Egon Zehnder has appointed Ayşe Güçlü Onur as Global Leader of its Human Resources Practice. This appointment comes as companies and boards increasingly look to CHROs to help shape business strategy, lead transformation, build leadership pipelines, and navigate major shifts in culture and the workforce.

"CHROs used to be evaluated by how well they supported the business. Today, the best drive it," said Onur. "Our role is to help CHROs move from a seat at the table to a hand in business growth. We help them connect leadership decisions, talent, and culture directly to elevated performance. That's the shift Egon Zehnder is built to guide with our leadership advisory services."

Egon Zehnder’s Human Resources Practice partners with companies to discover, develop, and transform future-ready CHROs, helping them shape the future of the function. This includes executive search, leadership assessment and development, board effectiveness, culture, succession planning, organizational transformation, and helping organizations build the workforce needed for the age of AI. Over the past five years, the practice has completed more than 1,800 human resources assignments globally, including more than 150 CHRO searches in the past year.

The practice combines global reach with first-hand HR experience. Many consultants held senior corporate leadership roles before joining Egon Zehnder, including former CHROs from Mastercard, DuPont, and GSK. The practice also advances the CHRO agenda through research and development programs focused on the changing CHRO role, including the Transformational CHRO Program, developed with the University of Cambridge Judge Business School and Mobius Executive Leadership, to help CHROs strengthen both the external capabilities needed to shape strategy, culture, and organizational performance, and the self-awareness and resilience required to lead through complexity and change.

“Clients are looking for CHROs who can operate at the center of business strategy, not alongside it,” said Francesco Buquicchio, CEO of Egon Zehnder. “Ayşe understands that shift deeply. She brings the advisory experience, global perspective, and practitioner’s mindset to help companies find and develop HR leaders amid increased complexity and ambiguity.”

Onur brings a combination of executive search, assessment and development, and executive coaching experience to the role. She advises senior leaders across Europe and the United States on talent strategies and pipelines, succession planning, leadership assessment and development, culture and organizational transformation, workforce planning, employee experience, and AI-enabled change. Onur has been with Egon Zehnder for 18 years and is a senior partner based in New York City.

She succeeds Rafael Altavini, who helped expand the practice’s work with leaders, teams, and organizations navigating transformation and change. Altavini previously led Talent Management and Organizational Development at Schindler Group.

About Egon Zehnder

Egon Zehnder is the world’s premier leadership advisory and executive search firm, inspiring leaders to navigate complex questions with human answers. We help organizations get to the heart of their leadership challenges and offer honest feedback and insights to help leaders realize their true being and purpose. We are built on a foundation that supports partnership in the truest sense of the word and aligns our interests with the interests of our clients. Our 600 consultants across 71 offices and 37 countries are former industry and functional leaders who collaborate seamlessly to deliver the full power of the firm to every client, every time. We believe that together we can transform people, organizations, and the world through leadership.