— Who we are
Reliable, collaborative, straightforward.
Kempkens x Kohler is led by two founding partners who stand for quality, speed, and unconventional approaches. Every search mandate is handled exclusively by Oliver Kempkens and Sebastian Kohler—from the initial briefing through to the final placement.
Oliver has been the youngest executive hire at Russell Reynolds Associates Germany, where he co-founded the digital practice. Before that, he served as VP at SAP in Palo Alto and Walldorf, playing a pivotal role in the firm's intellectual renewal.
At just 22, Sebastian embarked on his career as an analyst in Zurich, Switzerland, joining a renowned international management and technology consulting firm. He became an advisor to numerous global clients, providing expertise in transformational and organisational strategy, as well as process improvement and restructuring.
— Our edge
Our approach is deliberately different.
We adapt to our partners' working habits, ensuring a seamless alignment. This can be in terms of communication during the project, process design and any other adjustments along the way. Each project is individually set up according to our partner's needs.
Every mandate is led personally by Oliver Kempkens and Sebastian Kohler—from strategic profile definition and discreet identification to direct engagement and successful placement. Their direct involvement in research and selection ensures outstanding quality, clear differentiation, and deep understanding—paired with the precision and judgment that define top-tier executive search.
By handling the entire search project ourselves (without back-office involvement), we are able to reduce our internal coordination effort to an utmost minimum. This enables us to rapidly deliver results and build a high momentum.
We understand the importance of culturally aligned high-performance teams. Therefore, it is important to us to understand our partner's culture, by spending time onsite and ideally talking to different people across various teams.
— A Selection of our Clients
Our client base continues to grow—because we deliver on what we promise
Client-Feedback
"Agile, personal, tailor-made, and impressively fast — exactly the kind of partner a medium-sized company needs. The collaboration was highly professional, transparent, and consistently aligned with our specific requirements. An executive search provider that truly understands what drives the Mittelstand and delivers genuine added value."
"Many thanks to Sebastian Kohler and Oliver Kempkens for their excellent cooperation – professional, reliable, and with a keen understanding of my requirements!"
"Kempkens × Kohler stands out through excellent service, fast and well-structured process and high-caliber candidates."
"I have always experienced Oliver and Sebastian as reliable partners. Results so far: 100% accuracy of fit!"