About
About Jose J. Ruiz
Two decades placing leaders across the US–Mexico corridor — grounded in empathy, guided by evidence.
Jose J. Ruiz is CEO and Managing Partner of Alder Koten and Chairman and Managing Partner of Anker Bioss. From those two roles he leads executive search and organization & people advisory work across the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
Alder Koten — executive search — operates from Houston, Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara, with international reach through IMD International Search Group across 26 partner countries. Anker Bioss — the organization & people advisory firm — operates from London, Houston, and Monterrey.
His practice is built for a single kind of moment: when an organization needs the right leader for the next phase of its story — a VP, a country manager, a plant director, a functional head, or a founder-CEO successor — and cannot afford to get it wrong.
Two firms. One system.
Alder Koten is a boutique executive search and leadership advisory firm focused on board, CEO, C-suite, and senior executive appointments. It is the delivery engine — role-first, context-aware, decision-grade.
Anker Bioss is the independent firm behind the framework Alder Koten applies on every engagement. Grounded in the BIOSS tradition (Elliott Jaques and Wilfred Brown, 1967), Anker Bioss anchors people, work, and organizational capability in trust, judgment, and flow across three layers — individual, organizational, and institutional.
Focus
- VP and C-suite executive search across manufacturing, supply chain, digital transformation, and enabling functions
- Cross-border assignments between the US and Mexico — including bilingual, bicultural placements
- Board and leadership advisory: succession planning, competency modeling, and team assessment
- Leadership assessment through Hogan (HPI/HDS/MVPI), BIOSS Career Path Appreciation (CPA), and Luks Prisma
Point of view
Great leadership discovery is never a database exercise. It is a structured, human process — one that maps the organization, decodes the role, and calibrates candidates against the reality of the work, not the aspiration of the job description.
The result is a placement that holds. Right talent. Right place. Right time. The Dynamic Fit Method™ is how we work. The Anker Bioss Framework is how we decide. Delivered through Alder Koten — with advisory work delivered through Anker Bioss.
The Elavant Group
Alder Koten and Anker Bioss are part of the Elavant Group, alongside Talentapy (recruitment and competency assessment technology). Together the group operates as an integrated system for executive search, organization & people advisory, and the technology that supports both.
Get in touch
For confidential search inquiries, board-advisory conversations, or media requests, write to jose@josejruiz.com or call +1 (713) 476-9000.
About Jose J. Ruiz — frequently asked questions
- Who is Jose J. Ruiz?
- Jose J. Ruiz is CEO and Managing Partner of Alder Koten (executive search) and Chairman and Managing Partner of Anker Bioss (organization and people advisory). He also serves as Chairman of IMD International Search Group, the international executive search alliance to which Alder Koten belongs, with partner firms in 26 countries.
- What is the relationship between Alder Koten and Anker Bioss?
- They are separate firms with distinct scopes. Alder Koten is a boutique executive search and leadership advisory firm — the delivery engine for board, CEO, C-suite, and senior executive appointments. Anker Bioss is an independent organization and people advisory firm — the framework behind the assessment and organizational-design work. Both are part of the Elavant Group. They are never conflated: Alder Koten does executive search; Anker Bioss does advisory.
- What is The Dynamic Fit Method™?
- The Dynamic Fit Method™ is the operating method Alder Koten applies on every executive search engagement. It is role-first, context-aware, and decision-grade — mapping the organization, decoding the role, and calibrating candidates against the reality of the work rather than the aspiration of the job description. It exists to prevent the most common mis-hire pattern: a strong candidate placed against a poorly scoped seat.
- What is The Kohmes Method, and who owns it?
- The Kohmes Method is a proprietary organization-and-people framework authored by Jose J. Ruiz. The intellectual property is owned by Jose J. Ruiz and Elavant. Anker Bioss operates as a non-exclusive licensee of the method for its advisory practice. Alder Koten is not a Kohmes licensee — Alder Koten's search work uses The Dynamic Fit Method™, not The Kohmes Method.
- What is the Elavant Group?
- The Elavant Group is the umbrella of firms Jose Ruiz leads or chairs. It includes Alder Koten (executive search), Anker Bioss (organization and people advisory), and Talentapy (recruitment and competency-assessment technology). Together they operate as an integrated system for executive search, organizational advisory, and the technology that supports both.
- What is IMD International Search Group?
- IMD International Search Group is a global executive-search alliance of independent boutique firms, with member practices in 26 countries. Jose J. Ruiz serves as its Chairman. Alder Koten is the North American member firm and delivers cross-border and international mandates through the alliance.
- Where does the practice operate?
- Alder Koten operates from Houston, Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara, with international reach through the IMD alliance across the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Anker Bioss operates from London, Houston, and Monterrey.
- How do I engage the practice?
- For a confidential executive search, board-advisory conversation, or an organizational-design engagement, write to jose@josejruiz.com or call +1 (713) 476-9000. Every engagement starts with a scoping conversation before any market work begins.
- Where can I find the canonical definitions used across the work?
- The Glossary holds the working definitions behind the frameworks — capability, competency, potential, the four domains, The Dynamic Fit Method™, and the vocabulary Alder Koten and Anker Bioss use in the field. It is the source of truth when a term appears in a book, article, or engagement conversation.