Our Story

Built by people who have spent their careers making sure the right leaders get to the right organizations.

For more than two decades, our team has run executive searches for organizations whose work touched the lives of vulnerable people — children, patients, students, communities. Through Charity Search Group, we placed leaders at more than 60 mission-driven organizations, and through that work we learned something that turns out to matter everywhere: the people you hire to lead define what your organization actually becomes.

Then artificial intelligence arrived inside every boardroom we walked into.

We watched the same conversation unfold over and over. A foundation realizing its grant-making process was about to be shaped by an algorithm no one in the room understood. A hospital board asking whether the diagnostic AI it had quietly deployed was performing the same way for every patient. A bank’s risk committee discovering its lending model had inherited decisions that none of them would have signed off on. Every one of those moments came back to the same question: who, exactly, is responsible for getting this right?

We built Talent Echo Advisory Group to answer that question — not with a tool, but with people. The right Chief AI Officer. The right Head of Responsible AI. The right board members and advisors. The right hiring strategy before the search even begins.

Our work is grounded in a belief that AI will reshape society, and that the organizations leading that change have a responsibility to do it well — especially when the people affected by their decisions are the ones with the least ability to push back. That belief shapes how we choose our clients, how we assess candidates, and how we advise on the role itself.

We serve the full spectrum of organizations now grappling with this question: banks, insurers, health systems, biotech and pharma companies, PE-backed firms, technology companies, foundations, universities, government agencies, and the mission-driven organizations whose work first taught us why this matters. The sectors differ. The underlying responsibility does not.

Our Values

What we hold ourselves to

Integrity

We tell the truth — to our clients, to our candidates, and to ourselves about what a search will and will not deliver.

Rigor

Our process is deliberate, transparent, and consistent. We do not skip steps because a candidate is impressive or a client is in a hurry.

Alignment

Skills matter. Values matter. We weigh both, and we are honest about which is which.

Responsibility

We work for organizations that take seriously the impact their AI decisions will have on the people those decisions affect.

Inclusion

Equity is structural in our process, not decorative. It shows up in our sourcing, our slates, our assessments, and our advice.

Our Team

The people behind every search

Mariya Yurukova

Mariya Yurukova, MBA, CFRE

Co-Founder, President & CEO
Mariya Yurukova is an executive recruiter with an extensive track record of placing senior leaders at organizations where governance, stakeholder trust, and board dynamics are decisive. She has personally led searches for executive directors, chief development officers, and other senior appointments across North America.

She is known for an authentic, strategic recruiting style that treats every search as a strategic problem — not a database exercise. Her clients describe her as candid, thorough, and unusually attuned to the cultural and governance realities that determine whether a placement actually works.

At Talent Echo, Mariya leads firm strategy and partners directly with clients on senior AI leadership searches where governance maturity, regulatory fluency, and executive judgment are non-negotiable.

Education: MBA (Marketing concentration) and B.A. (Psychology), Brock University. Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE). Active member of AFP, CCAE, and CASE.

Husani Bastien

Husani Bastien, MIS

Co-Founder
Husani Bastien is a technology founder and operator who has spent his career at the intersection of innovation and mission. He holds a Master’s in Information Systems from George Washington University and is the founder of several technology ventures, including A2Digital and 321 AppLabs, where he built and shipped software products from the ground up.

That technical foundation — combined with years of work inside the nonprofit and impact sector — gives Husani a rare vantage point on the AI leadership market. He understands what AI executives actually do, what kinds of leaders organizations need, and where the two often miss each other.

As Co-Founder of Talent Echo, Husani leads the firm’s technology strategy and oversees how we identify, evaluate, and engage AI leaders. He brings the same entrepreneurial discipline that built his startups to every search: pragmatic, fast-moving, and outcome-focused.

Husani is also a co-founder of the Centre for Human Success and has been a long-standing volunteer with the Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Education: M.S., Information Systems, George Washington University. Sidwell Friends School.

Tanya Henry

Tanya Henry

Vice President, Client Engagement
Tanya Henry leads some of the firm’s most complex and high-impact executive searches and leadership transitions. She partners closely with boards and senior leadership teams to design thoughtful, equity-centered search strategies.

