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Manuel Waenke
Executive Search & Leadership Advisory at Egon Zehnder
Manuel Waenke is a consultant based in New York City who advises companies and organizations on key leadership challenges and executive recruitment at Egon Zehnder.1 He specializes in food & agribusiness, climate & sustainability, and private equity & venture capital sectors.1
Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Waenke held several notable positions:
- Director of Ventures at FootPrint Coalition, a climate tech VC and media firm founded by Robert Downey Jr.1
- Head of Corporate Strategy & Development at Inari, a late-stage agriculture biotech startup1
- Consultant at McKinsey & Co., working on agribusiness, economic development, and high-tech projects across 22 countries1
Waenke's educational background includes:
- BSc in International Business from Vienna University of Economics and Business (graduated first in his class)1
- MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business1
- MA in Environmental Sciences from Stanford University1
He also founded and served as president of Stanford Alumni in Food & Ag, an alumni community with around 1,000 members.1 Originally from Austria, Waenke now resides in New York City with his wife and dog.1
Highlights
Recent M&A activity in the ingredients space has set in motion several key trends. Alejandro Folmer, Sonal Dhingra and I just published a piece based on our recent work and conversations with investors and executives in the space. Our conclusions:
➡️ Attractive assets will continue to come on the market. ➡️ Top talent is becoming available. ➡️ Leaders must be vigilant to retain and attract top talent and not lose sight of their customers.
So… I made a bit of a surprising - at least surprising to me - career shift.
10 months ago, Alejandro Folmer and I were chatting about an investor position he was retained for - and he ended our conversation saying that he thought I should actually be working for Egon Zehnder. I thought he was joking.
What followed was the most intense and gratifying interview/get-to-know-each-other process I have ever been a part of. I went through 28 (!) interviews, I met people in person in NYC, SF, Zurich and Amsterdam including the US Managing Partner, the Global CEO and the Chairman of the firm. I went through a psychometric assessment and dissected every phase of my life. The best recruiting processes are the ones you come out of knowing yourself better than before. This was one of them.
The people and culture I got to know over those months are unparalleled. Every person I met was incredibly bright and accomplished - a mix of former operators, McKinsey (& other) consultants and bankers - and yet humble and unpretentious, caring and collaborative to an extent I have never seen at this scale of an organization in my career.
I'm thrilled to get started and hope I'll get to work with as many of you as possible again - just in a bit of a different role - on anything that's related to people, talent and leadership.
