Buffkin/Baker, Pondera Advisors, and Rep-Lite Announce Merger to Expand Talent Solutions for Clients
Combining executive search, leadership consulting, assessment, and commercial staffing to help organizations build stronger teams.
Grand Rapids, MI & Nashville, TN. October 20, 2026 – Buffkin/Baker, a national retained executive search firm, Pondera Advisors, a leadership consulting firm, and Rep-Lite, a commercial sales staffing firm, are pleased to announce their merger, bringing together three complementary businesses to help clients find the right people, make informed selection decisions, develop effective leaders, and build teams that deliver results.
CEO Kelly Conway is bringing Buffkin/Baker, Pondera Advisors, and Rep-Lite together to build a connected human capital platform that addresses clients’ evolving talent needs. Drawing on more than 25 years of leadership experience, including senior executive roles at Stryker, Lockton, and Acrisure, Conway is uniting Buffkin/Baker’s national retained executive search practice, Pondera Advisors’ leadership consulting and assessment expertise, and Rep-Lite’s commercial sales staffing capabilities. The strategy starts with client needs: providing broader expertise through trusted relationships and a more coordinated approach to talent. The businesses nationally serve healthcare, higher education, manufacturing, private equity, professional services, consumer goods, construction, digital/tech, and non-profit.
“Clients’ talent needs rarely begin and end with a single hire or engagement,” said Conway. “Finding a leader is connected to how that person is selected, how they are supported as they enter the organization, and how effectively they lead their team. By bringing these businesses together, we can connect those decisions and provide more meaningful support as our clients grow.”
“For Buffkin/Baker, this merger extends the ways we can support our clients beyond executive search,” said Craig Buffkin, Founder and Managing Partner of Buffkin/Baker. “Finding the right leader is a critical decision. Bringing assessment, onboarding, coaching, and team development into that relationship gives clients additional resources to help that leader succeed. I’m excited to remain with the business and work alongside Kelly and our colleagues at Pondera Advisors and Rep-Lite as we build on the relationships our clients have entrusted to us.”
What this means for clients
The merger gives clients access to complementary services that work together around their priorities:
- Executive search with support beyond placement. Buffkin/Baker’s search expertise can be paired with Pondera Advisors’ assessment, onboarding, and executive coaching capabilities to support both the selection of a leader and their transition into the organization.
- Leadership development connected to talent needs. Pondera Advisors’ clients gain access to executive search and commercial staffing expertise when development, succession planning, or business growth reveals a need for additional talent.
- Commercial teams supported at multiple levels. Rep-Lite clients can access executive search to recruit commercial leaders, alongside assessment and coaching to support the effectiveness of the teams they are building.
- A more coordinated relationship. Clients can draw on specialists across the three businesses, reducing the need to navigate separate providers as their needs evolve.
Pondera Advisors’ services include executive coaching, leadership selection, and team effectiveness, supported by its proprietary Pondera Virtual Advisor (PVA) for candidate selection, coaching, and team development. Rep-Lite adds a flexible contract staffing model that helps organizations build and expand commercial sales teams.
Together, these capabilities offer clients a more connected approach to decisions that are often handled separately. An organization hiring a senior executive can access search expertise, assessment insights, and onboarding support through the combined platform. A business expanding its commercial operations can draw on sales staffing, leadership recruitment, and team development according to its needs.
“Our ambition is to be big enough to meet our clients’ evolving needs while staying close enough to understand what matters to them,” Conway added. “We are bringing together specialists who can help clients solve a broader range of challenges, with the personal attention and partnership that make those relationships valuable.”
Craig Buffkin and Martin Baker will continue as Managing Partners of Buffkin/Baker, with Baker retaining responsibility for the Higher Education practice. Together with Rick Barnett, Founder of Rep-Lite; Rob Elliott, Co-Founder of Pondera Advisors; and the broader leadership team, they will help shape the platform’s future under Conway’s direction, integrating services to better serve clients.
Sleeping Giant Capital, a long-term hold investment firm, provided the funding for the merger and is backing the platform’s vision of building an enduring, client-focused human capital business.
Clients can contact their current Buffkin/Baker, Pondera Advisor, or Rep-Lite advisor to explore how the combined expertise can support their organization’s priorities.
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About Buffkin/Baker
Buffkin/Baker is a top 30 U.S. executive search firm with 18 locations. The firm maintains a partner-led execution approach serving clients across Healthcare, Higher Education, Private Equity, Technology/Digital, Consumer, and Nonprofit sectors, with functional expertise spanning Human Resources, CEO, Supply Chain, CFO, Go-To-Market and Operations leadership. With a 99% search completion rate and a 93% three-year retention rate for placed executives, Buffkin/Baker brings both disciplined execution and long-term placement success. The firm is a proud partner of Panorama, a global network specializing in executive search and placement, executive recruitment consulting, leadership development advisory, board evaluation, and executive succession planning.
About Pondera Advisors
Founded in 2006, Pondera Advisors is a leadership consulting firm with an expanding national presence. The firm helps organizations select and develop leaders, align teams, and strengthen culture through leadership assessment and selection, executive coaching, and team effectiveness services. Its proprietary Pondera Virtual Advisor (PVA) provides critical insights to support the selection of leaders, revealing how individuals think, make decisions, manage themselves, and work with others. These insights also inform tailored coaching, leadership development, and stronger team effectiveness.
Learn more at www.ponderaadvisors.com