Charles Festa leads Palm Tree’s firmwide talent acquisition strategy.

Since joining Palm Tree in 2019, Mr. Festa has helped to build and scale the firm’s internal recruiting function from scratch to support sustained growth across its advisory and investment banking practices. He partners closely with senior leadership and practice leaders on workforce planning and hiring strategy, overseeing and executing recruitment efforts spanning entry-level through senior leadership roles. Mr. Festa has led the interview and selection process for well over 100 high-caliber hires across accounting advisory, transaction services, the Office of the CFO, operations/performance improvement, investment banking, and private-equity-backed environments.

Prior to Palm Tree, Mr. Festa was a full-desk executive search recruiter at Kforce, where he specialized in placing experienced and senior-level finance and accounting professionals in the public accounting, consulting, and private equity markets throughout New England. Earlier, he began his recruiting career at Brooks Marine Group, a niche executive search firm in Newport, Rhode Island, where he developed the foundational discipline and rigor of professional headhunting.

Mr. Festa began his professional career as a licensed mariner, spending more than a decade aboard private and commercial vessels worldwide. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Rhode Island and maintains an active U.S. Coast Guard Captain’s license.

Outside of work, Charles enjoys time with his wife, Lauren, and daughter, Leila, and remains passionate about surfing and sailing.