Tim Knight is the vice president and senior managing partner with ThinkingAhead, where he is responsible for operations, training and recruiting for the firm. He also leads the partner group that heads up the firm’s Commercial Banking and Commercial Finance, Legal, Life Sciences and Security/Physical infrastructure search practices.

This is Tim’s 25^th year in executive search. Prior to joining ThinkingAhead, he was with Southwestern Advantage as a District Sales Manager recruiting and training salespeople. Including his college summers, Tim has been with Southwestern Family of Companies for 35 years. In his 24 years with ThinkingAhead, he has personally filled over 400 engagements for clients and his teams over 2300 professionals placed with client companies and is the all team leader in personal production for ThinkingAhead.

Tim maintains an active portfolio of client companies in the banking, commercial finance, turnaround/restructuring and legal market. He is a Certified Personnel Consultant, a board member of the Secured Finance Network, a member of the Turnaround Management Association and a past member of the Pinnacle Society, a national roundtable of many of the top recruiters in the country based on production. Tim is often asked to speak at association and recruiting industry events around the country.

He lives in Brentwood, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville, and is active in his local community and church. He is the past president of the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity in Williamson County. He is a longtime volunteer for Junior Achievement and past chairman of the United Way campaign for Southwestern. Tim is married to his wife Deborah, they have two daughters and have been enjoying being “empty nesters” for the last three years. He is also an avid runner and golfer!

Please tell us how you got into the industry. What is entailed in your current role?

I’ve been in search since 1997 and was hired to help launch and grow a new niche within the firm. We were much smaller back then, but growing, and our only experience in finance recruiting was in the equipment finance and leasing market. We had no real presence in banking or asset-based lending. What attracted me to the profession overall was the quality of life. I was in a very high-travel sales management role prior to landing in search and saw the industry as an exciting new venture for me and would allow me to control how many nights I would need to be away from my family.

As vice president and senior managing partner with ThinkingAhead, I am responsible for operations, training and recruiting for the firm. I also lead the partner group that heads up the firm’s Commercial Banking and Commercial Finance, Legal, Life Sciences and Security/Physical infrastructure search practices.

What do you think the industry can do to increase diversity, equity and inclusiveness?

There are so many tangible things! I think each company can start with an open and honest dialogue about the need for diversity and what is going right and wrong in their recruiting and hiring practices. Also I think we need to do a better job at all levels of outreach on college campuses to tell the story of the industry and do a better job at educating young people on how the industry makes the world a better place through financing small and medium-size businesses.

Why did you join the SFNet DEI Committee?

First of all, I have a high degree of respect for Betty Hernandez (Committee Chair), so when she asked me of course I had to say yes! But as I thought about the idea more, I needed to improve and grow in this area myself. Our company had recently gone through extensive DEI training and I had attended a few workshops through a leadership group I am a part of and the topic piqued my interest, mostly because it made me uncomfortable to confront and my lack of understanding in the area. So this is an area for personal growth and a way I can contribute to the industry.