Specialist Executive Search For Industries That Build.
Executive search and leadership advisory firm specialising in resources, infrastructure, diversified industrials and defence only. Every search is led by principals who know the operating environments, the talent pool, and what good looks like in the roles we fill.
Our Story
After more than 50 years in executive search, you get to be selective about what you build next.
John Downing founded The Downing Network in 2023 after a career that began in 1971 and took in some of the most recognised names in Australian executive search: Michael Downing Management Consultants and Downing Teal, which grew internationally. The plan was straightforward. Build a firm around the things that actually produce good search outcomes: deep industry knowledge, genuine relationships, and senior people doing the work themselves.
So, John did what he’s always done. He picked up the phone and the Downing Teal alumni started coming back. Michael Freis, who had spent years at Downing Teal before building a 25-year career in construction and engineering recruitment, joined in 2023. Ivan Vujicic, who started his career at Downing Teal in 2008 before going on to CTPartners and Korn Ferry, joined in 2026 to lead the firm's next chapter. Three people who worked together at different times, in different roles, choosing to do it again.
That is not a coincidence. It is what happens when people share the same belief about how this work should be done. You can meet them properly on Who We Are.
You won't spend the first meeting explaining your industry to us.
Resources, infrastructure, manufacturing and defence are not industries you can fake familiarity with. The commercial pressures, the technical requirements, the cultures, the backgrounds that tend to produce strong leaders. We understand them because we've been living in them for decades.
That depth extends well beyond operational and technical roles. CEOs, CFOs, General Counsels, HR Directors, Commercial Managers, Project Directors and other senior functional leaders all sit within our capability. The network is industry-wide, not discipline-specific.
It's also why we can move quickly. Our standard commitment is an assessed shortlist within six weeks, and if a market is too thin to support that, we'll tell you before we start, not at week five.
We operate nationally across Australia, throughout Asia Pacific, and in Latin America through our affiliate Downing Teal offices. The Downing Network is lean by design. The model only works when the people doing the search are the same people who took the brief, know the sector, and will still be paying attention a year from now.
We don't study these industries. We come from them. What that looks like in practice, the searches we run, the advisory work behind them, and how a mandate actually unfolds, is set out in What We Do.
