— About Allen Austin
A firm built by people who have actually run them.
Most executive search and advisory firms are built by people who have studied leadership from the outside.
Every senior partner at Allen Austin has led from the inside — running businesses, managing P&Ls, building teams, and learning firsthand what separates leaders who deliver from those who don't.
That shared operating experience is not a credential. It is the lens through which we do this work.
Rob Andrews
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Before Rob Andrews built one of the most rigorous executive search processes in the industry, he ran businesses. As an operating president with major convenience store and supermarket chains, he held P&L responsibility for enterprises with up to 516 locations, $2.4 billion in revenue, and 10,600 employees. He hired senior leaders. He watched some transform organizations and others quietly undermine them. He learned, firsthand, that the difference was almost never what a candidate's résumé said.
That experience is why Foresight™ exists. Rob didn't design a better search process from behind a desk — he designed it because he had lived the consequences of getting leadership wrong, and was determined to build something that actually solved the problem.
In 1996, Rob founded Allen Austin with a single conviction: that executive search should be held accountable for outcomes, not just placements. Over three decades, he has led more than 4,000 retained engagements — completing every single one — for clients ranging from $6 million privately held firms to $75+ billion multinationals including Safeway, Sysco, PepsiCo, Kraft, Kroger, 7-Eleven, Tyson, and Nestlé.
Rob is the author of High-Performance Human Capital Leadership, a widely respected framework for building organizations that consistently outperform. Now in the firm's 30th year, he is completing doctoral work in organizational leadership at the University of Texas — because after three decades, he is still a student of what makes leadership actually work.
— Thought Leadership
Why Execution Risk Fails to Show Up in Board Materials
NACD Directorship — National Association of Corporate Directors
What Apple's CEO Transition Got Right and
Why Most Boards Overlook this Lesson
Corporate Board Member Magazine
— Our Senior Team
Operators first. Advisors by experience.
What distinguishes Allen Austin's senior partners is not limited to their tenure in the search industry. It's that each of them has operated at senior levels in real businesses before bringing that experience to advisory work.
They have managed P&Ls, built and restructured organizations, led teams through change, and made the kinds of high-stakes decisions their clients face today. When you engage Allen Austin, you are not working with observers. You are working with people who have been in the seat.
Rob Andrews
Chairman & CEO
Founder of Allen Austin. Former operating president with P&L responsibility for enterprises up to $2.4B. Author, doctoral candidate, and architect of the Foresight™ process. Leads the CEO, CPG, and Leadership Advisory practices.
Direct: (713) 489-9724
Mobile: (713) 301-6130
Gary Skarke
Partner
Gary is a veteran business executive who built his reputation transforming organizations through technology, robotics, and automation — with a proven track record of improving performance in complex operational environments.
Gary brings that experience directly to his work, helping clients identify and develop leaders who can drive meaningful organizational change.
Mobile: (713) 826-7950
Liz Townsend
Senior Partner
Liz brings deep P&L and operational experience from a career leading businesses in consumer goods and services, prior to joining Allen Austin. Her operating background informs every search and advisory engagement she leads.
Liz specializes in Consumer Goods and Services with emphasis on Health, Fitness, and Restaurant brands, and is a key part of the firm's growing Leadership Advisory practice.
Mobile: (713) 320-8624
Edie Bartlett
Senior Partner
Edie spent more than 20 years in executive leadership roles with consumer packaged goods companies before moving to advisory work — giving her a firsthand understanding of the pressures, decisions, and talent challenges her clients navigate.
Edie serves Allen Austin's Consumer & Retail, Marketing Officer, Business Development, and Industrial practices.
Mobile: (214) 801-8219
— OUR FULL TEAM
The consultants and advisors behind every engagement.
Allen Austin's senior partners are supported by a team of experienced search consultants and leadership advisors who bring specialized industry knowledge and functional expertise to every engagement we take on.
— How We Operate
The commitments we make to every client.
These are not aspirational values. They are operating principles — the specific commitments that govern every engagement we take on.
Senior-led, start to finish
Partners execute every mission-critical phase — candidate contact, evaluation, due diligence, and reference audits. No junior handoffs, ever.
Culture before candidates
We conduct a rigorous organizational needs analysis before we source a single name. Fit is defined before the search begins — not discovered after the offer.
Accountable for outcomes
We back every placement above $250K with a full two-year guarantee. Our success is measured by whether leaders succeed — not whether searches close.
Candor, even when it's uncomfortable
We tell clients what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. That has cost us engagements. It has also built 30 years of trust.
Relationships over transactions
We are not order-takers. Our purpose is to enhance the effectiveness of the leaders and organizations we serve — and that requires genuine partnership.
Never abandon an engagement
In 30 years and more than 4,000 retained engagements, we have completed every single one. That record is not an accident. It is a commitment.
— The Firm
Built for depth. Not volume.
Allen Austin is a global leadership advisory and executive search firm, headquartered in Houston, with partners managing client engagements from offices across North America and Europe. Founded in 1996 and now in our 30th year, we are not a high-volume placement operation. We are a firm that takes a deliberately limited number of engagements — because our process demands senior attention at every stage, and we will not compromise that for scale.
Every engagement is led by a senior partner from start to finish. There are no handoffs to junior staff. No bait-and-switch. The person you meet at the beginning of an engagement is the person doing the work — and standing behind the outcome.
Founded
1996
30 years of continuous operation, across every economic cycle, without a single abandoned engagement.
Reach
Global
Partners across North America and Europe. Clients from privately held firms to $75B+ multinationals across every major industry.
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"I personally have used all the major search firms over the years and found Allen Austin’s process extremely focused, detailed, and effective. The personal attention I received from the firm’s CEO was very refreshing."
— Bob Phillips, Managing Partner, Liberty Capital
— WORK WITH US
We take on a limited number of engagements. For a reason.
Our process requires senior attention at every stage. If you're facing a leadership challenge that demands that level of commitment, we'd like to hear about it.