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Katya Bakhareva, CEO and Founder of Benchmark Executive, a global executive search and HR consulting group of companies
| Katya Bakhareva is the CEO & Founder of Be-EXEC – an international executive search and HR consulting firm operating across Europe, MENA, the USA, Latin America, and Asia. Be-EXEC specializes in executive search, board advisory, and strategic leadership hiring for companies scaling internationally, entering new markets, or undergoing transformation. Katya is a Certified Chair™ Executive, accredited by the Advisory Board Centre. She actively integrates leading global psychometric methodologies into executive assessment and development, including Hogan Assessment and CliftonStrengths 34 (Gallup). With over 15 years of experience in executive assessment, selection, and leadership development, Katya focuses on complex, high-impact, and niche C-level mandates. Her expertise spans cross-border executive hiring, board formation, confidential searches, and leadership team building across industries including technology, e-commerce, fashion retail, finance, product, marketing, and data. Together with her international team of consultants and analysts, she has successfully completed 400+ executive search and consulting projects and built a live database of 47,000+ senior-level candidates. Our mission is to connect businesses and exceptional C-level representatives, whole teams, and unique talents with each other. |
Katya began her career in a large executive search firm, where she was involved in recruiting: market analysis, candidate sourcing, and data collection. Feeling the desire for more impact and direct client interaction, Ekaterina left the company and joined a large PR agency. Her experience in marketing provided her with a deeper understanding of industry executives, leading luxury brands, and the media landscape. With this enhanced skill set, she returned to the recruitment industry.
Ekaterina gained valuable international recruitment experience while working for Antal (ex-part of the FiveTen Group) – a major UK recruitment company. The highly competitive environment allowed her to develop leadership skills, so she became the Head of recruiting in the B2C industry and established herself as an industry expert. She successfully completed challenging projects for clients who were previously considered as ‘impossible.’
In 2014, Ekaterina left Antal with the ambition to start her own venture. Driven by the desire to scale her skills and knowledge, she founded her own company – Benchmark Executive.
Ekaterina gained valuable international recruitment experience while working for Antal (ex-part of the FiveTen Group) – a major UK recruitment company. The highly competitive environment allowed her to develop leadership skills, so she became the Head of recruiting in the B2C industry and established herself as an industry expert. She successfully completed challenging projects for clients who were previously considered as ‘impossible.’
In 2014, Ekaterina left Antal with the ambition to start her own venture. Driven by the desire to scale her skills and knowledge, she founded her own company – Benchmark Executive.
Through working with founders, CEOs, and business owners on complex real-life leadership cases, Katya developed a strong focus on executive coaching, leadership development, and board effectiveness.
She completed professional training at Focal Point (UK), with a focus on negotiation, strategic thinking, team dynamics, and delegation in high-growth environments.
Over time, her work evolved toward advanced leadership diagnostics and board-level assessment. Katya became certified in MBTI and DISC, gaining deep expertise in behavioral and personality-based leadership analysis.
She later expanded her practice to internationally recognized executive-level assessment systems, including Hogan Assessment, CliftonStrengths 34 (Gallup), and Harthill Leadership Development.
Today, she integrates these methodologies into executive search, board advisory, succession planning, and leadership development projects, combining psychometrics with strategic business context rather than using assessments in isolation.
Katya is also a Certified Chair™ Executive, accredited by the Advisory Board Centre, with a focus on board governance, advisory structures, and chair-level effectiveness.
She completed professional training at Focal Point (UK), with a focus on negotiation, strategic thinking, team dynamics, and delegation in high-growth environments.
Over time, her work evolved toward advanced leadership diagnostics and board-level assessment. Katya became certified in MBTI and DISC, gaining deep expertise in behavioral and personality-based leadership analysis.
She later expanded her practice to internationally recognized executive-level assessment systems, including Hogan Assessment, CliftonStrengths 34 (Gallup), and Harthill Leadership Development.
Today, she integrates these methodologies into executive search, board advisory, succession planning, and leadership development projects, combining psychometrics with strategic business context rather than using assessments in isolation.
Katya is also a Certified Chair™ Executive, accredited by the Advisory Board Centre, with a focus on board governance, advisory structures, and chair-level effectiveness.
- 2008: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
- 2010: Focal Point Training, UK, London: Teamwork and Goal Setting
- 2016: Profile Analysis (PPA), Thomas International, Certified Consultant
- 2017: Institute of Psychodrama, Coaching, and Role-Playing Training, “Fundamentals of Psychodrama in Business. Psychodrama for Coaches”
- 2021: Nominee of the “Female Foundry” program, including over 25 hours of mentorship with a Google Industry Manager.
- 2025 – Certified Chair™ Executive Program, Advisory Board Centre (Issued June 2025)
Be-EXEC success stories
The company with B2B and B2C businesses in the travel industry approached us with the task of finding an employee for the role of CFO. They had to take on 2 functions at once: work with investments and operational financial management and be ready to develop the company and bring it to an IPO. We filled this complex position with dual functionality in 6 months.
Large fashion retail companies that operate 100+ factories across China and employ thousands of workers in 5 different countries, had a business need to onboard unique professional teams. In total, we had to find and relocate professional teams (Head of production, quality control managers) to China. All these businesses partnered with Be-EXEC to make it happen fast and with the highest quality.
An advertising platform that buys online apps and social media ads has asked for help in finding a CTO. The founder, who was responsible for the product and development, went out of business after the sale of the company. We managed to close a key position in 3 months. After 1,5 years from the date of taking the position, our candidate continues to develop the product and brings it to new markets.
Today, Ekaterina and her team of consultants, project managers, and analysts specialize in filling strategic roles such as C-suite executives and other complex roles across e-commerce, fashion retail, finance and HR, marketing and media, product design, and IT and data.
Katya's Featured Publications
Topics to Discuss with Katya
How to build and scale a global service business across regions
Cross-border executive search: confidential mandates, complex C-level hires, and entering new markets
Board advisory and selection of independent directors
Soft skills, hard skills, and metaskills: insights from the market, industry conferences, networking, and clients
The value of sociometric assessments for evaluating top managers (Hogan, MBTI, DISC, CliftonStrengths)
How leadership and specialized role requirements vary across regions (UK, Europe, MENA, China)
Talent acquisition, team development, and motivation of dispersed teams.
Working with leading technology businesses around the world
Leave a request to find the perfect candidate and close a key position
Leave a request to find the perfect candidate and close a key position