Need: Assistance in state-wide search for professional association leader
Service: C-Suite Search
The statewide association of service providers to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities – Ohio Provider Resource Association (OPRA) – assembled a Board search committee to find a new Chief Executive Officer and turned to The Yunker Group for specialized help. Specifically, the committee of busy CEOs in their own organizations asked The Yunker Group to receive, acknowledge, and evaluate applications, perform due diligence on candidates fitting the qualifications, and providing a shortlist for the committee’s consideration.
“I felt the search went very well — it was virtually effortless on our part,” commented Trish Otter, Search Committee Chair. “The Yunker Group is very professional and very good at what they do. They tailored their services to our needs and did everything and more than they committed to. We never had to chase them down or remind them about anything. They made our jobs as easy as they could possibly be by being clear up front, doing exactly what they said they would and providing a quality product that we could work with.”
Trish was especially impressed by the thoroughness of The Yunker Group’s vetting process. As she explained, “When we received background materials on the nine top candidates, we found more than just resumes and credentials; there were also written answers to questions that The Yunker Group had developed and had the candidates complete. And when we looked at those questions, we were very happy and impressed by the questions asked. Their responses gave us an impression of people even before we met with them, and it enabled us to omit some of the questions we thought we had to ask – which saved us some time during the interviews.”
She continued, “All nine candidates they referred to us were excellent candidates. The committee recognized that at the end of the day of interviews. Everyone they sent to us met all the criteria; none of the candidates were a stretch in any way. I could tell that Jenny Weiglein and Jim paid attention to the details, and every one of the candidates they sent to us was worth interviewing.”
Jamie Steele, Board President, emphasized the importance of engaging The Yunker Group for this search, saying “I think it would have been very overwhelming if we’d tried to take this on in-house – to make sure that we could put the position out there in a professional way, weed people out who didn’t meet the criteria, to do all the phone calls and initial contacts. We just didn’t have the manpower for all that, so we had to find an organization that could help us do all that in an effective and efficient way.”
Trish added that The Yunker Group’s expertise was a plus: “One thing I really appreciate about The Yunker Group is that they specifically work with nonprofits and understand our field. Their niche in the market was certainly a benefit to OPRA and surely to the other nonprofits they serve as well.”
“Everything The Yunker Group does reflects on its leader, and Jim Yunker is just an outstanding guy,” commented Jamie. “He’s a good listener. When you tell him what you want and what you’re looking for, even if you don’t have the right words, he tends to figure it out, which is important. And then his staff … the follow-through was just stellar. They did what they said they would do, and they did it well. Period! I would highly recommend The Yunker Group. For many organizations, an executive-level search like this can be very overwhelming – but Jenny and Jim made it easy.”