The executive search firm Odgers Berndtson has brought in Alexander Thomson, a financial services specialist, as a partner at its Boston office and head of its US asset management practice, as it plans to grow this business.

Thomson joins Odgers Berndtson from rival recruiter Russell Reynolds, where he was a managing director in the firm’s asset & wealth management, real estate, and endowment & foundation practices. He has 16 years of experience as an executive recruiter and will lead the expansion of his new firm’s asset management practice in the US.

He reports to managing partner Steve Potter.

"Alex will play a significant role in our aggressive US growth plans. He and the other practice heads will be instrumental in building a culture committed to providing clients with access to the widest applicable talent pool, one that is free from the typical behaviors that impede other firms from putting the best possible candidates forward every time, such as ‘off-limits’ arrangements, individual candidate blockages (so-called ‘candidate stacking’), and internal talent queuing,” said Potter.

Odgers Berndtson has 210 partners and operates in 50 cities across 28 countries.