“We look out for the people in our industry and they look out for us.” — Ken Leiner, President
Ken Leiner began recruiting for technology vendors in 1987 and founded Ken Leiner Associates (KLA) in 1990. Originally a one-man band, Ken teamed up with Frank Munero in 1991 and Stuart Neuwelt in 1992. This dynamic team grew the company throughout the 90s into one of the premier search firms focused on helping technology vendors build their sales, marketing and technical teams. Ken’s philosophy of recruiting and qualifying the best candidates for KLA’s clients includes taking a personal consultative approach with his clients while also looking out for the candidates’ best interests, and this has contributed to the strong reputation KLA has in the industry. Ken is as passionate as ever about recruiting and gets excited by the day-to-day challenges of closing placements, mentoring his team, and coaching candidates and clients in the technology industry.
When not at work, Ken enjoys spending time with his wife Sandra, daughter Corrina, and his son Matt. His other interests include volleyball, Dominican bachata, Montreal and Latin America.
Contact Ken at ken@ITsearch.com or (301) 933-8800 x 114 and follow him on LinkedIn
Testimonials
“To me, Ken Leiner and Frank Munero are synonymous. They’re true professionals who I really respect and have worked with for 15, if not 20 years… Other recruiters throw everything against the wall to see what sticks, sending “A Players” for a lesser job as if to say, “look at the all stallions in my stable,” and wasting half my day on a job that I’d never take. I strongly urge other companies to use KLA.”— Jeff Kidwell, Big Data Federal Sales Leader for IBM
“I’ve been working with Frank and Ken since 1993 as both a candidate and a hiring manager. On the hiring end, the investment I make with KLA means the time and money is very well spent. They know the skillsets I require. They know the candidates; they meet with them and thoroughly review all the details, and always present a good match. When Ken or Frank call, I’m interested as they’re usually SPOT ON. Nine times out of ten, the first or second resume I get is the person I want to hire, saving me an incredible amount of time and creating a profitable outcome. One thing that sets them apart is their strong intuition about the softer points of the hiring profile, including the personality and the working style that would ensure success for both parties. The people I’ve hired through Ken and Frank have been successful and met my expectations. Some of my best hires and long-standing relationships with employees have come through KLA.
I’ve come in contact with roughly 35 – 40 other recruiters in my career. Working with KLA is one of the best and easiest to work with. We know each other’s expectations and have demonstrated alignment in obtaining the right outcome. Their approach has included coaching me through decision criteria and making alternative recommendations that usually pan out better than my original thinking. They want me to make the right hire as much as I do. Despite a long list of recruiters with varying networks, KLA is on my short list for any position I hire and always the first one I call for a DC Metro or Federal role. And speaking as a candidate, Frank and Ken have placed me at two software companies, Object Design and Deltek, and by far they’ve been the best fits and among the most successful positions that I‘ve had in my career.”
— Brian Murphy, VP, End Point Division, BeyondTrust
“Ken changed my life…” (see video!)
— Ronnie Hargrove, Cisco Systems
“I tell my connections, “If you’re open to opportunities, these are the people (recruiters) you need to call.” I had an amazing experience with Ken Leiner Associates. I would say individualized service, exceptional coaching, and honest feedback are three things that stood out. Ken was really, really engaging and very, very personalized, which made a huge difference… and was very deliberate and honest. He does a great job of helping you prepare to transition, and what to expect, with a lot of good career advice. And his associate Amy Shepardson was absolute dynamite as well.
Ken Leiner Associates was working with a company I really wanted to work for: Better Up. I’m in my mid-50’s. I’d been working for 20, 30 years, at a dozen jobs or so and had never used a professional recruiter before. So, I was going from a role where I was leading a team to being an individual contributor – and going from a company that was pretty well established to kind of a startup. The forethought around what it’s like to transition from one opportunity to another was really very, very valuable. Ken was strategic in the sense of how you look at this big picture and Amy was an exceptional coach through the second part of the process, which was my interface with Better Up — a great coach in helping me prepare, without being someone who just gave me all the answers. She was very much about, like, what you’re thinking about for the job, where you are in their process, what they’re looking for, how things go, where you did really well or where you could’ve done better. Amy was just fantastic.
