Qualifications and Experience
Co-founders Ann and Joe Boland have over 60 years of industry, operational and consulting expertise...
and the ability to leverage hundreds of years of search experience through our strong global network.
President of The Boland Group, Ann has been recruiting since she led the search for a new Executive Director of the Florida Gulf Coast Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in 1988. During her 13 years with IBM, culminating in her promotion to spearhead IBM Consulting Group's Mid-Atlantic practice, Ann consulted to mission driven and for-profit organizations around the world. Ann has worked in a broad range of industries (IT, High Tech, Internet, eCommerce, Financial Services, Insurance, Life Sciences, Healthcare, Professional Services, etc.) and functions (Sales, Marketing, Business Development, Operations, Service Delivery, HR, IT, Finance and Accounting, Consulting, Business Advisory, etc.) for which she has since recruited. Ann left IBM to join an IBM client as an SVP where she oversaw the successful consolidation of multiple data centers around the country. A merger of nonprofit and for-profit organizations, she orchestrated a massive, post-merger recruiting and retention effort to attract and keep valued professionals.
Ann was "headhunted" herself to join a "Big Four" as the management consulting division's first female direct entry partner. After recruiting multiple consultants (entry level and newly minted MBAs, Senior Managers and Partners) Ann decided to pursue executive search full time. As an Executive Director with Russell Reynolds Associates, Ann was a member of both the Global Technology as well as the Global Healthcare practices, and she co-founded the firm's Global Professional Services Practice. Ann left Russ Reynolds in order to continue recruiting for the global consulting practice of another Big Five firm in Europe. She returned to the states at the peak of the ""dot com" boom, and was wooed in house as Chief Administrative Officer and EVP of HR by one of her start-up clients.
When the "bubble burst" in 2001, Ann decided to strike out on her own; the Boland Group is a woman-owned boutique consultancy with a twofold focus, serving: 1) small (<$500M revenues), rapidly growing, privately held companies; 2) even smaller ($6M to $150M) non-profits with a focus on mission driven organizations in the health and human services space (United Ways, YMCAs, Junior Achievement, Big Brother/Big Sister, and community mental health organizations). As a nimble, independent firm, with access to the sourcing capacity of a 1500+ recruiter network, the Boland Group focuses on doing more search work for fewer clients. Conducting searches for only a handful of clients at a time makes it possible to focus dedicated resources to every search.
Ann specializes in recruiting C-level (CEO, COO, CFO, CMO, CIO, and CTO) and VP level (VP Finance, VP Sales, Controller, VP IT Operations, VP Biz Dev, VP Marketing) recruiting for both non-profit and for-profit organizations in "information intensive" industries (e.g. Mission Driven Trade Associations and Services organizations, Data Analytics, Professional Services, Life Sciences/Healthcare Informatics, Financial Services and the Mission Critical Data Center, Critical Facilities Infrastructure, etc.) A published author and accomplished speaker, Ann holds an MBA summa cum laude from the University of South Florida, and a B.A. in Mathematics summa cum laude from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. She co-founded the Washington DC chapter of the International Association of Corporate and Professional Recruiters (IACPR) and is an Executive Member of the Human Capital Institute. When she's not working, you can find Ann teaching ballet and step aerobics at the local Y, getting in her strength training regimen, or spending time with her family.
Joseph V. Boland, Co-founder, COO & CFO Joe brings over 20 years of organizational experience to his work with clients, including seven years as a general practice attorney, and previously four years with IBM telecommunication’s sales and marketing organization, in progressively responsible roles. Joe’s relevant search experience includes various industry / functional specific research and candidate development responsibilities in support of large global accounts, and negotiation and contract development support for multiple high tech searches. A 1979 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Joe served six years as a helicopter pilot and in various leadership capacities as a squadron officer in the USMC. Joe earned his J.D. from Stetson University’s College of Law in 1992, and is a member of the Bar in both Florida and Maryland.