The right talentchangeseverything.
Executive search and leadership advisory in Edmonton, Alberta
AVID EXEC is an executive search and leadership advisory firm in Edmonton, Alberta, led by principal Cindy Nicholls Smith. Commercial real estate is its deepest specialization. AVID EXEC places senior leaders across property management, brokerage, development, construction, engineering, finance and not-for-profit.
The right person can change the energy of a room, the trajectory of a team and the future of an organization.
People change companies.
Commercial Real Estate is our sweet spot.Exceptional leadership is our business.
- 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
Property management, brokerage, development, construction and real estate finance leadership.
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.
Practice 04Contingency recruitment
Professional level roles that allow companies more flexibility.
Practice 05Advisory
Structure, terminations and exits, and the conversations boards and executive teams find hardest.
Work Joy
Work Joy is the term AVID EXEC uses for the state where a leader's capability, motivation and organizational alignment meet. It is the standard we assess against: a placement is only successful when the person is doing work they are genuinely suited to, in a company that suits them.
It is why we assess for self awareness, motivation, capacity and alignment rather than only for a résumé that matches a posting. A hire that looks right on paper and is wrong in the role costs an organization far more than the search did.
Why Cindy built AVID EXEC around Work Joy →A hiring committee will decide how they feel about you in under two minutes.
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. 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."
Two decades 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.