Pyramind Case Studies

The Company: State Association 

The Challenge: The client, a two-decade-old state association in the hospitality industry faced challenges in membership, external relations, and revenues. The national association’s leadership approached Pyramind to find a President/CEO. Serving as strategic advisors, Pyramind’s consultants engaged with a novice five-member search committee, understanding their vision and organizational culture, resulting in a position announcement tailored to the organization’s strategic goals. Hospitality and business leaders were contacted, generating resumes, and leading in a multi-prong interview process led by Pyramind consultants.    

The Impact: Even though initial negotiations with a prospect fell through; the thorough and methodical solicitation approach used by Pyramind consultants led quickly to additional strong prospects, one of whom was hired.  The executive hired has doubled the budget, diversified the board, and earned recognition as a state impact leader for two consecutive years.

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The Company: National Association 

The Challenge: The client, a 120-year-old literacy trade association with a $39 million-dollar annual budget and 250 nationwide employees, needed a new Executive Director. Pyramind was selected to lead this assignment resulting from an RFP process.

Pyramind navigated alignment discussions with a politically charged, diverse 22-member search committee and sought a leader capable of fiscal management, political acumen, and guiding the organization through literacy field changes.

Pyramind’s team engaged in ongoing discussions with the committee, outlining the organization’s vision and candidate identification tactics. They remained focused on candidates with similar organizational leadership experience, connecting with trade associations and literacy industry leaders.  The committee initially selected an Executive Director, but negotiations failed due to political misalignment on the committee, prompting a new search. 

The Impact: In the second round, an Executive Director was selected who led the organization for over a decade, gaining a reputation as being responsive, diplomatic, innovative, and a results-driven leader.

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The Company: Quasi-Government (National)

The Challenge: Pyramind was tasked with finding an Executive to lead the newly established, cutting-edge research conservation facility designed for preserving historic archival material. This role held responsibilities spanning fiscal management, program oversight, operations, fundraising, and strategic planning, making it crucial to secure input and consensus from major governmental organizations. 

The challenge was coordinating alignment with senior management of the organization and political/congressional leaders for this new entity in the arts world.

Our individualized research approach involved reaching out to executives in the arts and preservation field resulting in many applications. Following a three-prong evaluation process, we recommended a select group of candidates for interviews, ultimately securing the appointment of the current leader, who continues to serve in the position successfully.

The Impact: The leader hired has held the role for over a decade, enhanced national awareness, quickly led the organization to become a tourist attraction, and gained endorsement and support from various state/national political leaders.

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The Company: Quasi-Government (State) 

The Challenge: Pyramind was selected, following an RFP process,  to place an Executive Director for a state lottery. We collaborated with a 5-member search committee comprising gubernatorial appointees. The lottery, which raises money for education, consistently increased revenue year after year for their state. The Executive Director oversees 250+ full-time employees with a $65 million operational budget and reports to the nine-member commission. 

The challenge was collaborating with a politically charged committee with diverse viewpoints on what skills/attributes were needed. The members and leaders of the committee changed during the course of the assignment, resulting in a more complicated search process. 

We employed a comprehensive approach, engaging leaders in lotteries, gaming, and related industries, alongside business, civic, and political figures. This effort generated dozens of resumes, resulting in a finalist slate of six candidates interviewed, ultimately leading to the successful selection of the finalist following rigorous screening and assessment.

The Impact: Pyramind placed a leader with the temperament and background to lead the organization. The lottery has grown substantially under their leadership becoming more efficient and effective.

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The Company: Human Services

The Challenge: A private, non-profit, non-denominational child-serving agency that for more than fifty years has improved, shaped, and transformed the lives of troubled youth tasked Pyramind with replacing the retiring President, who had served for more than two decades. The retiring executive was highly respected and emotional factors regarding the executive’s retirement impacted the efficiency of the process before Pyramind’s team was hired for the search.  This organization had an annual budget of $30 million, with more than 200 employees and 100 volunteers.  

The six-member search committee was comprised of board members (past and present), human resource leaders, and an organizational volunteer who served the organization for decades. While several members of the search committee had hired senior executives for the organizations they were employed with, most had never recruited a senior-level executive for a not-for-profit that involved a search committee. We spent time with this committee, educating them about the nuances of being part of a search committee and how an interview process works with multiple interviewers. We worked hand in hand with the committee, guiding them through the search process, assisting them with setting up the interview format, and collaborating with them to decide who to hire. 

We reached out to leaders working in child-serving human service agencies nationally with annual budgets greater than $30 million and with multiple locations. We also reached out to leaders in local human service organizations and leaders of accredited MSW programs. There was a robust response to this opening, and after the Pyramind evaluation process, three candidates were recommended for further consideration by the search committee. The search committee phone-screened these three leaders and elected to meet face-to-face with two candidates. After these meetings concluded, the search committee invited one candidate back for a second and third round of interviews and ultimately extended an offer to this candidate.

The Impact: The hired leader has now served the organization for over a decade, raised substantial funding for the organization, which has grown across the state. The organization has provided cutting-edge programs for youth and is recognized as a best-in-class employer.

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The Company: For-Profit Privately Held Company

The Challenge: The client was a young, privately held company in a unique medical technology industry. At the time of the assignment, the company was comprised of a team of six, and revenue was expected to triple within a year.

The challenge was finding a clinical leader in an exclusive field. This executive needed to be passionate about the mission of the company and have the vision to create, build, and direct an innovative, state-of-the-art clinical program for this fast-growing company. 

Hundreds of PhD Laboratory Directors were contacted generating a dozen resumes. Following the comprehensive screening approach of the Pyramind consultants, finalists had multiple interviews with the client, resulting in an offer being made and accepted. 

The Impact: The individual hired created a state-of-the art clinical program which impacted the company being named “one of the fastest growing companies in the area.”

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The Company: Fast-Going Retail (Public)

The Challenge: Due to our longstanding relationship with the Chief Human Resource Officer, we were tasked with recruiting a Vice President of Cultural Strategic Growth in an HR department. This individual, reporting directly to the Chief Human Resources Officer, served as the company’s leader in change management, performance management, and talent development.

The position played a critical role in defining the organization’s future culture. Given the fast-paced nature of the company, the goal was to establish a culture that all current and future employees would align with. However, the CEO’s demanding and exacting nature made finding suitable candidates a challenging task.

We reached out to hundreds of organizational effectiveness leaders in retail settings across the country, resulting in two dozen resumes. After Pyramind’ assessment process, five candidates proceeded to interviews with the company, and two became finalists, with one returning for a second interview. Following reference checks, an offer was extended and accepted.

The Impact:  We identified a candidate who not only created, defined, and implemented the organizational culture for the future but also garnered buy-in from senior leaders.