NorthWind Partners Recruits CHRO for Akima
December 7, 2021 – Reston, VA-headquartered executive search firm NorthWind Partners has assisted in the placement of Candy Curtin as the new chief human resources officer of Akima. Partner Hunter Murray led the assignment.
“Candy is a skilled employee relations leader, with a strong foundation in managing HR programs for large and diverse employee populations,” said Bill Monet, president and CEO of Akima. “We are pleased that she is joining our leadership team as we develop transformational programs to support a consistent and rewarding employee experience across our portfolio of companies.”
Prior to joining Akima, Ms. Curtin served as the senior human resources executive for Serco North America and IDEMIA. Her responsibilities included redesigning benefits and change management programs, recruitment, and corporate culture initiatives.
In her new role with Akima, Ms. Curtin will lead all aspects of the company’s human resources function, to include the employment and talent development programs to support customer resource needs. She will report directly to Mr. Monet.
“Akima is a strong company with the organizational agility to provide talent for a wide range of customers in the federal market,” said Ms. Curtin. “I am thrilled to be joining the company at a time of significant growth and as Akima addresses historic shifts in the market. This is an excellent opportunity to make a difference for our employees, our customers, and our shareholders.”
Akima is a global enterprise with more than 7,500 employees, delivering solutions to the federal government in the core areas of aviation, construction, facilities, and logistics, IT and mission support, protective services and detention management, and systems engineering. As a subsidiary of NANA, an Alaska Native corporation owned by more than 14,000 Iñupiat shareholders, Akima’s stated mission is to enable superior outcomes for its customers’ missions while simultaneously creating a long-lived asset for NANA consistent with Iñupiat values.
Akima also recently worked with NorthWind Partners to recruit Jean-Francois Blanc as its new chief growth officer. Mr. Murray also led that search. “Jean-Francois is a hands-on leader with experience winning large contracts in both the Department of Defense and civilian agencies,” said Mr. Monet. “We are pleased to add him to our leadership team, and we expect his knowledge of the market and his past success winning strategic contracts will serve him well in this growth-focused role.” Mr. Blanc previously served a 17-year tenure with IBM, holding a variety of leadership positions, increasing in responsibility. Most recently, Mr. Blanc served as sales leader of IBM’s U.S. federal division.
Veteran Search Consultants
NorthWind Partners is a global, strategic executive search advisory firm. The prime concentration of its work is with business and professional services, systems, solutions, and product companies spanning the aviation, aerospace and defense, healthcare, industrial and technology sectors. The firm also has deep experience and relationships in the government contracting arena. NorthWind Partners’ success rate on engaged assignments is about 96 percent with 99 percent of executives placed maintaining a minimum tenure of one year.
NorthWind Partners Recruits Chief Growth Officer for NT Concepts
NorthWind Partners has recruited Brandon Ginsburg as senior vice president and chief growth officer at NT Concepts, a leading national security solutions provider. Brian Thomas, partner and practice leader for industrials/aerospace and defense, government services, led the search.
Over the past two decades, Mr. Murray has had deep interest in all facets of technology. He has broad experience in both commercial and public sectors and is often called upon by clients and industry associations to bridge the gap between these two markets. Mr. Murray has completed searches at the board, C-suite and all tiers of vice presidents for SaaS, data analytics, cloud and cybersecurity companies.
Related: NorthWind Partners Recruits CFO for Cognosante
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
