Chantelle Dugas Wester is a Partner at Allen Austin and a trusted advisor with more than two decades of experience spanning retained executive search, law, business development, and strategic consulting.

 

She brings a rare combination of commercial insight, legal acumen, and global perspective to every engagement, with a reputation built on placing exceptional leaders in difficult roles, highly specialized functions, and challenging geographic markets.

 

Her return as Partner is a full-circle moment. Chantelle began her career at Allen Austin, working closely with the firm's Founder and CEO during one of the most formative periods in its history. As the firm's first administrator and later its first dedicated research professional, she helped establish the disciplines, standards, and client-service principles that continue to define Allen Austin's culture today.

 

In the years that followed, Chantelle built a distinguished career across executive search, workforce solutions, law, and business consulting. She led research and recruitment for a Houston-based boutique search firm, partnering with leading international search organizations and senior executives worldwide, before building a successful direct-hire recruiting and business development practice within a global workforce solutions organization.

 

A licensed Texas attorney since 2011, Chantelle brings firsthand insight into how businesses operate, how strategic decisions are made, and what differentiates exceptional leadership teams from their peers — perspective gained from working across a broad range of industries and organizational environments. This allows her to engage with equal effectiveness at the board level and throughout every layer of an organization.

 

Chantelle has also advised growing businesses across Texas and California, helping founders and leadership teams expand operations, develop new revenue streams, and position their companies for sustainable growth.

 

A Louisiana native with deep roots in Houston, she holds a BBA in Marketing from the University of Houston–Downtown and a Juris Doctor from the University of Houston Law Center, with a focus on business law and intellectual property, complemented by studies at Université Paris Nanterre in France. 

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