- Solutions
- Insight
- Searchlight Newsletter
- Leadership Blog
- White Papers
- Outsmarting AI in Executive Career Success: The Human Edge
- 5 Insights for CFOs to Rise to CEO
- NIL: Changing the World of College Sports
- Work-from-Home & Hybrid Work
- Business & Economic Impacts of COVID-19
- Working with Recruiters
- Top Talent at Not-For-Profit Organizations
- Executive Talent 2025: What’s Now, New and Next in Global C-Suite Talent
- The Successful CHRO: Traits and Characteristics
- The Chief Talent Officer: The Rising Star in the War for Talent
- The Chief Talent Officer: Conquering the War for Talent
- Aviation Internet of Things: The Human Capital Impact
- The Internet of Things
- The CFO Perspective 2016
- From CFO to CEO
- The CFO Perspective 2013
- Oil & Gas Executive Outlook 2015
- The Oil & Gas CEO
- Succession Planning & Gen X
- Career Coach Tips
- Events
- About
- Contact
Renee Baker Arrington
President & Chief Operating Officer
Renee Arrington
- CIO / CTO
- C-Suite Leadership
- Board Search
- Technology & FinTech
President & Chief Operating Officer
Renee Arrington is a strategic thinker who connects the dots and provides executive talent solutions for clients. She excels in recruiting board and executive talent for Fortune 500 companies, private-equity-backed businesses and not-for-profit organizations across many industries. As president and COO of Pearson Partners, she serves on the board of directors and provides leadership to the technology practice.
Prior to joining the firm in 2006, Renee was a vice president in the technology practice of a global retained search firm and was previously a shareholder and partner with another global executive search firm.
Renee serves as Vice Chair Americas for our global search partnership, IIC Partners, one of the world’s top 10 executive search organizations. Additionally, she serves on the advisory board of Rethink Results and the boards of directors of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) North Texas Chapter and the Foundation for the Young Women’s Leadership Academy in Fort Worth, which encourages young girls to excel in STEM. Renee is a member of Dallas Executive Women’s Roundtable (EWR) and past member of Fort Worth’s Women Steering Business (WSB). She has previously served on the boards of the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of the Society for Information Management (SIM), North Texas Public Broadcasting (NPR Affiliate) and the YWCA of Fort Worth and Tarrant County.
Renee is recognized as a leader in her profession and community and was named to the 2021 D CEO Dallas 500, recognizing the most powerful business leaders in North Texas. In 2020, she served as a judge for Fort Worth Inc.’s Entrepreneur of Excellence (EoE) Awards. In 2019, Renee was named an HMG Strategy Technology Executive to Watch. She was honored with the Association of Executive Search & Leadership Consultants’ prestigious Commitment to the Community Award in 2018, recognizing her excellence in executive search and leadership consulting along with her strong commitment to community service. Renee was selected as a 2018 C-Suite Award Winner by Fort Worth Business Press for her business leadership, civic and social contributions to the community of Fort Worth. In 2016, she was a finalist in D CEO’s 2016 CIO/CTO Awards in the Technology Advocate category. In 2014, Renee was named one of the Top 40 Gatekeepers to the C-Suite by Hunt Scanlon, a leading search industry analyst.
Renee is a frequent speaker at conferences including HMG Strategy’s nationwide CIO and CISO Summits and she moderates panel discussions for events including the Pearson Partners Spotlight SeriesTM Breakfasts. She was quoted in the book Future State 2025: How Top Technology Executives Disrupt and Drive Success in the Digital Economy (Wiley 2020), wrote a monthly column for CIO Decisions magazine and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, CareerJournal.com, IT World, Network World and the book Business Process Outsourcing: The Competitive Advantage (Wiley 2005).
Renee earned a bachelor of arts degree from Trinity University and studied at Parsons School of Design in Paris. She speaks French and lives with her husband Michael in her hometown of Fort Worth.
What motto do you live by?
As a self-described eternal optimist, I believe attitude and hard work are the keys to success.
Why did you feel executive recruiting was the right field for you?
Executive search is filled with variety and the work is compelling. You meet exceptional business leaders as you develop client relationships and interview candidates. Each day is different, each client unique, and each search has its challenges. That is what keeps me engaged.
Which piece of advice has had the most significant impact on your career?
Early in my career when I was struggling to establish my identity among my older colleagues, a mentor (who happened to be a woman) assured me that I would find my own clients in due time, because people will work with people they like. Further, it would not be necessary to conform to a stereotype to be successful.