Desi Kimmins

Desi Kimmins is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ Amsterdam office and a member of the Human Resources Officers Practice. She specializes in two connected disciplines: chief human resources officer (CHRO) executive search and broader leadership advisory, helping boards and C-suite leaders build leadership systems that underpin business performance and sustain competitive advantage.

Desi has more than 20 years of experience across professional services, organizational consulting, and in-house leadership roles, bringing a unique dual perspective to her work. With full commercial responsibility as a business leader and as an advisor to senior executives, she understands the commercial, human, and organizational challenges her clients face.

She began her career at a global financial institution, where she led leadership development, talent strategy, and talent acquisition, giving her an inside perspective on what is at stake when leadership and people strategies are aligned and executed with conviction, and when they are not.

With a background in behavioral science and experience working with C-suite executives, CHROs, and boards, Desi approaches client partnerships with frankness and rigor, applying both a strategic perspective and practical judgment to minimize risk and strengthen the most consequential leadership decisions her clients face. She is fluent in English, French, and Dutch.

Leiden University, MSc in Occupational Psychology