governance & Board Development
• Diversity & Inclusive Recruitment