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Well, hi, thanks for having me. My name is David Williar and I'm the president of Alder Bowman. We're an executive search firm in the United States, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, and we have consultants scattered about the country.

That's right.

that's a good question. So just a small correction to to the to the timeline. So yes, Wilder and Associates, I had it established as this was a extremely nimble recruitment advisory practice that provided not just executive search but contract recruiting. as well as recruitment strategy consulting for organizations that were struggling to fill positions within and to build out a department or functional area. And so because of the nimbleness and the fact that I always partnered with people on projects on a contract basis, it made it very easy for me to seize an opportunity because my client, JP Morgan, Asked if I wanted to join the firm. And I saw that as a great experience. And I'm so glad I did. Because I spending time inside a corporation, especially that is well-driven, structured, has great vision, purpose, and as well as amazing infrastructure and technology to support your work. was a wonderful experience. And so it gave me the opportunity to use my skills to address challenges that they had with particular searches or programs that were my skills s supported very strongly. Well i it was a wonderful opportunity because I was given a variety of different tasks of which were great learning experiences and I met wonderful people. So now, how did that wrap up? Well it w by nobody's choice or you know, or individual decision, the credit markets collapsed in 2008. And n during one weekend in October, JP Morgan bought Bear Stearns for three dollars a in chains a a share Which gave us a surplus of 3,600 people which needed to be jettisoned. So there wasn't much need, further need for recruiters for a long time. And I was very fortunate that I was given some other responsibilities to do in helping other people to transition. and eventually my role was eliminated along with you know a few thousand other people in many thousands on Wall Street. I was very lucky to have gotten to know John Peracki, who I work with still to this day, in 2010. John was someone I met on the commuter train and he owned an executive search firm that he had just gotten started and we met and he realized that we had a good chemistry and I had skills that complemented his. And so I joined his firm, which was called Ames International. And that's in 2010. So 2010 until the very end of 2015, I was part of Ames International under John's ownership. In 2015, John decided to go into semi-retirement and really wanted to do just what he enjoyed business development and in relationship management. He wasn't so interested with the firmware administration and the issues and baggage that come along with it. So I stepped up to lead the firm. And so the original name of Alder Bowman was Ames International. but I made a decision to change, create our own brand, and also change strategic direction because we so we moved from being a generalist firm that did cover many industries and many functions, and we narrowed it down dramatically to focus on healthcare. Two reasons. One, it's following the money because that was one sector where executive search still had demand and two passion. from my first visit as a consultant to a hospital in in 2010, I just I fell in love with the field of healthcare. noting what they do for people for the communities and the culture in professional culture in healthcare is extremely attractive because you're dealing with people who have a business and administrative mindset except they're mission oriented so they they're channeling that into leading organizations that are helping people in a very large scale. And so they're very special people. and the greed element is not there like it is in for profit industries, etc. Very refreshing place to be. So That focus paid off for us, enabled us to grow. We revenue increased dramatically. And by not spreading your marketing spend across ten different industries, you can actually spend as a small firm what little money you have where it actually makes a difference. And so That was why I chose that strategy. Now, today we're starting to expand and broaden once again because we can, we've established our flag is very well planted in healthcare. So considering that we've earned Recognition first by the American College of Healthcare Executives who've recognized us for excellence in the field. Modern Healthcare that has listed us amongst the top healthcare executive search firms. It's safe to say we've reached critical mass in that regard of name recognition and a very, very strong track record to point at. so now it's accelerating into other areas which the natural market has been higher education. That has been an offshoot of our success in healthcare. Why? Because medical schools, nursing schools are crossbred with hospitals as part of the teaching in the curriculum to the extent that we were given opportunities in higher ed because of healthcare leaders that were affiliated with healthcare education.

Well, AI can be a very helpful tool as an assistant to a human being, perhaps to write better, to create better presentations, to augment skills that Can produce better deliverables to the client, providing the human being is engaged 100% of the way in the execution of the work. That way, whoever is reading and the recipient of this product understands that they've been given something that's helpful and cohesive and Relevant and accurate. And AI is not there yet. so it's a little risky. I'll let other people make those particular mistakes as AI keeps on learning. Maybe someday it'll get to the a particular point of reliance. but our work is generally very personalized and I feel our clients and our candidates deserve the re the respect and dignity of personalized communications.

Well, healthcare in the United States is you know quite different from the rest of the world because of the fact that we utilize private insurance for probably 35 to 40 percent of the revenue stream that hospitals get, and the other 60% is coming from government insured, either Medicaid or Medicare. unlike Europe where it's nationalized. So Because of that and the challenges, when your money is coming from an insurance company, you are all beholden to the pe that organization that writes you the checks of where the margins are highest. So that's a a key difference and always a challenge, if not conflict. Two from year to year. Operating a healthcare system is never the same because rules and regulations change every year. And that it has to do with public policy, it has to do with technology, it has to do with changes in how the insurance companies will reimburse you or not. For procedures that you do, which forces every organization to be in a constant change state of change management. Probably more so than any other industry. Maybe chipmaking has to implement change at that pace, but I'm not sure. It's an interesting question for an expert in chipmaking to discuss. Because of that, we must recruit leaders or the candidates that we speak to in any case has to have a demonstrated record of success in change management. That means coming up with a strategy, what's going to happen, what needs to happen, a game plan of how to do it. A communication plan that reinforces the message. And incentives are required to get people to go along with it because people prefer stability. People prefer to do processes that are stable and solid. And unfortunately in in healthcare there has to be flexibility. within the the administrative workforce to adapt to change.

Well for my firm or for industry. well for my firm, I'd like to expand our service offerings. And I'm glad to say that we've brought in a couple directors whose skill sets transcend executive search because they have management consulting backgrounds, which is very, very helpful because I can't think of a single client of ours where everything is so stable and problem solved that they don't need a very smart person to look at you know either operations or people or revenue to find solutions and and make things better. In addition to that we need to look at alternatives to retain search because of the fact that there are two factors. It's not necessarily the external competition. I mean we of course we compete with Russell Reynolds and Corn Ferry and the other large firms, but large corporations have built their own internal executive search functions. and sometimes they have done a great job. So that's less demand for us. and in an increase the demand for smaller enterprises that cannot afford to build an internal executive search group or function, or organizations where there are special situations that require talent acquisition strategy. Which is something that I've done a lot and enjoy doing. And so we're going to be elevating this into our platform as well, because in the end of the day, it's how well can you help the customer. And I think by expanding our our approach and offerings that that's good for us and good for them.

I'd say a lot because so i younger David, Unfortunately, did not realize that he had attention deficit disorder, which creates difficulties in in in work and in school. So we're back in my college years where of course I would figure out ways to succeed. which very often meant cramming for exams forty eight hours before the exam, doing n you know, not sleeping, just going into that ultra focus, super focus state of mind. and so it would have been really helpful to have been a to address that. Later I found out and changed my life and you know my focus, my productivity, my attention to detail has, you know, exponentially jumped and everything's been great since.

Well our website is alderbowman.com. That's A-L-D-E-R B O W A N. And it provides you all the fundamental information about about the firm direct and direct contact information to me and our consultants.

Thank you. It was a pleasure joining you. And I hope we have brought some you know interesting ideas for your viewers to think about.