David S. Joys is vice chairman and a senior partner of Heidrick & Struggles based in the New York City office. He was elected a director of the firm in 1993, a member of the firm's Executive Committee in 1996, and a member of the Office of the Chairman in 2003.
David brings 35 years of search experience to senior-level client assignments. Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles in 1992, he was founder and managing director of Higdon, Joys & Mingle, Inc., an executive search firm based in New York with affiliates in London and Paris. Previously, he spent 12 years with another global executive search firm where he held roles of increasing responsibility including senior vice president, executive vice president and mManaging director, international. At various times, David managed that firms' New York office, eastern region, London office, and all international operations. He also served as that firm's first director of practice development prior to his London relocation in the early 1980s.
Before embarking on a career in executive search, David was vice president, marketing operations and services for the car rental division of The Hertz Corporation, then a subsidiary of RCA, where he had responsibility for activities in Canada, Mexico, Latin America, the Pacific, and the Caribbean. He previously served as vice president of marketing, responsible for that company's domestic business. Earlier, he spent six years with American Airlines in a variety of marketing and sales management positions.
David was profiled in multiple editions of The Career Makers: America's Top 100 Executive Recruiters, a Harper & Row publication, and was featured as one of the search industry's Top Global Search Consultants in The Global 200 Executive Recruiters, a ranking compiled by executive search industry expert Nancy Garrison Jenn.