Astrid von Baillou joined Richard Kinser in 1994 to help build the firm and to foster the principles on which it was founded, such as integrating rigorous consulting with executive search. Previously, Ms. von Baillou had been a consultant to the firm while president of Baillou International. She has conducted executive search assignments for management and board member positions in industries including information technology, management consulting, telecommunications, public relations, insurance and manufacturing.

Ms. von Baillou has held senior positions and led companies in public relations, television broadcasting and advertising. She was president of Cullen & Casey in New York, where she directed the corporate communications programs for clients such as Chase Manhattan Bank, in the wake of deregulation, and Swissair, as it established new gateways in the U.S. Following the sale of the company, she joined Ruder Finn as Senior Vice President and then established Baillou International, creating advertising/public relations programs for clients, such as the Federal Republic of Germany, as it competed to attract investments to its states, particularly in technology.

Ms. von Baillou began her career in advertising as an award-winning copywriter and then creative director. She went on to a ten-year television career as a producer and on-air correspondent for the Public Broadcasting System, the British Broadcasting Corporation and London Weekend Television. She wrote for Bill Moyers, interviewed world leaders at the UN and in Washington, D.C. and covered international affairs and U.S. politics. She produced the first television program series on mental health and helped institute the first national outreach programs on Public Broadcasting. She reported on subjects such as Yellow Rain in Cambodia and the forming of Namibia for London Weekend Television, and on subjects such as corporate takeovers and U.S. elections for the BBC.

Ms. von Baillou graduated with distinction in English from Sweet Briar College in Virginia and continued in graduate studies in foreign affairs at New York University. Currently, she serves on the board of The Leadership Program, a company that delivers youth development programs to over 200 schools in New York City. Ms. von Baillou is a member of the Women's Foreign Policy Group, Women in Communications, and is listed in Who's Who in America.