Jake Englund – Director of Merchandising @ Wild Mikes Ultimate Pizza (S.A. Piazza & Associates)

Paul Freed on October 31, 2024

Our Herd Freed Hartz executive search team was honored to partner with S.A. Piazza & Associates (“Wild Mikes Ultimate Pizza”) on a nationwide retained search to find their new Director of Merchandising.

 S. A. Piazza & Associates, one of the fastest growing frozen food manufacturers in the US located in Clackamas, Oregon. The company has been growing at a 30% annual rate and are investing in building a new state of the art 360K square foot production facility in Redmond, Oregon scaling up capacity and new capabilities to 10x current production.

The family that founded the company in 1967 is on a five-year plan to take the company public in which all their employees have stock options and will get to participate in this event. This new facility will support their financial goal of being a Billion-dollar company. 

Their Wild Mike’s Ultimate Pizza brand is distributed in all 50 states through a network of 67 retail chains. They also have a K-12 food service division, that has 15% of the school market, feeding approximately 50 million school children annually in 48 states. 

Kevin Hartz, Managing Partner shared “We loved working with Wild Mike’s as they scale their team. Collaborating with you was a delightful experience!“

Learn more about Herd Freed Hartz’s track record:
Consumer/Retail industry
Manufacturing industry
Marketing executive leadership roles

Josh Billings – VP Sales & Marketing @ Alldrafts

Paul Freed on October 30, 2024

Our Herd Freed Hartz executive search team was honored to partner with Alldrafts on a nationwide retained search to find their new VP Sales & Marketing.

AllDrafts, founded by seasoned entrepreneur Bob Pritchett, is an innovative player in the legal tech space. Our flagship product, AllDrafts, is a cutting-edge cloud-based editor tailored for contract drafting. Leveraging advanced features like automatic formatting, an extensive clause library, smart redaction, and intuitive templates, AllDrafts simplifies contract creation. Our integrated AI capabilities further enhance productivity by drafting outlines or clauses and streamlining complex paragraphs. Additionally, our platform generates clean Word and PDF files from any draft, making legal document management more efficient than ever. 

Learn more about Herd Freed Hartz’s track record:
Technology industry
VP Sales leadership roles

Ashley Wilson – AVP, Data Architect @ Physicians Insurance

Paul Freed on October 30, 2024

Our Herd Freed Hartz executive search team was honored to partner with Physicians Insurance on a nationwide retained search to find their new AVP, Data Architect.

Physicians Insurance Overview 

We stake our reputation on protecting our Members. Physicians Insurance was founded in 1981 on the idea of protecting, defending, and supporting our Members—all backed by excellent, personalized service. There are other malpractice carriers, but we raise the bar. Being a mutual company ensures that everyone involved shares a common mission to put the interests of our Members first. It’s this single‑minded mission that sets us apart, and that drives our culture of superlative service in support of the full range of medical malpractice coverages, stop‑loss solutions, and other insurance products that we provide. 

It’s one thing to offer insurance, and quite another to see it through. In every communication, every expert opinion, every risk assessment or claim, all our Members experience the impact of our mission. With over 8,500 Members and growing, this experience is in evidence all over the nation. 

Physician’s Insurance has an office in the heart of downtown Seattle and approximately 90 employees, cultivating a caring, learning culture that values employee experience and a work/life balance. 

Learn more about Herd Freed Hartz’s track record:
Healthcare industry
Financial Services industry
Engineering leadership roles

Jason Mendenhall – CEO @ CTL

Paul Freed on October 17, 2024

Our Herd Freed Hartz executive search team was honored to partner with CTL, a portfolio company of Columbia River Partners, on a nationwide retained search to find their new CEO in Portland, OR.

CTL is a leading Chromebook distributor offering customized support and technical partnership to meet the needs of K‑12 Education and Enterprise verticals. Since their founding in 1989, CTL has grown to $50M+ in annual revenues and gained a reputation for delivering excellence and key strategic partnerships from Google, Intel, Qualcomm and Verizon for their hardware, software and services solutions. They recently were recognized as a B‑Corporation showing their commitment to social responsibility and giving back.Customers prefer partnering with CTL with their 1:1 customized advice/support, volume order discounts, device rental programs, free shipping, self‑service repair, demo devices, OEM quality repairs and buy back/eco recycling programs.

They sell into two key vertical markets:
K‑12 Education – With 1,000+ K‑12 school district clients nationally and a strong track record ofsuccess, the integration of Chromebooks into regular school workflow is here to stay. In 2024, 12 millionChromebooks were deployed in schools and overall growth continues. Key customers range fromPortland Public Schools, Nevada Ready 21, Maine Learning Technology Initiative, and Digital Promise(Verizon Innovative Learning Schools).

Enterprise/Business – Whether conference room systems, customer support center, digital signage or kiosks – CTL has partnered with businesses to find creative and cost‑effective Chromebooksolutions. Clients include Netflix, Airbnb, Airbus, Coinbase, Twitter/X, Spotify and Yelp.

CTL headquarters is in Beaverton, OR, with their 26K sq ft facility and they were named Fastest Growing Private 100 Companies (2022) by Portland Business Journal. Their success track record and market potential attracted the private equity investment in 2021 by Columbia River Partners to help build on this foundation and get to the next level of growth.

“CTL is growing rapidly, and the expansion of our leadership team will accelerate our scaling efforts,” said Pooneet Goel, Board Member and Partner of Columbia River Partners. ”We’ve assembled a strong team of seasoned leaders, with proven track records in education technology, that will continue CTL’s upward trajectory.”

