Direct-Hire Executive Search
We don’t manufacture matches.We recognize them.
I place Business Development, Operations and Finance leaders across the Carolinas and nationally. I start with the business problem, not just the job description. Every search is led by me personally.
Current focus: Industrial · Manufacturing · Aerospace & Aviation Suppliers
Charlotte / Waxhaw, North Carolina. Introductions are open today.
No two fieldstones are exactly alike.
Neither are people. Neither are organizations.
Who I place
The leaders a growing company can’t afford to get wrong.
01
Revenue & Growth Leaders
Business Development Managers, Sales Directors, Account Executives and Commercial Strategy Leaders who drive top-line growth.
02
Operations Leaders
Operations Managers, Plant/Facility Directors, Quality Assurance Leaders and Supply Chain Managers who keep the business running.
03
Finance Leaders
CFOs, Corporate Controllers, Accounting Managers and Financial Directors who bring discipline to the numbers.
Is your role outside the box? Every week a leadership seat stays open, it costs the business. Let’s talk.
Tell me about the roleThe problem I solve
A leadership hire is the hardest one to get right.
Gallup research found companies miss the mark on managerial talent in 82% of their hiring decisions.
The seat stays open and the team absorbs the work.
Every week without the right leader, your best people carry the load, and the business pays for it.
You get resume volume instead of discernment.
Quality comes from understanding your company, the role and the culture, and from weighing soft skills as well as hard skills.
The hire looks right on paper but doesn’t last.
In a CareerBuilder survey, employers named negative attitude (53%) and trouble working with others (50%) among the top reasons a hire failed, ahead of missing skills (45%).
Sources: Gallup, 2015, on managerial hiring. CareerBuilder and Harris Poll survey of 2,257 hiring managers and HR professionals, reported 2017.
How I work
The Fieldstone approach
This is what working together actually looks like.
Discover
Go beyond the resume and job description.
Discern
Understand capability, character, motivation, culture and trajectory.
Connect
Make fewer, more intentional introductions.
Endure
Create placements and relationships designed to last.
What you can expect
Credibility you can check today, not just promises.
- SHRM-CP certified, with ongoing professional development in AI-driven HR practice.
- Focused on Business Development, Operations and Finance leadership, with a current emphasis on industrial, manufacturing and aerospace organizations.
- Real operational leadership experience, having managed teams and operations, not only recruited for them.
- A deliberately limited number of searches taken on at any time, by design.
- Direct access throughout, candor about the market, and involvement that continues after the offer is signed.
About
Built on discernment. Grounded in relationship.
I grew up the youngest of six in Northern Minnesota, where you learned early to work, contribute and figure things out. That mindset has shaped my career and the way I’ve built Fieldstone.
I’ve worked in Talent Acquisition inside a Fortune 100 financial services organization, conducted full-cycle search independently, and led real operations, including large seasonal and production environments, where people had to perform after they were hired. That’s why I don’t see hiring as finished when someone accepts an offer.
I started Fieldstone to get closer to the actual decision, not further from it. Too often, layers develop between the recruiter, the leader who owns the hiring need, and the professional whose career is being considered. Here, you work directly with me.
Patti Hansen, Principal
For organizations
The right leader changes more than a role.
Fieldstone partners closely with growing and mid-market organizations, with a current focus on industrial, manufacturing, and aerospace companies, to understand the business, culture, leadership need, and the impact the right person must make. Direct-hire placements only. No retainer required to start the conversation. I’d rather understand the role first. No open role right now? When the right need comes up, you’ll already know who to call.
What happens next: tell me about the role and I’ll be in touch within one business day.
Start a searchFor professionals
Your career is more than your next title.
Fieldstone builds relationships with high-caliber revenue, operations, and finance leaders before the right opportunity appears, creating space for thoughtful conversations around direction, fit, and long-term impact.
What happens next: share your background and I’ll reach out if there’s a fit for something open now, and keep your information on file for what comes up next.
Join the Fieldstone networkSomething enduring begins with the right connection.
Whether you’re building a leadership team or considering what comes next, Fieldstone begins with a conversation.
Patti Hansen, Principal
Prefer to reach out directly?