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Why OceansThree?

We’ve been on both sides

We have over 166 years combined of recruiting and business leadership experience in education and education technology. We were senior managers in the business for years prior to starting our search business, so we can talk the talk because we have been there. Our candidates often give us the feedback that their experience with us has been “better than any firm they have worked with”, and they “forget that we don’t work at the company (that is hiring).” As executive recruiters in ed tech, we know what superstar talent looks like in this space, know how to attract that talent, and we have access to an unparalleled network in the industry with a database of over 19,000 to help you secure the best people.

We’re committed to talent retention

Because we have run business units, we know the cost of keeping and not keeping good talent. So, we have moved beyond a transactional search model, and the same partner works with you and the candidates through the search process, and beyond the hire date and on-boarding. And we offer professional development services to help you retain your larger team, thereby increasing your success and profitability.

We know education

We have a deep commitment and knowledge of the dynamic education industry, and know what it takes to be highly successful in this market. This allows us to attract talent from inside and outside the industry, but also to assess the right skills necessary to make a successful transition into this complex business. We’ve lead and scaled businesses for leading ed tech startups, large educational institutions, and for some of the largest content and technology companies in the world so we can bring strategic insight to our client partners regarding how institutions, educators and learners behave.

Finally, like you, we are passionate about the future of learning, and welcome the opportunity to help you make a lasting and significant impact on education.


“Working with OceansThree I was highly impressed with their professionalism and ability to find the perfect job for me. From the beginning, Pamela Lancaster took the time to understand my career goals. I appreciated her elevated level of communication and transparency, these qualities exceeded anything I have experienced before in executive search. I am grateful for her expertise, discipline, and fun nature, she is a top-notch executive recruiter. In my new position, I reached out to Pamela for a Learning and Development Director search. As a customer, I experienced Pamela’s quick response to get qualified candidates to the interview stage through her disciplined sourcing and screening and ability and intuition to find the right fit. We filled our position ahead of time with our first choice, qualified, top-caliber candidate. I highly recommend Pamela and OceansThree for any executive search.”
~ Simon Pollitt, Chief Human Resources Officer, Polk Mechanical Company

“As a recruiter, OceansThree takes the time to deeply understand the needs of her clients, resulting in an honest, balanced, and thoughtful process that benefits all. They are particularly adept at mapping skill sets and experiences between industries which results in a wider, more diverse, candidate pool. Don’t hesitate to talk to OceansThree about your recruiting needs, or if you need help navigating the journey to a new challenge.”
~ Yasminka Nemet, CMO at IXL Learning

“OceansThree was retained to hire a high profile VP of Marketing role at Herff Jones. They were incredibly professional managing all aspects of the search with great precision and organization. Their process is thorough and their counsel ensures that both the company and candidates are well-informed and there are no surprises. We had 3 strong final candidates and had a new VP within 12 weeks. I hope we are able to work together again on other key positions.”
~ Maggie Waples, SVP/General Manager, Herff Jones