From WA Business News:  The founders of local executive search firm Lester Blades have sold their 24-year-old business via a management buyout by two current partners.

The founders of local firm Lester Blades Executive Search & Board Advisory have sold their 24-year-old business via a management buyout by two current partners.

Jemma Buckner and James Fairbairn acquired the business from Tony Lester and Geoff Blades who started the business in 2002, building one of the biggest Western Australian-owned independent executive search and board advisory firms.

The transition has coincided with a move to Exchange Tower.

The founders will remain as partners in the business for at least six months.

Mr Fairbairn has been with Lester Blades for 13 years, while Ms Buckner joined more than a year ago from Derwent where she had been a principal.

Lester Blades will remain with seven partners, including the former owners, for the time being.

(James Fairbairn, Jemma Buckner & Geoff Blades, 2026)

Mr Fairbairn said the pair felt the business was well positioned in the market, with a strong reputation, appropriate scale and opportunities in new sectors.

He described the economy as middling, sitting between the levels of boom and bust.

The pair were optimistic about the next few years because the average executive stays in a job for four to five years, which is about same period as level of job hopping which occurred in the depths of the pandemic.

“So the bases are loaded,” Mr Fairbairn said.

“It just needs the right sentiment.”

Mr Blades said he his business partner had been keen to see the business carry on in local ownership, having realised it was time to step away.

He has committed to remaining for the next six months.

“If there is a place for me beyond that I am happy to talk about that,” Mr Blades said.

“I don’t have another business or want to go boards.”

Mr Blades and Mr Lester knew each other at primary school in Adelaide and reunited at university in Perth after their families had relocated to WA.

They had both been in recruitment for more than decade when they launched Lester Blades.

Mr Blades acknowledged 2002 was a low point in the WA economy but he said they could see green shoots when they decided to start their own business.

(Geoff Blades & Tony Lester, 2002)

He said the market had shifted considerably during his career.

“In 1989 you had to convince an employer to use executive search,” he said.

“You tend not to have those discussions anymore.”

“It is more sophisticated.”

Mr Blades said one of the underlying strengths of their partnership was being prepared to say no to contracts when they felt a client was not aligned with their own values.