When Our Customer Wins, We Win.
Guided by Values. Driven by Service. Powered by People.
Our Values
At Naviga, our values are the foundation of everything we do. Integrity drives how we build partnerships, fostering trust through transparent, honest communication and a commitment to long-term success. Honesty guides our interactions, ensuring clarity with both clients and candidates, even in difficult conversations, so solutions are reached efficiently. Ethics shape every decision we make, keeping our process fair, respectful, and principled, and ensuring we never compromise for short-term gains.
These values define how we operate, how we support careers and how we build lasting relationships with the businesses and people we serve.
Boutique Flexibility. Big-Firm Results.
Agility
Naviga Recruiting Executive Search combines boutique agility with the capability to execute high-caliber searches comparable to the Big-5 industry executive search giants; Korn Ferry, Spencer Stuart, Heidrick & Struggles, Russell Reynolds Associates, and Egon Zehnder (The SHREK). Unlike large firms with vast red-tape and less personalized service, we offer a deeply customized, hands-on approach and immerse ourselves in your culture, framework, and strategic goals.
Our Talent Acquisiton process delivers exceptional results with direct communication and rapid responsiveness, acting as a true extension of your team. Clients appreciate how our personalized partnership secures the right leaders to drive their future growth, an experience that often exceeds expectations.
Built to Win Together
Our Team
Redefining Talent Acquisition with Passion
Our History
Naviga was founded in Chicago,IL by CEO Kathleen Steffey, a corporate recruiter with a deep understanding of the corporate hiring landscape. Beginning as a solo-preneur’s passion, her talent acquisition approach soon captured widespread attention in the corporate market. Her professional but agile approach towards talent selection and the talent acquisition process was widely received by employers across the US.
This foundation of professional agility and personalized recruiting service has been carefully cultivated within our team as Naviga has grown. Each employee is trained to embody these core principles, ensuring consistency and excellence in every search. In turn, this disciplined yet flexible approach has allowed us to successfully extend our impact beyond the U.S., delivering tailored talent acquisition solutions to a global marketplace.
Empowering the U.S. Special Operations Forces
Community Impact
Naviga respects the leadership, resilience, and strategic mindset of U.S. Special Operations Forces. These exceptional individuals face unique challenges when transitioning from military service to civilian careers, and we are committed to helping them translate their invaluable experience into successful professional opportunities.
We achieve this through personalized, hands-on support including executive coaching, resume refinement tailored to military-to-corporate translation, mentorship, and direct introductions to employers who value veteran talent. By acting as trusted advisors and advocates, we help SOF veterans confidently navigate the recruitment process, ensuring their skills and discipline shine in every interaction.
Why Choose Naviga?
We Deliver. They Talk.
Naviga was the first recruiter I had ever worked with and they set the bar high. I had a very positive experience working with them. I can tell that they really care about their candidates and that they really want them to succeed.
Cindy Dickens, Director of Brand and Culture
Richman Property Services
Our recent Director of Sales hire is doing amazing – a rock star! He’s a true coach, cheerleader, and he has fun with his team. He’s bringing in more than impressive numbers Q1 – ranked as #1 across the entire company.
John Makarewicz
President, Mark Spain Real Estate
The quality of candidates Naviga presented to us were superb. We did not receive any random or unqualified candidates, and the ones that were submitted met all our needs. There was great communication during the process and resulted in two great finalists for our position.
Rich Vecchio
Recruiting Manager, PGA Tour
The change has been night and day, quality and quantity, since bringing on the 4 Sales Managers Naviga found for us. We are now focused on strategic areas and are in front of our customers repeatedly, driving the sales force, retention of clients and frequency – the sales hires lived up to their word, couldn’t be better, we’re having double-digit growth year after year.
Michael O’Neill
President, WERMA-USA
Naviga’s response time, as far as the cycle from needing to hire to we have hired, was timely. I definitely felt like whenever needed, Tracey or Kathleen would reach out. There was constant communication.
Cara Swanson
Business Development, Equipco
Throughout the whole process, Naviga was super organized and really provided a lot of great background information.
Jennifer Folsom, Sr. Sales Executive
Selerix Systems
There are many recruiting companies out there, and Naviga seems to be a step above the rest—more professional, more straightforward, and truly concerned about the person they’re interacting with.
James Scott, Wholesale Sales Representative
Placed with our client C&B Equipment
After my first conversation with Naviga, I had a really good feeling about Bounce Curl. Just to have someone be there for the candidate is a huge, huge deal. Otherwise, we’re just names on paper.
Blessly Thomas, Marketing Manager
Placed with our client Bounce Curl
I am a firm believer in communication and good communication really helped set Naviga apart from the other recruiting firms that I was working with. I was always in the know and any questions I had were always answered on the spot.
Jason Abbey, Director of Enterprise Sales
Spectrio
I received a lot of information about the company.
I found it to be really helpful to work with a recruiter. It takes some of the pressure off to have someone that you can ask more in depth questions.
Sara Staszak, HR Generalist
Placed with our client Sammons Warehouse Solutions
I was very impressed with Naviga’s services; they screened good quality candidates and really understood the scope of the available position. I feel I received a fitting candidate and I’m very excited!
Tim McHugh
Regional Sales Manager, SimplexGrinnell
I was completely prepared for my interview. Everything was super helpful, especially the different tips and tricks that you gave me. There were things you included in there that I didn’t even think about.
Matt Sprague, Inbound B2B Sales professional
Placed with our client Bulletproof
Helping You Navigate Your Career or Talent Search
Research & Insights from Naviga's Blog
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