President, CRW Executive Search Consultants
Charles Wadlow has twenty years of executive recruiting experience and is ranked in the top 1% of Executive Recruiters on a national level based on his individual billing production. Charles is one of the first people under the age of thirty to bill One Million in production in one year. What is even more impressive is that his billings have come without the assistance of lead generators, account executives or research assistants. Charles runs the search process from start to finish, which creates a high degree of accountability for his clients. What clients love most about Charles, is his attention to detail and his ferocious work ethic.
Charles Wadlow is also touted by his fellow recruiters as being the nation’s leading educational speaker on executive recruiting. Because of his impressive production levels, over six thousand(6,000) recruiters in retained and executive search contingency have attended his training academy. His experience with an international executive recruiting firm is enhanced by his ability to speak Japanese, Spanish and conversational Korean. The majority of Charles’ practice is focused on a select few of National Public Accounting firms and their preferred clients. Charles’ reputation nationally with these clients have driven his practice to be one of the most respected independent executive recruiting firms. Charles has been consistently chosen by his clients to represent them on their most difficult searches because of his dedication to getting the job done right. Charles is a graduate of Seattle University where he received a BS in International Business.
Professional & Civic Affiliations
- CRW Executive Search Consultants, Chairman of Board, 1997 – Present
- British American Business Council of the Pacific Northwest, Founding Chairman 1995
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Hospital, Board of Governors 2002-2006
- Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology at Berkeley, Board of Trustees 2007-2011
- Seattle University, Albers School of Business, Board of Governors 2001-2006
- University of Washington, Tyee Member 1994-Present
Within the executive search community of professionals, Charles Wadlow is known as one of the very best.
2023 Article:
Charles Wadlow: A Revolutionary Figure in Executive Recruitment and Talent Acquisition – US Insider
Testimonials from Clients
“From the beginning, we saw how strong his interviewing and recruiting techniques were in identifying the premier candidates. His ability to drill down on candidate talents and technical ability was superb. In fact, his reputation for getting to the core behavior and talents of these candidates created a need for training by our recruiters in our department to learn his creative techniques. Charles proved himself to be a very talented and savvy recruiter. Listening to the client needs, and getting the job done right are his keys to success.”
Shannon A., Former World Wide Products group HR
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, WA
“I don’t know how Charles does it, but he can find the best talent anywhere. I have worked with Charles as CFO of a $3 Billion dollar publicly Traded Semiconductor company in San Jose, California and I’ve worked with him as CFO of a $50 Billion dollar Health Care company in St. Louis. Charles tenacious work ethic coupled with his attitude of “Always succeed” is a huge asset to me when I am trying to search for top executives on a national basis. What is even more impressive is that he knows everyone in the exec world, and they know him too! I will always utilize Charles at CRW Executive Search Consultants for my executive level search needs.”
Jeff H., CFO
Express Scripts, Inc
St. Louis, MO
“Charles ability to succeed on every search is an anomaly in the Executive Search Field, and this is why I worked with Charles filling high level executive placements within Pricewaterhouse Coopers 16 Western Regional Offices as well as for our most esteemed clients like Disney, Sun America Insurance, Spelling Entertainment and many others. I also introduced Charles to our eastern region and he was equally successful there as well. I will continue to use Charles because he will never fail you, because frankly once you meet him you will understand his personality won’t allow him to fail.”
Patrick K., Former Western Regional Head of HR
Pricewaterhouse Coopers
San Francisco, CA
“Charles is a one of a kind! I was referred to Charles’ quite a few years back from one of the Partners at our Auditors at Pricewaterhouse Coopers to Charles. We had worked with many recruiters in the past with some success and lots of failures. Charles was referred to me as one of the most successful recruiters that PWC has ever worked with.
Charles not only made placements for us fast, but the caliber of the candidates was astounding. He finds only the crème of the crop. I heard him interview one of the candidates over the phone. Charles interviews to disqualify candidates, not qualify them. His interview has to be one of the hardest and most thorough interviews I’ve ever heard. In fact, I’m glad he didn’t interview me! Over our time of working together Charles made 8 fantastic placements and I will always use him in the future.”
Barry R., Former EVP
Schnitzer Steel Industries
Portland, OR
“Before doing our CEO search, I did a two month exhaustive research process on the best headhunters for executive level on the west coast. We were delighted to find that the most well regarded recruiter was in our backyard of Washington State. I did references from Venture Capital Firms, Law Firms, and my own executive network and by and large Charles’ name kept on coming up. I set up a meeting to meet him in person, and I know within the first 10 seconds he was going to be our guy. Charles’ has this presence which I can only describe as “Top of Class”. You can tell by the way he describes the search process that this guy knows what he is doing. Even his fellow recruiters think the world of this guy. We hired Charles and CRW Executive Search Consultants and within only a few weeks he had five candidates. I’ve been in business a long time and never did I have a recruiter respond that quickly with such distinguished candidates. What truly makes Charles invaluable is the fact, he knows what he is doing much better than you do. In fact, one candidate I was willing to let go of Charles’ countered me and said this is the guy who will do the best in the job. I truly didn’t want to take his advice, but I’m glad I did. Charles’ placement of our CEO was the best placement I had ever made with any of my venture backed companies in 30 years. Hiring Charles’ to do your search is truly hiring the best recruiter in the nation.
