Steven Ziegler
Founder & Managing Partner

Steve Ziegler is the Founder and Managing Partner of Z3Talent, a nationally recognized retained executive search firm that helps growth-oriented companies identify and recruit transformational leaders. Over the past 25+ years, Steve has partnered with entrepreneurs, family-owned businesses, private equity-backed organizations, nonprofits, and middle-market companies to build leadership teams capable of navigating growth, succession, operational scale, and strategic change.

Throughout his career, Steve has completed more than 1,000 executive and professional placements across a broad range of industries and functions. His expertise spans executive search, leadership assessment, succession planning, and organizational growth, with a particular focus on companies at critical inflection points—whether scaling rapidly, preparing for acquisition, professionalizing operations, or rebuilding leadership teams.

Under Steve’s leadership, Z3Talent has become one of Colorado’s most respected executive search firms, recognized 5 times by ColoradoBiz as a Top Recruiting Firm and named among the nation’s leading executive search firms by Hunt Scanlon. The firm’s retained search model combines rigorous executive recruiting, behavioral assessment, market intelligence, and structured hiring methodologies to help clients make better leadership decisions with greater confidence.

Prior to founding Z3Talent, Steve built and led two national executive search and recruitment process outsourcing firms and held leadership roles with a global Top 5 executive search organization. His entrepreneurial background gives him a unique understanding of the challenges founders, owners, and investors face when building leadership teams.

Beyond his professional work, Steve has been deeply involved in the Colorado business and nonprofit communities for more than two decades. He is an active member of the Entrepreneurial Organization (EO) and serves as a Strategic Resource Partner to YPO Colorado and YPO Pikes Peak. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Clayton Early Learning and has previously served on numerous nonprofit and mission-driven boards including St. Joseph’s Hospital, Impact Empowerment Group YouthBiz, and Paddington Station.

Steve is a graduate of the Entrepreneurial Master’s Program (EMP) at MIT, Leadership Denver, and Impact Denver. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Steve lives in Columbine Valley, Colorado, with his wife, Dr. Sheryl Ziegler, and their three children.

Personal Why: To invite people in with trust and build collaborative teams that win together.