Emily Von Kohorn

Founding Partner

Prior to co-founding September Search Partners, Emily Von Kohorn and Jennifer Novack co-led the Real Assets Practice at a prior firm for 8 years, building the practice from 3 to 15 professionals and from a US real-estate focus to a global business across real estate, infrastructure, and energy. In addition, Emily was a member of the firm’s Executive Management Committee. She joined Jennifer from the real estate industry, having worked in development, asset management, and investor relations at Tishman Speyer, Fir Tree Partners, and her own advisory firm. Emily holds an MBA from Columbia Business School in Real Estate and Finance as well as an AB from Harvard University in History and Literature. She speaks quickly deteriorating French and Turkish and serves as a WIN Partner.

Emily’s LinkedIn

• What are three things you do (just about) every day?

  1. Exercise, probably more for mental health than physical

  2. Drink coffee. Lots of coffee.

  3. Tell my kids and my husband that I love them

• What are three things you wish you did every day?

  1. Spend more time writing things down, as I love how it crystallizes thinking

  2. Laugh so hard I cry

  3. Speak a foreign language

• Who do you go to for advice and why?

  Jen has been an amazing sounding board and advice-generation machine for the last 8 years. I appreciate not only her strong intuition but her extensive and well-organized lists of everything from specialist medical providers to vacation destinations.
  
  I also talk everything through with my husband, Nate, who acts as both keel and rudder.

• What is most important to you about where you work?

  This won’t be surprising, but the people and the culture are critical to me. I love working with folks who take the job seriously… but not themselves. And, I always want to be on a team, one that supports its individual members in moments of both success and failure. 

• What do you love about what you do?

  My favorite moments are when a client and candidate find common ground beyond the filling of a skills gap. There is nothing better than a quick phone call from one or the other describing a conversation that demonstrated that they share a vision of the future.

• What’s one book you often return to or recommend? Why?

  Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking. While not exactly an uplifting read, I find Didion’s understanding of humanity, relationships, and loss both inspiring and helpful in any challenging time. 

• Where is your happy place?

  Rockywold-Deephaven Camps on Squam Lake in New Hampshire. The smell of the pine needles, the sound of the lake lapping up against a wooden dock, and the family around me there is the best blood-pressure medication on the market.