1607 RecruitingAbout Jim Fender
1607 Recruiting was founded by Jim Fender, a recruiting professional with more than 20 years of experience connecting organizations with talented professionals and senior executives.
With a strong foundation in Accounting & Finance recruitment, Jim's experience spans executive financial leadership, Life Sciences, Biotechnology, and specialized operational leadership.
Throughout his career, Jim has developed relationships with business owners, CEOs, CFOs, COOs, HR executives, and professionals across a wide range of industries.
His recruiting philosophy is straightforward: understand the business, develop meaningful relationships, and identify individuals who can make a lasting impact on an organization.
Founded in 2024, 1607 Recruiting provides the reach and expertise of an established recruiting practice with the personal attention and accountability of a founder-led business.
Jim's experience includes senior-level and executive searches requiring specialized industry knowledge, leadership assessment, discretion, and direct collaboration with executive management.
With Accounting & Finance as the foundation of his recruiting career, Jim has worked on searches spanning corporate financial leadership, financial transformation, regulatory reporting, and strategic finance. Representative leadership positions include:
This experience includes working with organizations across manufacturing, professional services, global enterprises, and privately held businesses.
A retained executive search for a senior scientific leader within a major research organization. The position includes oversight of approximately 230 professionals and a budget approaching $100 million, with responsibility for scientific strategy, research programs, and operational leadership.
A retained executive search for a senior leader responsible for biopharmaceutical development, scientific strategy, multidisciplinary research teams, and complex development programs.
These assignments demonstrate the ability to manage highly specialized executive searches involving significant organizational responsibility, sophisticated technical requirements, and collaboration with senior scientific and executive leadership.
After more than two decades in recruiting, Jim understands that identifying exceptional talent requires more than reviewing resumes or posting job openings.
Many of the strongest candidates are successful in their current positions and are not actively pursuing new opportunities.
His approach combines established professional relationships, targeted executive outreach, industry knowledge, and a detailed understanding of each client's organization and leadership needs.
Rather than simply matching qualifications to a job description, Jim focuses on the experience, leadership capabilities, and business impact a candidate can bring to an organization.
At 1607 Recruiting, clients work directly with the person responsible for managing their search.
From the initial discussion and development of the candidate profile through sourcing, evaluation, interviews, and offer negotiations, Jim remains personally engaged throughout the process.
There are no unnecessary layers between the client and the recruiter executing the search.
This approach provides continuity, transparency, and accountability, particularly for senior-level and confidential leadership searches.
Jim's professional network was developed over more than 20 years of recruiting, including extensive experience in the Mid-Atlantic and Washington, D.C. markets.
Today, 1607 Recruiting is based in Sarasota, Florida, and serves clients nationally.
Jim is also a member of Recruiters International Membership (RIM), a network of more than 120 independent recruiting professionals across the United States.
This network expands the firm's geographic reach and access to specialized talent while preserving the personal attention of a boutique recruiting partnership.
“The right hire can change the direction of a business. Finding that person requires experience, relationships, and judgment.”
1607 Recruiting is built on the belief that recruiting should be a partnership, not simply a transaction.
Whether helping an organization identify its next CFO, build its finance leadership team, or recruit a highly specialized scientific executive, the objective remains the same: understand the client's needs, represent the opportunity professionally, and identify talent capable of making a meaningful impact.