The MBS Group
The MBS Group is a London-based executive search and leadership advisory firm founded in 1989, specializing in C-suite and board placements across 11 consumer-facing sectors such as retail, luxury, hospitality, FMCG, and health, serving clients across 39 countries with a 35-person team.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1989
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What The MBS Group does
The MBS Group is a London-headquartered executive search and leadership advisory firm founded in 1989 by Moira Benigson. Operating with approximately 35 team members, the firm specializes in C-suite, board, and senior leadership placements for consumer-facing industries, serving clients across 39 countries with language coverage spanning Arabic, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish. The company's core offerings span four service lines: Executive Search, Board & CEO Practice, Leadership Consulting, and Diversity & Inclusion Advisory, with sector expertise concentrated across 11 verticals including retail, luxury, hospitality, leisure, digital, FMCG, financial services, health, and beauty.
The firm generates revenue through traditional retainer and success-fee-based executive search engagements, supplemented by advisory work on leadership consulting, succession planning, and diversity & inclusion initiatives. Customer logos disclosed include major UK and global consumer enterprises such as Sainsbury's, Versace, Unilever, L'Oréal, MoneySuperMarket, NHS Improvement, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, Whitbread, and EasyJet. The firm is privately held, B Corp certified, and reports that more than 90% of its work comes from ongoing clients or referrals, indicating a high-rate repeat engagement model typical of relationship-driven search firms. The company's distribution model includes recurring co-published industry research with partners including PwC, the British Retail Consortium (BRC), Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW), WiHTL, IGD, the British Fashion Council (BFC), and Diversity in Retail (DiR).
The MBS Group firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- The MBS Group
- Legal name
- The MBS Group Ltd
- Website
- https://thembsgroup.co.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1989
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- The MBS Group is a London-based executive search and leadership advisory firm founded in 1989, specializing in C-suite and board placements across 11 consumer-facing sectors such as retail, luxury, hospitality, FMCG, and health, serving clients across 39 countries with a 35-person team.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where The MBS Group is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
The MBS Group business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Executive Search Services: Retainer-based executive search services for senior leadership appointments including CEO, Chair, Non-Executive Directors, and functional leadership roles. Services include permanent placements, interim appointments, board assessment, talent mapping, succession planning, and due diligence.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Custom executive search assignments |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels7 records
The MBS Group product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The MBS Group is a specialist executive search and leadership advisory firm that recruits board-level and senior executives (CEO, Chair, Non-Executive Directors, CFOs and other C-suite roles) for consumer-facing organisations. It runs a six-stage bespoke search process and complements placements with interim appointments, board assessment, talent mapping, succession planning, pre-deal private equity due diligence, and psychometrics, supported by a proprietary market intelligence publication (MBS Intelligence / MBS News).
Product overview
The MBS Group is a professional services firm offering executive search and leadership advisory services rather than a software product company. The core offering consists of Executive Search—a bespoke six-stage search process—and associated services including Interim Appointments, Board Assessment, Talent Mapping/Succession Planning, Pre-deal Private Equity Services, and Psychometrics. Additionally, MBS Intelligence provides industry news, thought leadership, and research publications including a daily newsletter read over 1.5 million times annually. These services are delivered across 11 consumer-facing industry sectors including Retail, Fashion & Luxury, Healthcare, Hospitality, Travel & Leisure, Consumer Goods, Sports, Tech & Digital, and others.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Executive Search Bespoke executive search service covering six key stages (Briefing, Market Mapping, Candidate Evaluation, Selection, Referencing & Due Diligence, and Closing) that delivers senior leadership placements including CEO, Chair, Non-Executive Directors, CFOs and other C-suite roles across all consumer-facing industries.
- Interim Appointments Interim executive placement service providing immediately available leadership talent across roles including Interim CEO, CFO, COO, CDO and other C-suite positions for clients needing transitional leadership.
- Board Assessment Board evaluation and development service combining market insight with thorough assessment to help clients build organisational effectiveness, including talent assessment, benchmarking and leadership coaching.
- Talent Mapping / Succession Planning Comprehensive talent mapping service providing detailed global talent intelligence for succession planning, restructuring, and new business unit development.
- Pre-deal Private Equity Services Dedicated private equity practice providing pre-deal services including talent assessment, due diligence, and executive search for funds and portfolio companies.
- Psychometrics Psychometric assessment services using a range of expert tools and techniques to support candidate evaluation within executive search mandates.
- MBS Intelligence Industry intelligence platform providing daily MBS News newsletter, weekly opinion columns, in-depth thought leadership articles and industry events, read over 1.5 million times annually by industry leaders and innovators.