“This is a pivotal and exciting moment for CTL,” said Stromquist,  co-founder of CTL. “We’re coming off a year of growth with expansion into new markets, the introduction of new products, and our B Corp certification – all of which have positioned CTL for a bright future. With this transition, I’ll now devote time to developing new business strategies and partnerships that will drive our growth. I’m pleased to support Jason in his new role and am looking forward to our next chapter.”  Read full CTL Press Release

Learn more about Herd Freed Hartz’s track record of success:
Technology practice
CEO / President practice
Private Equity practice

Stephen Krauss – President, N. America @ Ooni

Paul Freed on October 17, 2024

Our Herd Freed Hartz executive search team was honored to partner with Ooni, on a nationwide retained search to find their new President, N. America in Austin, TX.

Ooni launched the home pizza cooking revolution more than ten years ago and, today, Ooni is recognized as the global brand leader.

This startup success story began with a spark of an idea ‑ borne of our founders’ frustration in not being able to cook high-quality pizza at home. Launched from a Kickstarter campaign in 2012, Ooni has gone on to achieve global success, with $200M+ global revenues, a category‑leading range of pizza oven products, and a team of skilled, passionate people in different markets around the world.

Ooni customers love being cooking heroes for creating authentic Neapolitan-style pizzas in 60 seconds! You will find their products in top retailers including: Lowe’s, Ace, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Best Buy, Williams Sonoma, Nordstrom, Sur La Table, REI, World Market, Scheels, and Bass Pro Shops.

Ooni is headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. Under the direction of co-founders, the husband-and-wife team of Kristian Tapaninaho and Darina Garland, they remain privately-held without any external investment. And, as a B‑Certified Corporation Ooni donates 1% back to the planet, exemplifying our triple bottom line approach. In 2020, they were recognized as the UK’s Entrepreneur of the Year; and received “Best Places to Work” awards in 2022 and 2024.

At Ooni, they have always been driven by huge ambition. Not content with our historic success, Ooni now has their sights on the horizon – trailblazing cooking products that feed both people and planet.

They recognize that in order to achieve this goal, they need to continue to build a stronger base of operations to grow and lead the pizza oven category in Ooni’s #1 market – the US and Canada. 

“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Stephen Krauss to the Ooni family as President of North America,” said Kristian Tapaninaho, Founder and Co-CEO of Ooni. “Stephen’s history of driving growth and his forward-thinking vision fit perfectly with Ooni’s mission to create moments of joy and connection through trailblazing products that elevate the cooking experience. He’s the ideal person to help us strengthen our roots, elevate our innovation, and keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible at Ooni.” Read full Ooni Press Release

Learn more about Herd Freed Hartz’s track record:
Consumer & Retail practice
CEO / President practice
Family Business practice

Ultimate Job Search Guide: Recruiter Insider Tips

Paul Freed on July 9, 2024

As a retained executive search firm, we get hired for very specific leadership roles for our clients. While we don’t help people find jobs, we want to be a helpful resource for those in job transition. Below is a collection of job search article links and resources.

** Read these articles in order. Why? The content is crafted in a way that builds upon prior sections. This system is proven, but it requires you to take a step back before going forward. Most of the challenges in a job search is getting focus and clarity. Your resume and interview strategy success depend on gaining clarity on where you are today and where you want to go next in your career.

This insight is developed from working on the front lines of hiring for 20+ years working with for 400+ clients and reviewing resumes of tens of thousands of candidates.

In other words, these are proven recruiter insider tips on how you can stand out from the pack and land that next job you want.

 

1. PREPARATION // Are you ready?

  • Get recharged. Invest 24 hours to rest, exercise, and do things that clear your head and give you energy. Laugh.

 

  • Check your dashboard indicators. Remember the big picture and assess what you could be learning during the job search. Appreciate your blessings, take responsibility for your life, and forgive others so you can move forward.

 

  • Get organized. Clear out clutter and get your workspace, computer, calendar, and contacts in order. Create folders and a spreadsheet to track your job search.

 

 

2. STARTING POINT // Where are you now?

  • Know your personality. Take a quick personality assessment online (DISC, Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinder) for added insight on what makes you unique and what drives you.

  • Get wisdom. Share what you been learning with trusted friends, family and past co-workers. Ask for authentic feedback from those who know you best.

 

  • Unpack your career. Evaluate past experience to determine what you want to continue doing (or not) in the future. Create a checklist of criteria for your next job, including: Title, location, compensation, culture, and professional development areas. Download Unpack Your Career worksheet (PDF).

 

3. IDEAL DESTINATION // Where do you want to go next?

 

  • Narrow your focus. Identify the industries, companies and role(s) that interest you most. Narrow your big list down to a top dozen target companies. Aim smart at where you target your job search.

 

  • Visualize your ideal destination. Think about where you’d like to be down the road in your next job. Visit someone actually doing a similar job to gain inspiration and focus.

4. BE DIFFERENT // What’s your story and how can you stand out from the pack?

 

  • Research your network. Who do you know? Find connections at the companies where you want to work. Look for an angle, and a way to stand out to help give you an edge over other candidates. Upgrade your LinkedIn profile (download LinkedIn Tips PDF).

 

  • Ask for help. Tell your friends, family and social networks how they can help you with your search. This can lead to great referrals.

 

5. GET ROLLING // How do you land the job?

 

 

 

  • Say “Thank You”. Remember to follow-up with all of the people who helped you along the way. If you are still employed, finish strong and give notice professionally.