Russell Reynolds Associates has hired two recruiting pros for its financial services team. Lisa Baird joins as managing director and Kathy Krone as executive director and will focus on executive search and assessment for wealth and asset management firms.

Baird, who will be based in Stamford, Connecticut, has six years of executive search experience. Prior to her career in executive search, she served as director of research at Greenwich Associates and worked with Fidelity Investments Institutional Retirement Services Co as vice president, marketing, strategic planning and analysis.

Krone will be based in New York, and has more than 15 years of strategy consulting and executive search experience. She served as head of the asset and wealth management practice in the US for a global executive search firm and as a senior member of the leadership strategy practice. Previously, Krone held senior executive posts, most recently as senior vice president, strategy and innovation for Bank of America Global Wealth and Investment Management and as a senior manager with Deloitte Consulting.

“Hiring among asset and wealth management firms is finally rebounding after two years of contraction, intensifying competition for exceptional human capital,” said Kurt Harrison, leader of the Asset and Wealth Management Practice in the Americas.