Jay J., Former Chairman Board of Directors, and Investor
EagleView Measurements
Woodinville, WA
“CRW Executive Search Consultants has been a key provider of executive level talent to Wal-Mart for 10 years. From Senior Director level to Regional Vice Presidents, COO, CFO’s and Divisional EVP’s. What makes CRW Executive Search Consultants very different is their ability to find A grade talent whether it is in Arkansas, Latin America, Europe or even China. Their network is extensive and our hiring managers love how fast CRW responds to our requests. Literally within days or even a week you can have your choice of 3-5 candidates. CRW’s candidates’ are always stronger than other firms and I believe it is because of their unique style of prequalifying for the client and interviewing to Disqualify in order to send only hireable candidates.”
Melinda L., Former Director of Wal-Mart International
Wal-Mart Inc.
Bentonville, AR
“I found Charles to be results-driven, focused and extremely professional. He ensured that he understood our needs for the role and took his time to do research on the market, competition and compensation for the role. I found his research extremely helpful in shaping what we really needed which resulted in a great hire for us. He delivered solid candidates within the timeframe we needed and the process could not have worked more smoothly. I highly recommend Charles!”
Kristin C., SVP HUMAN RESOURCE
Jones Lang LaSalle
Chicago, Il
Dear Charles,
I’ve written this recommendation of your work to share with other LinkedIn users.
Details of the Recommendation: “I have known Charles for well over 10 years and have been both the client and the recruited. Without a doubt I can say that Charles is not only an excellent recruiter but an outstanding individual that you will want to hire again and again. Even with the toughest searches, he and his team work diligently to sort out what we clients “really” want from our vague wish lists and finds us the best out there – and then he knows exactly what it will take to make me happy and the potential employee happy as well. Not an easy task but Charles does it with both grace and a keen sense of humor. I recommend Charles highly for any client looking to get away from the Big 5 recruiting firms. I also highly recommend him to any executives who do not know him, especially if thinking about a career move.”
Olga Hernandez Longan , Senior Finance and Accounting Consultant
Former Wal-Mart and Ford Motor Company Finance Executive
“We did an extensive search for the best recruiters in the western region who could find us a top tier CEO. We narrowed in on a few recommendations, but Charles and his firm CRW Executive Search Consultants was the unanimous winner. I was the Chair of the executive search committee for our Board of Directors and I worked directly with Charles through the entire search. I was amazed how quickly he responded with highly qualified candidates throughout the entire US. Charles offers an executive recruiting process that is unparalleled in service and he is especially good at matching candidates with culture. Not only did Charles’ make a great CEO placement, but we also hired him for our President search too. We will continue to use Charles and CRW Executive Search Consultants.”
James J., Board Member and Chair of the Search Committee
Aleut Corporation
Anchorage, AK
“Charles recruited me from a Fortune 50 company to serve as VP/Controller of Total Renal Care, which at the time was a $1 Billion dollar company in lots of trouble. What pursuaded me to look at this position was Charles ability to sell me on the people they had recently brought on to their executive team to help turn the company around. His ability to illuminate the personality and drive of the company and their culture is what “Hooked” me. I not only served as VP/Controller but was immediately promoted to Chief Accounting Officer. I am proud to say that in the years I served we grew exponentially and rebranded ourselves as DaVita Inc. I continued to use Charles to hire all my top Finance and Accounting executives, including my replacement. Charles’ tenacious work ethic and his ability to disqualify candidates is impressive. He can locate and recruit candidate throughout the US to find you exactly what you want. He is by far the most thorough recruiter I’ve ever worked with in executive search.”
Gary B., Former Chief Accounting Officer
DaVita Inc.
Los Angeles, CA-Tacoma, WA
“Charles was referred to me through our auditors at the time, and we utilized Charles to recruit multiple high level accounting/finance executive and director level roles. Charles listens intently to what you need and then tells you whether or not you are being realistic or not. He has an amazing ability to really understand a client’s need sometimes better than the client. I will continue to use Charles at Itron.”
Dave R., Former Chief Financial Officer
ITRON Inc. – Spokane, WA
“If you are considering using Charles Wadlow to help fill a high level position here is what i can tell you based on my recent experience working with him to fill our CFO position:
1. He is intense
2. He is an excellent listener and very detailed oriented
3. He delivers the goods
4. I would use him again”
Greg Steinhauer – COO
American Life, Inc. – Seattle, WA
IF YOU WISH TO HEAR WHAT OTHER RECRUITERS THINK OF CHARLES, THEN CHECK OUT THE CRW SEMINARS TESTIMONIAL TAB!!!