About Nicole

CONSULTANT. ADVISOR. AUTHOR.

Nicole Barbano is an operator, consultant, advisor and author with more than two decades of experience helping executives, entrepreneurs and organizations navigate growth, transition and complex business decisions.

In 2006, she founded Hunter Ambrose International and built it into one of the country’s largest healthcare-focused retained executive-search firms and one of the longest-standing woman-owned retained-search firms in the United States.

Over the course of twenty years, Nicole:

• Led more than 1,000 executive and professional placements

• Built and managed a seven-figure professional-services business

• Led leadership and team strategy

• Led B2B growth and client acquisition across complex markets reaching seven figures over multiple years

• Advised executives on hiring, organizational structure, performance and business strategy

• Developed positioning, marketing and growth strategies for founders, high-earning solopreneurs and professional-services businesses

• Recruited across healthcare, federally qualified health centers, healthcare innovation, finance, legal services, family offices and ultra-high-net-worth environments

CONSULTANT

Nicole works with companies, founders and independent business owners when an opportunity needs structure, a project needs experienced leadership or an important initiative has become too consequential to remain unowned.

Her consulting work may involve business and market strategy, B2B growth, brand positioning, client acquisition, organizational development, project management or fractional leadership. She combines strategic judgment with direct execution—helping determine what needs to happen and remaining involved as the work moves forward.

ADVISOR

Nicole advises executives, entrepreneurs and high-earning solopreneurs facing consequential business and career decisions. Her work is grounded in an understanding of the client, the market, the economy and the opportunity that exists between them.

Engagements may involve leadership counsel, executive coaching, business growth, professional positioning, organizational decisions or a strategic career transition. Clients value Nicole’s candor, market perspective, discretion and ability to bring clarity to complicated situations.

AUTHOR

Nicole is the author of The HIRE: Leadership, Hiring, and the Future of Work, an examination of how people have created professional opportunity across centuries—and how modern hiring became so complicated.

She has also written and published multiple long-form newsletters examining leadership, business, hiring, technology, entrepreneurship and the changing nature of work.

Today, Nicole works directly with a select number of individuals and organizations through consulting, advisory, executive coaching, project management and fractional leadership engagements. She is based in Kansas City and works with clients across the United States.