Vanderbloemen Search Group Announces Expansion Plans
October 25, 2019 – Vanderbloemen Search Group, which finds leaders for churches and ministries, is expanding to four new markets beyond the firm’s Houston headquarters in 2020: Chicago, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Orange County, CA.
“Today, we are continuing to expand by building out our team in key markets where the majority of our clients are around the country,” said CEO and founder William Vanderbloemen. “This means that we will spend less time in the air and more time in-person with you, our clients and candidates. Our central team of nearly 40 team members will remain in Houston while we add new regional executive search consultants to help serve our clients in the Southeast, Midwest, Mountain and Pacific regions.”
Executive search consultant Dan Knuff will head the Phoenix office. Additional consultants will be hired for Chicago, Atlanta, and Orange County in the coming months.
Mr. Knuff brings 23 years of pastoral ministry experience to Vanderbloemen. He has served in churches in Florida, Michigan, Arizona and Pennsylvania ranging in size from 1,500 to 4,000. His most recent tenure was as the executive pastor of Arizona Community Church in Tempe, AZ. He holds a master’s degree in counseling from Anderson Theological Seminary and is currently pursuing a doctorate of theology.
In-Person Time
The new client hubs are expected to allow consultants to spend more in-person time with clients. “You’ll have quicker access to our team, which will make us even more ridiculously responsive to your needs,” said Mr. Vanderbloemen, in a blog post directed at customers. “You’ll be able to join our free regional roundtable events in our key hubs of Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, Chicago and Orange County in 2019-2020. You’ll be able to join our regionalized Pastor Coaching Networks in 2019-2020 to help you grow as a leader. And you can invite our regional team members to speak at your staff meetings to provide training and insight on hiring and succession planning.”
When Vanderbloemen Search was founded in 2009, Mr. Vanderbloemen required that all Vanderbloemen team members be located in Houston, to take advantage of the city’s major airport hub, a day trip to either coast. “Having all of our team members in Houston has been a crucial component of our firm’s growth,” he said. “Executive search was a fairly new idea to churches in 2010, and bringing the best practices of corporate search to the nuances of ministry was an unprecedented feat. Being in Houston allowed us to create scalable systems, prove a search process, and build an award-winning culture that is now infused into everything we do as a company.”
Vanderbloemen Search Group is a pastor-focused search firm that helps churches and faith-based organizations find mission-driven leaders. It has completed hundreds of searches serving churches and ministries from 70 to 70,000 in size, including nearly 100 denominations and tribes. The firm was founded in 2010 by Mr. Vanderbloemen, who has combined over 15 years of ministry experience as a senior pastor with the best practices of executive search to provide churches with a unique, and some would say, inspirational offering.
Recently, Vanderbloemen Search Group formed a partnership with the 4Sight Group, a consulting group focused on developing healthy leaders and thriving organizations through coaching, consulting and culture workshops.
Sacred Work
Jenni Catron is the founder of 4Sight Group, a consulting group focused on developing healthy leaders and thriving organizations through coaching, consulting, and culture workshops. Ms. Catron is an expert on organizational culture and will help connect Vanderbloemen clients in the process of building cultures.
“The 4Sight Group and Vanderbloemen believe that leadership is sacred work,” said Mr. Vanderbloemen. “Leaders have the remarkable privilege of leading teams of individuals to accomplish great outcomes. Yet nothing about this task is easy. Leadership is challenging, complex, frustrating and still enormously rewarding. In today’s leadership environment the pace of change and growth is dizzying and the expectation to keep pace with it all can be debilitating.”
“That’s where our strategic partnership with Jenni comes in,” he said. “As a leader with endless potential, you’ve been entrusted with the responsibility of leadership for this season. The 4Sight Group, through a 12-month engagement diving deep into the heart, mind, strength, and soul of your organization, commits to helping you thrive as you work through these building blocks of leadership.”
“Vanderbloemen is thrilled to partner with Jenni Catron as a strategic business partner,” Mr. Vanderbloemen said. “When you partner with Vanderbloemen, you get access to our network, which extends beyond our in-house team to our strategic partners who are experts in their field serving Christian organizations. Together, we help our clients win in building the best team possible.”
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media