About Us

The CCY Difference

At Cochran, Cochran, and Yale, we have 40 years of experience in executive recruiting and management consulting. In that time, we have placed top talent in industries that include PR, accounting, hi-tech manufacturing, cannabis, healthcare, and much more.

Most retained search firms will use a 12-month benchmark to measure their retention success. However, we boast a 48-month retention rate of almost 90%. Every retained executive search is backed by a 1-Year Replacement Guarantee.

Our network of seasoned talent is formidable and growing. These relationships allow us to find passive recruits who may not be visible to the job market, but might be the perfect match. As a result, nine in ten of our placements are a success.

Good leadership is always profitable. When the right person is in command, they are symbiotic with the needs of the company. Therefore, your executive hire should have a positive impact on the bottom line.

At CCY, our results have proven a 10x increase in ROI, because we recognize that human talent is your company’s most critical resource.

Together, we’ll chart your business strategy and learn the role’s particular needs. Our investigative process will illustrate what attributes qualified candidates should hold. We go beyond a list of technical skills and search for leadership candidates that would also be an excellent culture fit.

Old-School Headhunters. New-School Hustle.

In 1979, Cochran, Cochran & Yale (CCY) was founded in Rochester, New York, by Hale and Gloria Cochran. The next year, Gary Baker joined the firm as a partner with the vision of making CCY the executive recruitment firm of record for critical financial leadership roles. Though the firm expanded to encompass more than 20 practice areas, it was Gary who built a deep specialization and immense national network in CFO, Controller, and VP/Director of Finance roles. In 1982, Gary acquired CCY from the Cochrans. In 2008, Baker bought out the owner’s interest to become the majority owner.

A New Generation of Talent for the Jobs of the Future

It was also in 2008 that Gary’s son Shawn Baker joined the firm. After making his mark on the sports world both as a competitor and as a rep for powerhouses like Quicksilver, Benetton Sports, and Nordica, Shawn brought his performance focus to CCY’s executive search practice. He had soon built his own search and advisory firms under the CCY umbrella. In 2018,  Shawn bought out Gary and became CEO.

Today, CCY is nationally recognized within the Professional, Technical, and Executive Search and Recruitment industry as the preferred resource for strategic acquisition of leadership talent. CCY has also developed talent for over 40 years and created a process to ensure the right person is in the right seat and has the capacity to lead your team to achieving your strategic goals.

An industry leader in ethics and integrity, we recruit talent who make an impact and align them with your strategy. We take your people and company to the next level:

• 92% of our searches are a success as measured by employee retention
• Our average retention rate is higher than our competitors
• 87% of our placed executives are still with our clients after four years
• Executives hired through our process are six times more likely to be promoted within four years
• Our proprietary AI works 24/7/365 to source candidates and results in clients seeing candidates in less than a week. resulting in a time to hire that is half of our competitors