About Ponneh Aliabadi Varho

Ponneh is a member of Spencer Stuart's Education and Social Impact and leads the Higher Education practice. She also led the Washington D.C. office. Spencer Stuart is a global leadership advisory and executive search firm. Prior to Spencer Stuart, she spent nearly 15 years at Isaacson, Miller, an executive search firm focused on recruiting leaders to mission-driven organizations. At Isaacson, Miller she was a member of the Executive Committee, the head of the Washington, D.C. Office, amongst other leadership roles and focused on recruiting higher education leaders, with a focus on college and university presidents.

She began her career as an attorney, and brings conscientious attention and intellectual rigor to every project, but it’s her ability to build deep and trusting relationships with candidates and clients that has created the devoted network she draws upon when placing talent. She works with higher education and adjacent organizations to advise boards around hiring, ensuring alignment around those hires and building support for incoming presidents, deans, provosts and other top leaders in her arena — which includes academic medicine and foundation work in addition to some of the most esteemed educational institutions in the country.

Ponneh was born in Iran. Her family fled the Iranian revolution when Ponneh was two and settled in the US. Ponneh graduated from University of Virginia Law School in May 2001, where she served as a Class Agent and recipient of the Emerson Award in her first year. In 2007 she completed her master's degree in higher education at Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. As an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, Ponneh was Vice President of the Persian Cultural Society, a 1998 Class Trustee, active in the University Honor Council, a member of the University Guide Service.

After taking the Virginia Bar, Ponneh began working at Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman in Washington, DC. She has worked on several pro bono cases involving refugees seeking asylum and a case involving Southern, black farmers who were discriminated against by the government. She is an active member of the IABA (Iranian American Bar Association) and was an associate at Collier Shannon Scott, a Washington, DC law firm, practicing advertising/privacy and trademark law.