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President/CEO – Housing & Community Economic Development

The main attractor of funding in this burgeoning field is not local need, but local capacity to address local needs. As communities organize themselves to plan and implement their redevelopment, the private sector is recognizing the strength of markets that had long been abandoned and is responding to cogent local proposals. This community-based, capacity-building approach to development has given birth to a new industry, with growth rates of up to 20 per cent forecast over the next 5 to 10 years. New career paths are taking shape in finance, real estate and business development.

Boulware at Work

At Issue: A Washington, D.C. based national trade association of over 500 community development organizations contacted us for help in finding a President/CEO. The association sought a leader who would increase membership and raise visibility at the federal level for the community development industry. The position required both in-depth knowledge of the concerns of local member organizations and an insider’s knowledge of the federal programs, procedures, funding criteria, policy shapers and community leaders.

At Stake: A new industry and strategy to help communities nationwide rebuild themselves at the grassroots level.

Our Firm’s Response

We drew on our knowledge of nonprofit and for-profit strategies for fostering growth in economically distressed communities to identify individuals who have a substantive understanding of the issues.
We also combed our senior-level contacts in the fields of housing, community development and economic development to identify individuals with extensive networks and long experience in the interaction of federal policy and local programs.
Having discovered after several conversations that our most respected source might be a candidate, we worked patiently and discretely with him to maximize his interest in the position and his readiness to leave his senior position with a federal development agency.

The Result: The successful candidate, a veteran federal official, has a reputation for responsiveness to local concerns that federal officials often overlook. In five years since he took the position, he has grown association membership by 60% from 500 to 800 members. Using his extensive networks, he developed bi-partisan federal support for community development as a growth industry. Under his leadership, the association also secured $8 million in multi-year funding commitments from a consortium of national foundations.

Housing and Community Development Clients

City Lands Corporation
Bethel New Life, Inc.
Capital Region Workforce Development Board
Center for Community Change
The Community Builders
Chicago Community Loan Fund
Chicago Housing Authority
City of Detroit – Director, Department of Housing
The District of Columbia Coalition for the Homeless
DevCorp North, Chicago (formerly Howard/Paulina Development Corp.)
Greater New Orleans Foundation
Hispanic Housing Development Corporation
Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership
Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion (IBA)
Institute for Social and Economic Development
Kenwood Oakland Development Corporation (KODC)
Latino Economic Development Corporation
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC)
Mercy Housing
Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership
Mid-South Planning & Development Commission
Neighborhood Housing Services of Elgin, IL
Neighborhood Housing Services of Rochester, NY
Neighborhood Progress, Inc.
Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation
New Detroit
New Orleans Jobs Initiative
Northern Initiatives
Private Industry Council of Boston
University of Illinois at Chicago
Upper Albany Neighborhood Collaborative
Workforce Alliance

Executive Director for a Healthcare Association

At Stake

Access to affordable healthcare for a disadvantaged and at-risk community, and the continued viability of a longtime local social services provider.

The Background

The regional arm of a nationally-known healthcare and reproductive rights organization had fallen on hard times. Changes in the healthcare and socioeconomic climate had not been thoroughly anticipated by the organization’s prior leadership, and as a result, fundraising, education efforts, infrastructure development and, most importantly, the quality of healthcare services provided to the local community had suffered dramatically. There was an urgent need to reinvigorate the organization as quickly as possible, under the guidance of a proven and principled leader.

Our Firm’s Approach

After having unsuccessfully conducted a search for an appropriate candidate, the local organization turned to The Boulware Group for help. Their aggressive timeline required us to move particularly quickly, and during our discovery process it became clear that the position would require an individual who understood the complexities of medical management and technology, with the proper blend of political savvy, business acumen and civic conscience. The position offered little in the way of job security, and the possibility of failure was very real. Keeping this in mind, Boulware chose to focus the search upon individuals who were nearing the end of successful careers in the healthcare industry, who would be qualified and ready for a challenge, and eager for a chance to give something back to the community.

The Result

The successful candidate, a senior level executive at a major HMO, had previously demonstrated an ability to turn around difficult situations. Upon being contacted by Boulware, he found himself intrigued by the scope and nature of the challenge, and was quickly persuaded to provide the leadership the organization desperately required. Under his guidance, the organization has leveraged the possibilities of contemporary technology in the service of better healthcare provision, earned continued accreditation for healthcare outreach efforts, bolstered its fundraising programs, and guaranteed the continued survival of a longtime social services provider to a disadvantaged and at-risk community.

Executive Director
for Womens & Girls Foundation

Grant-making is both an art and a science. To make grant-making decisions that leverage benefits in an ever-changing world, foundation leaders must be thought-leaders with vision. The work of foundations are highly nuanced and strategic. Yet in today’s climate, it requires proactive leadership. The Boulware Group’s reputation in the foundation community rests on three qualities: our sensitivity to differences among foundations and their unique cultures, our grasp of current developments in grant-making, and our longstanding dedication to the nonprofit community.

The Boulware Group at Work

At Issue: A nationally known philanthropic organization dedicated to increasing opportunities for women and girls turned to The Boulware Group to find its next Executive Director. Under the leadership of the previous Executive Director (also recruited by The Boulware Group), the Foundation’s endowment had grown fourfold in four years. The challenge now was to find the right leader for the organization’s current (and dynamic) stage of growth, which called for the strengthening of its infrastructure, a deepening of its program impact, and continued enhancement of its national profile.

