Case Study
See how we deliver high-impact leadership outcomes through structured, strategic executive search.
Case Study
How Two Critical Searches Led To 40 Leadership Hires
Client: Keolis Group (US, Canada, UK, and Ireland)
Scope: To find exceptional leaders for critical roles across operations, safety, engineering, finance, HR, customer experience, commercial strategy, and major bids.
Impact: Two successful searches for Richard Graham in 2017 led to a nine-year partnership with Keolis Group and 40 leadership appointments across three countries.
The Challenge
Keolis operates complex, safety-critical public transport businesses where leadership appointments can directly affect operational performance, employee culture, passenger experience, and major public contracts. The organisation needed a search partner capable of finding scarce senior talent across multiple functions and geographies, including attracting exceptional people who were not actively looking, and assessing whether they could succeed within each distinct business and local context. The partnership began in 2017, when Richard Graham entrusted Cobalt with two critical searches for Keolis Commuter Services.
Cobalt’s Approach
Cobalt invested the time to truly understand Keolis’ business, operating environments, and leadership needs from a technical and cultural perspective. Each assignment began with a fresh market search, proactively headhunting active, and passive candidates, rather than relying on applicants or a database. Candidates were assessed through our two-stage competency-based interview process, examining technical capability and cultural alignment, with clients receiving clear weekly activity data throughout the search.
The Outcome
The success of the first two appointments led Richard to introduce Cobalt to other leaders across Keolis Group. We have since made 40 leadership hires throughout the US, Canada, UK, and Ireland. On numerous occasions, the quality of the shortlist has led Keolis to appoint more than one candidate, either creating an additional role for an exceptional individual or recognising that they could fulfil another important need within the business.
I have worked with Helen and Cobalt for nearly ten years, and over that time they have consistently delivered at a high level. I go back to them time and time again when I need to hire critical roles because I trust them to get it right.
