Focus Search Partners Acquires Brad Martin & Associates

October 6, 2022 – Executive search firm Focus Search Partners, a Vaco company, has acquired Brad Martin & Associates (BMA), a Minneapolis, MN-based boutique executive search firm. Firm principals Brad and Andy Olson will continue to operate from their offices in Minnesota as managing partners for Focus Search Partners.

Deeply rooted in industrial, manufacturing, and distribution clients, BMA has had a long history of executing retained leadership searches cross-functionally. “We saw an opportunity to broaden our reach, smartly scale our practice, and be an additive part of a company and culture whose values align with ours,” said Brad Olson, founder and principal of BMA. “This partnership will do all of that while allowing Andy and I to focus on what we do best — delivering a high-touch, high-service experience to our clients.”

This is the seventh acquisition by Brentwood, TN-headquartered Focus Search Partners since being acquired itself by Vaco in 2014.

“Brad Martin & Associates’ long-time clients are well regarded and highly visible in the market,” said Paul Frankenberg, founder and managing partner at Focus Search Partners. “This is a natural fit for both firms, and together we can achieve even greater growth for ourselves and the clients we serve.”

A Previous Acquisition

Last fall, Focus Search Partners acquired Dallas-based Southerland Group, complementing its existing expertise across the healthcare industry. Southerland Group is a nationally recognized retained executive search firm with specialization in complex integrated delivery systems, hospitals, academic medical centers, children’s hospitals and payer organizations.

Under the agreement, Southerland Group’s founder Keith Southerland and his team joined Focus Search Partners’ leadership team. Mr. Southerland brings more than three decades of experience leading executive search for healthcare provider organizations to the firm and has conducted more than 1,100 searches for non-profit multi-hospital health systems, professional associations, pediatric health systems, public hospitals, academic medical centers and managed care organizations.

“Throughout my career, I have endeavored to bring the highest level of quality, integrity and customer service to our clients,” Mr. Southerland said. “Joining the Focus Search Partners team allows us to continue delivering unparalleled service to our clients, supported by the broad range of talent solutions and resources available through access to Vaco and its entire family of brands.”

“Through the acquisition, the firm will boast more than 40 tenured consultants,” he said. The firm also has an interim executive services platform that specializes in serving the private equity market and supports organizations needing high-caliber C-suite leaders at pivotal moments.

Deep Experience

Mr. Frankenberg said Mr. Southerland brings a wealth of experience and an exceptional healthcare legacy to the Focus Search Partners team. “He fits perfectly into our team’s culture, and his clients and candidates speak highly of their experience with Keith and his firm,” said Mr. Frankenberg. “Through this acquisition, we can deliver even more robust service offerings to our clients.”

Related: Vaco Acquired by Private Equity Firm

Prior to founding Southerland Group, Mr. Southerland focused on CEO and C-suite searches for healthcare systems nationwide at Korn Ferry International. He entered the executive search field as a consultant for WittKieffer, helping to establish the firm’s first regional office. During his tenure, he helped expand the firm’s practice across the Southeast, and became executive vice president of consulting for the firm’s search practices, including provider systems, information technology, higher education, and managed care/insurance.

Focus Search Partners was acquired by Vaco to become the retained executive search division of the global talent solutions firm. With 35-plus team members and 13 partners across nine states, Focus Search Partners specializes in building teams to grow companies, focusing on recruiting board members, executives, and senior-level individuals.

Founded in 2002 by Jerry Bostelman, Jay Hollomon, and Brian Waller, Brentwood, TN-based Vaco provides boutique-level service with global reach in executive search, consulting, permanent placement and strategic staffing. Its areas of expertise include accounting, finance, technology, healthcare IT, operations, administration, and managed services. The firm operates more than 35 offices, with 780-plus employees and 4,300 consultants worldwide.

Data Privacy Solutions

Also last year, Vaco and Nymion, a Montréal-based data privacy firm, launched a strategic partnership to offer premium data privacy solutions to clients, enabling adherence to stringent consumer protection legislation in Montréal and across Québec.

The partnership offers a variety of solutions for data privacy and data security for stronger consumer protection under Québec’s Bill 64, which requires the public and private sectors to modernize personal information and privacy rights – and aligns the province with other Canadian data privacy laws – giving citizens full control of their personal information. Organizations violating this new policy could face fines of up to $25 million.

Related: H.I.G. Capital Acquires Oxford Global Resources 

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media