“Christine Boulware knows the world of not-for-profit agencies as well as anyone in Chicago and understands the organizational and financial challenges that high level managers must deal with in those agencies.” George Galland,
Chair, Board of Trustees,
Abraham Lincoln Center, Chicago

At Stake

The enhanced capacity of a national advocate for girls and women.

Our Response

We contributed our extensive knowledge of the nonprofit landscape based on scores of successful recruitments of senior nonprofit leaders.

We developed a search strategy to identify individuals with both rigorous corporate backgrounds and executive-level involvement in issues affecting the lives of women and girls.

We drew on our understanding of the knowledge of the life-cycle of organizations to find two superb leaders appropriate to two phases of organizational growth.

Ultimately, our mission is our client’s mission.

The Result

The successful candidate, a respected leader and veteran fundraiser, led a national organization for girls through a period of outstanding growth. The Boulware Group knew of her by reputation.  Upon hearing that she had just moved to a new city, we promptly arranged for a meeting with her. She was later to say for publication that this meeting was a turning point in her life.

Advocacy Clients

• • Business and Professional People for the Public Interest
  • California Tomorrow
  • Center for Creative Leadership
  • Center for Neighborhood Technology
  • Center for New Media
  • Chicago Lawyer’s Committee
  • Coalition for the Homeless
  • The Community Builders
  • District of Columbia Coalition for the Homeless
  • DevCorp North (formerly Howard/Paulina Development Corp.)
  • Environmental Defense Fund
  • Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT)
  • Food Research and Action Center
  • Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation
  • Inquilionos Borcusas En Accion (IBA)
  • Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
  • Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law
  • Michigan’s Children
  • MidAmerica Leadership Foundation
  • Mississippi Action for Community Education (MACE)
  • National Black MBA Association
  • National Forum for Black Public Administrators
  • The Nature Conservancy
  • Prevention First
  • Society of Organizational Learning
  • Towards A More Perfect Union
  • United Food and Commercial Workers
  • Zero Population Growth

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

Managing Director – Rail Passenger Carrier Organization

The Boulware Group’s transportation portfolio includes searches in airport management, passenger rail, mass transit and municipal regulatory agencies. Our industry-wide perspective on current challenges and future opportunities has taken shape from our work with transportation leaders over the past 12 years. Our expertise runs the gamut from regulatory matters and new technologies to public relations and strategic alliances. Our longstanding clients depend on our industry knowledge, our commitment to excellence and our record of placing executives who make the difference.

Boulware at Work

At Issue:  A major rail passenger carrier turned to The Boulware Group to recruit the Managing Director of a nine-state, $5 billion, high-speed rail initiative incorporating new technologies. This individual was to be responsible for developing consensus on carrier needs and system equipment designs among a diverse group of stakeholders, including federal, state and local officials. The position required expertise in consensus building at multiple levels, sensitivity to labor issues and a high level of integrity and credibility within the transportation industry.

At Stake:  The future of passenger rail in the Midwest

Our Response

We provided strategic counsel in implementing large-scale change initiatives.
We contributed expertise in transportation issues affecting the nine-state service region at local, state and federal levels.
We developed and implemented a public/private sector search strategy that included air and road carriers as well as freight rail carriers, mass transit carriers, and light and passenger rail carriers.
We conducted a rigorous, position-specific selection process that separated true visionaries from knowledgeable functionaries.

The Result: The successful candidate is one of the more highly regarded executives in the industry. He engineered one of the most successful mergers in recent transportation history, among other achievements. Colleagues see him as a high-energy, collegial leader who engenders fierce loyalty. He is renowned for his ability to maintain employee morale in good economic times and bad. In his first year on the job, he built a framework and established the networks that are crucial to this bold and revolutionary plan.

Regional Directors

The idea of corporate citizenship has been called “fuzzy” and “woolly” in the pages of Fortune and The Economist. We think otherwise. In our experience, all organizations have responsibilities to the communities and public they serve. While these responsibilities will vary, we know that executives who meet them add value to organizations and communities alike. Whether it’s in the field of manufacturing, transportation, human relations, organizational development, diversity or financial services, our corporate clients turn to us when they need excellence in leadership in the fullest sense of the word.

Boulware at Work

At Issue: The Boulware Group was contacted by one of the world’s largest non-bank financial service companies, which also is one of the nation’s largest sources of home mortgage financing. The company was creating a network of offices in 25 cities nationwide as part of its multi-billion dollar commitment to making home ownership a reality for thousands of first-time home-owners. To head these offices, the company sought 25 executives who would be responsive to the needs of the community while advancing the company’s mission of increased home ownership.

At Stake: The opportunity for thousands of families to realize the American dream of home ownership

Our Response

We helped the client bring into being a business model that would meet the needs of a huge and profitable yet heretofore unrecognized market. We identified candidates with the mix of business rigor, political savvy and civic conscience that was needed to jump-start the new offices. We provided diverse pools of qualified candidates in every search by tapping our deep networks in the housing, political and financial services communities in 25 cities nationwide.

The Result: Boulware placed executives in 25 offices nationwide. Our diverse pools of candidates consistently had strong financial backgrounds, solid entrepreneurial and political skills, and proven managerial experience. Since their hiring, these executives have helped bring the dream of home ownership to thousands of families nationwide.