It’s that personalized connection – you’re not a commodity; you’re not a piece on the chessboard. Ken was invested in me being successful after I got there. And he called me eight months into the job to check in and see how I was doing. It’s the best job I’ve ever had. Absolutely love it! Yeah – it’s great.”
— Stephen Ripley, BetterUp
“If there’s one person I could look back on, singly, who made the biggest difference in my career it was Ken Leiner. None had more effect on my career and my income than Ken Leiner did. It started in the 1990s. I wanted to leave a job and found him on the web. I was a manager at the time running a little business development group for a small company. Ken asked me to come to his office, to interview me, to learn about me, learn about my skills, and then find the right job for me. He also invited another of his recruiters, Stuart Neuwelt. And he found me a great job opportunity. He introduced me to a company called EMC. I had a great career there and really increased my net worth quite a bit… Ken develops great relationships and taught me how to grow great relationships… He’s easy to deal with. He’s a fun guy to talk to… So, when I wanted a new opportunity, Ken and Stuart me coached me, building on the tremendous successes I had at EMC, and then found me the next job at Computer Associates (now CA Technologies) as a Federal Alliances Director. In fact, whenever I needed an opportunity, Ken or his team were always the first I would call to further my career… I really felt like I had a personal and trusted relationship with Ken, Stuart and Gary, and others at KLA. I TRUSTED them to find great jobs that actually matched my skillset, as opposed to throwing me in front of prospective employers like a lot of other recruiters do where there’s really no relevance in my background that would show it would be a great career move. What I always liked about Ken, is that he doesn’t assume that all your skills are perfect. But, he knows how to help hone those skills, what to say and not to say in an interview and how to help brush up your resume so that it’s absolutely your best foot forward to get the attention of HR people or employers. All lifelong career tips. Working with Ken Leiner Associates is key for working with professionals that have your best interest in mind, and finding jobs that are suitable to your background to enhance and grow your career… I retired in 2022. After our very long business relationship, I picked up the phone to thank him for all he’s done for me. I owe my career and retirement to Ken and his team and will never forget them.”
— Charlie Rizzo, Retired, Federal Systems Integrator Sales Director
I think of Ken Leiner Associates as sharpshooters; folks that could find a needle in a haystack. In 2004 I hired Ken to place me. He gave me some really good options. I ended up being placed at EMC and spent 11 years there. I’ve since worked with the whole KLA team, and more recently with Gary. He placed me at JTEK, where I’ve now hired several of Gary’s candidates; sales folks and sales executives… primarily “A players;” very high-end sellers.Our #1 challenge as a company is hiring good sales talent… We’re a small business, and we compete in a big business space. Some of our competitors are multi-BILLION dollar companies. … Corporations and technology companies really go after the folks who have their own rolodex in Federal — or high relationships within big Fortune 500s. So, we’re kind of a small fish, yet very able to extrapolate and get good talent. … One of the pieces is that we’re a technology company that services both the government and commercial market. It’s kind of hard to hire both… and Gary and Ken have absolutely helped us on both sides of the fence.
I think good sales people are the hardest people to find. … At the end of the day, good companies will do anything to keep a good sales person. A decent sales rep you’ve invested in will cost you if they don’t sell anything. So, we try to vet them and qualify them as much as possible with Ken and Gary. They really help execute that qualification process. That’s why I think of KLA as a hired gun, with a sniper approach; they’re not shooting from the hip. They don’t send 500 resumes. It’s usually, ‘Hey Jody, here’s the person and here’s why I think you’ll like her or him. Would you take the interview?’
— Jody Ferguson, Vice President, JTEK Data Solutions