M: +1 312 579 7116

E: ryan.whitacre@marsdengroup.com

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Ryan Whitacre

In-house, Head of US
Ryan B. Whitacre leads Marsden’s U.S. corporate in-house executive search practice from our Chicago office. He is a trusted advisor to hiring managers, boards, and search committees at Fortune enterprises, privately held companies, and leading nonprofit organizations, with a focus on legal and C-suite leadership roles.
Ryan brings 25 years of experience split evenly between practicing attorney and executive recruiter. His background includes AmLaw private practice and in-house legal roles at a public REIT and a $22 billion privately held company, giving him an operator’s perspective when advising clients seeking corporate in-house counsel, general counsel, and senior executives.

While best known as an expert legal executive recruiter, Ryan’s search experience spans the broader C-suite, including CEO, CFO, and CHRO, as well as senior leaders across functions such as marketing, communications, risk management, and trade compliance. Previously, he led the Chicago office of a boutique executive search firm and began his search career at an international legal search firm focused on in-house attorney recruitment through Chief Legal Officer.

Ryan earned his Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations, with honor, from James Madison College at Michigan State University. He resides in Chicago’s Roscoe Village neighborhood, serves as board chair of a family services nonprofit, and maintains professional affiliations including the Economic Club of Chicago.

  • Ryan is a thoughtful and skilled recruiter. He wisely guided our team through the process of hiring our first General Counsel position. We valued his timeliness, structure, insight, and ability to focus our limited time on what was most important. Most importantly, we ended up with a fantastic hire we would not have found otherwise!

    President & CEO, Ravinia