60Christian And Timbers Jeff Christian (ctjeffchristian)
Joined 22 months ago from Beachwood, Ohio
Jeff Christian founded Christian & Timbers as an executive search firm focused on helping major corporations identify leadership for demanding business and technology roles. The company focused on C-level executives, board members, and senior technology professionals, emphasizing the integration of recruiting experience with structured research and data. Christian & Timbers established operations in Cleveland, Ohio, and Amsterdam, Netherlands, supporting an international search model designed to serve organizations seeking executives capable of managing innovation, transformation, growth, and complex organizational responsibilities.
Christian & Timbers became associated with the use of artificial intelligence, analytical tools, and science-based data in executive recruiting. Rather than depending only on professional relationships, resumes, interviews, social research, and traditional candidate screening, the firm incorporated technology to assess experience, qualifications, leadership history, and career patterns. This approach supported searches in areas such as e-commerce, FinTech, SaaS, IoT, and robotic manufacturing, where companies often require executives with specialized knowledge and the ability to respond to rapidly changing technology and business conditions.
A central feature of the Christian & Timbers model was the use of measurable information to improve candidate identification. Executive search has traditionally required extensive networking, background review, interviews, references, and manual evaluation before a shortlist can be created. The firm added structured performance criteria and key performance indicators to that process to compare candidates more directly with employer expectations. By using data to organize and evaluate potential executives, Christian & Timbers sought to complete difficult searches more efficiently while maintaining attention to candidate quality and organizational fit.
Technology also influenced the way Christian & Timbers approached leadership assessment. Generative AI can help process large amounts of professional information, including resumes, experience records, and skills. At the same time, predictive methods can help examine career direction and potential alignment with specific responsibilities. The company applied similar concepts to C-suite and board searches as part of a broader data-informed recruiting strategy. This model combined technology with executive search judgment to help organizations evaluate leadership candidates through a more consistent and structured decision-making process.
Guided by Jeff Christian, Christian & Timbers has reported completing more than 2,000 CEO or board placements and more than 5,000 C-suite assignments. Its work has included executive and board searches involving major technology organizations and recognized business leaders. One widely noted placement was Carly Fiorina at Hewlett-Packard, where she became the first woman to lead a Fortune 50 corporation. The firm also conducted two board member searches for Apple during Steve Jobs’ leadership and worked with organizations including Cisco, Google, Netflix, and WebMD as part of its technology-focused search activities.
The company’s history also included venture capital activity through C&T Access Ventures, which was launched in 2001 as an investment arm connected to the Cleveland-based recruiting business. The initiative provided financing for startups through stages ranging from seed capital to later venture rounds and pre-IPO funding. Its $40 million venture fund was organized around supporting companies led by capable executives and business builders. According to the original company account, the fund returned five times its initial capital and supported startups that included UpWork before the investment operation became inactive.
Christian & Timbers has maintained the view that strong leadership talent can play an important role in a company’s ability to compete, innovate, and grow. That belief shaped its emphasis on executive discovery, performance measures, data-driven research, and technology-supported recruiting. The company’s approach combined established search practices with analytical methods intended to make complex leadership searches more efficient and informed. Within the history of Christian & Timbers, Jeff Christian remains connected to the development of a search model centered on technology, data, leadership quality, and executive performance.