Her work in governance, stakeholder alignment, and leadership transitions translates directly to AI leadership hires — where board dynamics, regulatory context, and organizational culture determine whether a placement holds. Tanya brings deep expertise in organizational development and inclusive hiring practice. Her clients value her steady leadership and ability to manage sensitive, multifaceted searches with clarity and care from stakeholder engagement through onboarding.

Orlisha Fox

Orlisha Fox, MPA, CFRE

Senior Search Consultant
Orlisha Fox brings more than a decade of experience in governance, public policy, and equity practice. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in Government and Policy.

At Talent Echo, Orlisha leads searches where governance, policy fluency, and DEI expertise are central — particularly Responsible AI, AI Policy, and AI Ethics leadership roles. She is a Certified Fundraising Executive with certifications in Nonprofit Management and Professional Fundraising. Orlisha previously served as Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the AFP Maryland Chapter.

Rae Gallagher

Rae Gallagher

Senior Search Consultant
Rae Gallagher is a Maryland-based search consultant with a twenty-year background in leadership, education, and equity-focused programs. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in nonprofit management.

She has served on the leadership team for the Frederick County, MD Board of Education, on multiple nonprofit boards, and on statewide advisory councils focused on equity and student achievement. At Talent Echo, Rae focuses on AI leadership searches in education, public-trust organizations, and community-rooted institutions.

Kelly Stevens

Kelly Stevens, MA

Senior Search Consultant
Kelly Stevens is an organizational strategist with eighteen years of experience in how people, systems, and culture shape organizational impact. She holds a Master’s in Organizational Development with a concentration in organizational psychology.

That background makes her unusually effective on AI leadership searches: the technical skill set matters, but whether an AI leader can navigate the change management, team building, and cross-functional politics of bringing AI into an organization matters at least as much. Kelly assesses for both.

She is the founder of Zahara Consulting and previously served as Director of Capacity Building and Leadership Development at AIDS United. She brings six years of board governance experience, including three as board chair, at HIPS in Washington, D.C.

Kelly MacKenzie

Kelly MacKenzie, BBA

Talent Recruitment Manager
Kelly MacKenzie oversees recruitment operations at Talent Echo, managing the systems and processes that turn a senior partner’s brief into a credible candidate slate. She brings cross-border experience working with international partners and organizations across regulated and institutional environments.

Education: BBA in Marketing, St. Francis Xavier University. Management Certificate in Human Resources, University of Calgary.

JH

Jennifer Amoroso Heiss, MBA, LSSBB

Succession Planning Consultant
Jennifer Heiss leads succession planning engagements at Talent Echo. She brings more than fifteen years of operational leadership, strategic planning, and organizational effectiveness experience. She is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and holds an MBA.

Her approach is systems-oriented and pragmatic: assess leadership needs, align succession plans to organizational strategy, and build practical transition plans that survive contact with reality. That discipline matters more, not less, when the role in transition is an AI leadership role and the operating context is changing underneath everyone’s feet.

Jennifer serves on the Board of SPLASH Classroom in Lambertville, New Jersey.

Our Process

How We Run a Search

The same disciplined process that has produced a 98% completion rate and 92% two-year retention across hundreds of executive placements.

01

Calibrate

We begin every engagement by understanding what success actually looks like in your context. We work with your board, executive team, and key stakeholders to define the role, the operating environment, and the non-negotiables. Outcome: a written position specification both sides have signed off on.

02

Map

We map the market against your specific brief — not a generic template. That includes the obvious candidates, the non-obvious ones, and the ones who are not currently looking. For AI roles, this means going well beyond LinkedIn into research labs, applied AI teams, and adjacent sectors.

03

Assess

Every candidate is assessed against the same rubric: technical credibility, leadership maturity, governance fluency, and mission alignment. We do reference work that goes deeper than the names the candidate provides.

04

Present

You see a curated slate — typically three to five finalists — with detailed assessments, candid analysis of trade-offs, and our honest recommendation. We do not present candidates we would not hire ourselves.

05

Close

We support compensation negotiation, offer construction, and the practical realities of getting from offer to start date. We have seen most of the things that can go wrong here, and we know how to keep them from going wrong.

06

Onboard

A placed hire is not yet a successful one. We stay engaged through the first six months — checking in with both the client and the candidate — because the highest leverage moment for retention is the first 180 days.

Ready to talk about who should lead your AI?

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