Vanessa Bailey is a veteran of executive recruitment for private equity, with fifteen years of experience in the industry. In 1999 Vanessa formed Cressida Partners, a New York-based executive search firm focused on private equity recruiting.

Before founding Cressida Partners, Vanessa was at Russell Reynolds Associates, one of the world's leading global search firms. Following assignments in Tokyo, New York and London, Vanessa joined the Highland Search Group, a spin-off of that firm.

Through her career, Vanessa has represented a broad array of buyout and venture funds, as well as family offices, seeking top-tier talent from senior associates to partner-level professionals. Beyond recruitment, Vanessa provides a number of ancillary services of consulting services to the private equity industry such as compensation surveys and organizational design.

In addition, she gives seminars on careers in private equity/venture capital to undergraduate and graduate students and is a frequent speaker at conferences focused on the topic of direct investment.

Vanessa graduated from Oriel College, Oxford University with an M.A. (Honors) in Modern Languages. She is a British national.