Executive Director
of new Environmental Foundation

Until recently, the polarization of corporations and conservationists in America appeared to be etched in stone. But new imperatives have surfaced and polarization is giving way to partnership. Since 1990, The Boulware Group has worked with leading-edge clients to advance visions of sustainable development. We’ve worked with leading environmental organizations and, on public initiatives, and with local and community groups. We’ve seen this complex field from all perspectives.  Our clients respect our understanding of the field and the conditions that produce real change – and they look to us to find leaders who make change happen.


Boulware at Work

A national environmental organization engaged The Boulware Group to recruit the Executive Director of a new foundation.  Chartered by a state legislature, the foundation was to provide seed funding to help front-line organizations move the state closer to energy sufficiency and a clean environment. The Executive Director would build the foundation from scratch.  S/he would develop its mission, shape its infrastructure, and implement an action plan whose primary beneficiaries would be the taxpayers and citizens of the state.

At Stake: A quarter-billion dollar investment in sustainable development and in balancing the needs of communities, corporations and the environment


Our Response

We worked with the client to map out start-up plans for a large and innovative organization.

We developed a strategic map of key players in energy and conservation whose work bridges both fields: public officials, lobbyists, corporate relations, academics, public officials, watchdog groups and industry observers.

We implemented a set of criteria that viable candidates must meet in order to be perceived as bias-free in the business, political and environmental communities.

We created a rigorous background and reference checking system, unique to this position, to ensure integrity and professional competency.

The Result: The successful candidate’s 30-year history as an attorney, civic volunteer and public finance/policy expert gave him the strong planning, administrative and political skills that the position required. As partner of a major law firm, he had worked extensively in public policy at local, state and federal levels. He was an effective public speaker and skilled in giving public testimony.  His long experience as board member of a major foundation and Executive Director of another foundation prepared him for work in a grant-making environment.


Our Energy/Environment Clients

Center for Neighborhood Technology
Electrical Cooperative
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Research Institute of Michigan (ERIM)
Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance
Nature Conservancy