Quantifiable outcome
- Successfully placed senior leadership roles in 39 countries
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use The MBS Group
Customer profileNamed customers13 records
Segments12 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
The MBS Group technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
The MBS Group partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered historical/incubated and core.
- Signal Mediahistorical/incubatedFrom 2012 to 2014, The MBS Group incubated Signal Media, a tech-based business intelligence and media monitoring platform. Now backed by multiple VC investors, Signal continues to provide award-winning technology to support MBS's market intelligence capabilities. The companies maintain an ongoing working relationship.
- PwCcoreIn partnership with PwC, The MBS Group conducts extensive in-depth interviews and research to produce definitive data on D&I in consumer sectors. This partnership supports industry-wide understanding of diversity and inclusion trends and best practices.
- British Retail Consortium (BRC)coreSix-year partnership producing research into diversity and inclusion across the UK retail sector. Combines multiple sources of insight to track progress on D&I in retail.
- CEW (Cosmetic Executive Women)corePartnership with CEW to produce annual reports on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Beauty Sector. Third report published in 2026.
- WiHTL (Women in Hospitality, Travel & Leisure)coreAnnual partnership to publish the Role Models for Inclusion in Hospitality, Travel, Leisure & Retail Index. Highlights individuals driving inclusion across sectors.
- IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution)coreOngoing partnership to produce Role Models in Consumer Goods and Grocery reports and drive positive momentum on D&I in the grocery and consumer goods sectors.
- BFC (British Fashion Council)corePartnership with British Fashion Council to actively help shape the D&I agenda in the fashion sector.
- DiR (Diversity in Retail)coreAnnual partnership to publish the Role Models for Inclusion Index, highlighting individuals driving inclusion across retail sectors.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
The MBS Group competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Odgers Berndtson: UK-headquartered international executive search firm with deep consumer, retail, and board practices. Closest UK-based direct competitor to MBS by scale, sector coverage, and client type.
- Amrop: Global executive search partnership with strong consumer and retail sector practices across EMEA and APAC. Directly comparable boutique-network peer competing for similar C-suite and board mandates.
- Norman Broadbent: London-based executive search and interim management firm serving UK PLCs and PE-backed businesses. Directly comparable UK boutique competitor with similar client mix across consumer, retail, and financial services.
- Egon Zehnder: Privately held global executive search and leadership advisory firm. Competes with MBS on C-suite and board appointments, especially in consumer-facing and retail sectors, with comparable relationship-led GTM.
- Russell Reynolds Associates: Global executive search firm with a strong consumer practice and Healthcare Practice, the latter of which was previously led by MBS Partner Hatty Cadman for a decade. Direct competitor for senior-level consumer and healthcare mandates.
- Stanton Chase: Global executive search firm with strong consumer products, retail, and board practices. Competes with MBS on mid-to-senior level consumer mandates, particularly across Europe and Asia.
- Korn Ferry: Largest global organisational consulting firm combining executive search with talent development and RPO. MBS's Director of Retail Practice previously served as a Principal at what the data describes as 'the world's largest search firm.' Direct competitor on consumer executive mandates.
- Spencer Stuart: One of the leading global executive search firms with a strong Board Practice and significant consumer-sector coverage. Directly comparable to MBS on board and CEO search mandates, with greater international scale.
- Heidrick & Struggles: Global executive search firm with deep consumer and board practices. Competes directly with MBS on senior-level consumer sector mandates and offers a comparable six-stage search process with global delivery.
Emerging players
- Signium: International executive search firm with a strong consumer goods and retail practice. Competes with MBS on consumer-sector mandates globally, though at a smaller scale than the top-tier global incumbents.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
The MBS Group social profiles
Digital presenceThe MBS Group financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
The MBS Group leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles10 records
The MBS Group funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
The MBS Group M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about The MBS Group
What does The MBS Group do?
The MBS Group is a specialist executive search and leadership advisory firm that recruits board-level and senior executives (CEO, Chair, Non-Executive Directors, CFOs and other C-suite roles) for consumer-facing organisations. It runs a six-stage bespoke search process and complements placements with interim appointments, board assessment, talent mapping, succession planning, pre-deal private equity due diligence, and psychometrics, supported by a proprietary market intelligence publication (MBS Intelligence / MBS News).
Is The MBS Group a public or private company?
The MBS Group is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was The MBS Group founded?
The MBS Group was founded in 1989. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is The MBS Group based?
The MBS Group is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does The MBS Group make money?
One revenue line is on record: executive Search Services.
Who are The MBS Group's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Odgers Berndtson, Amrop, Norman Broadbent, Egon Zehnder, Russell Reynolds Associates, Stanton Chase, Korn Ferry, Spencer Stuart and Heidrick & Struggles. Signium is listed as an emerging player.
Does The MBS Group have an API?
No public API is recorded for The MBS Group.