William Kawabata Hall

Will Hall is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ Tokyo office and a member of the Consumer Markets Practice. He focuses on executive search across a broad range of companies, specializing in the entertainment, media, FMCG, luxury, retail, hospitality, and other direct-to-consumer sectors, as well as consumer tech, digital platforms, and startups in the digital sector.

Will has more than 20 years of executive search experience placing top C-level candidates with many top brands and helping to build executive teams for companies entering the Japanese market.

Prior to joining Heidrick & Struggles, Will was the managing director and founder of the Evander Group, where he led the firm to win the Recruitment International Awards Japan’s “Best Newcomer - Rising Star Award” in 2019 and “Best Small Recruitment Firm to Work For (Under 50 Employees)” in 2021.

Before that, he was the Japan country general manager of a global recruitment firm where he managed all Japan consultants, overseeing all industry clients and candidates.

Will was a representative director and managing partner of a boutique executive recruitment firm after beginning his executive search career in Japan at a global executive recruitment firm, where he built their entertainment and media practice, specializing in consumer goods, retail, and luxury clients.

Will is half Japanese and half Australian and was born and raised in Tokyo. He is bilingual and bicultural in both English and Japanese. Will’s international background helps him to bridge cultural gaps and understanding for his clients and candidates for the unique Japanese market

University of California, Santa Barbara, BA in Business Economics