Executive search, contingency recruitment & leadership advisory consulting
Edmonton & Calgary, Alberta
Commercial real estate is our sweet spot. Uncovering exceptional talent is our specialty.
The right talentchangeseverything.
Executive search, contingency recruitment and leadership advisory in Edmonton, Alberta
AVID EXEC Ltd. is an executive search, contingency recruitment and leadership advisory firm in Edmonton, Alberta, led by Principal Cindy Nicholls Smith. Commercial and multi-family real estate is our deepest specialization. We place candidates at every level, from executives to specialists, across strategic operations and leadership, finance and accounting, leasing, asset management, property management, brokerage, land and project management and specialized administration. We also recruit in engineering, construction, corporate services and the not-for-profit sector.
The right talent can change a company.
The right fit can change lives.
Commercial Real Estate is our sweet spot.Uncovering exceptional talent is our specialty.
- 01
Director, Property Management
Posted 28 July 2026
EdmontonCommercial real estate - 02
Senior Director, Property Management & Broker of Record
Posted 4 August 2026
EdmontonCommercial real estate - 03
Commercial Property Accountant
Posted 11 August 2026
EdmontonFinance & accounting - 04
Associate, Commercial Brokerage
Posted 18 August 2026
Edmonton & CalgaryCommercial real estate
Commercial & Multi-Family Real Estate
Recruiting at every level and in every sector of commercial and multi-family real estate.
Practice 02Not-for-Profit & Association Search
Executive directors, CEOs and senior leadership for boards, associations and member organizations.
Practice 03Executive Search
For leadership and highly specialized roles, encompassing C & V level executive to highly talented Senior Project Managers.
Practice 04Contingency Recruitment
Professional level roles that allow companies more flexibility.
Practice 05Leadership Advisory Consulting
Talent Strategy, Hiring Process, Organization Effectiveness, Terminations and Exits — the conversations boards and executive teams find hardest.
We tell you what we see, even when it isn't what you expected to hear. If the brief is wrong, we say so before the shortlist, not after.
Work Joy
What is Work Joy?
Work Joy is the term AVID EXEC uses for the point where what a person is good at, what matters to them and what an organization genuinely needs come together. It is the standard we assess against: a placement is successful only when the person is doing work they are suited to, in an organization that suits them.
So we assess self-awareness, motivation, capacity and alignment as closely as the résumé. When those things line up, people perform, contribute and stay, and the organization gets stronger. A hire that looks right on paper and is wrong in the role costs far more than the search did.
Why Cindy built AVID EXEC around Work Joy →A hiring committee decides how it feels about you in about ninety seconds.
Most strong candidates are lost on the page, not in the room. Scope described but never sized. Accomplishments listed but never quantified. Judgment and emotional intelligence left entirely to the reader's imagination.
Your document has one job: make the person on the other side want the meeting. Your value proposition, what you are hired to do and what changes when you do it, belongs at the top. We tell candidates exactly what to sharpen before we put them forward.
What should a privately held company do before its founder steps back?
Read →Commercial real estate talent5 August 2026What does a director of property management do that a property manager does not?
Read →Compensation and retention22 July 2026What does senior property management leadership pay in Alberta?
Read →
In her own words"I have never been able to treat this as a transaction. The decisions I help people make change families."
Since 2009, placing leaders across Commercial Real Estate, development, engineering and the boardrooms that hold them together. I built this firm on a simple belief: the work is personal, the judgment has to be excellent, and the candidate deserves the same care as the client.
Let's talk.