General Info

David Brandau founded Midwest Executive Search in 1983 while concentrating primarily on the manufacturers of commercial vehicles, automotive supply base and tools & equipment. He has led more than 400 search assignments at the C-Suite, Vice President, Division President and Director levels. David has since moved on to specialize in defense contractors, capital equipment, commercial & off highway vehicle, tools & equipment and highly engineered industrial products. His expertise lies in helping senior management to identify and dramatically improve business performance through organizational architecture, innovative growth strategies, talent and leadership development solutions. Mr. Brandau's breadth of experience within the executive search business includes working with Private Equity Firms and their portfolio companies to build stronger management and leadership teams. Prior to 1983, Mr. Brandau was Regional Manager for Faber Castell Corporation and a Senior Partner with Service Systems Corporation. David is an active member of the Top Echelon Network of Recruiters, NTEA, RIA, SME, SAE and the SBAM. He attends: CONEXPO, World of Concrete, NTEA Work Truck, ICUEE, SEMA, NAPA, SAE, COMDEX and Waste Expo. David is a 1978 graduate of Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Management. David is also a two-time Ironman Triathlon finisher, nationally ranked triathlete, and active member and former officer of the United States Triathlon Association. David is also a member and of IGFA (International Game Fishing Association) with several top 3 billfish tournament finishes including a 2nd place finish at the Bisbee's Tournament in Cabo San Lucas and several blue marlin releases weighing over over 500 lbs. Jim brings over 8 years of recruiting experience to us, from the industrial and manufacturing sectors where his niche was site & plant management, general management and operations. Jim is a business graduate from The University of North Carolina. His outside interests include sailing and hiking mountain peaks above 10, 000 feet. Erinn O'Connor has been a strategic partner to Midwest Executive Search for over 10 years. Her strength comes from over 20 years of recruiting locally in Michigan and the Great Lakes Region, for CFO's, Controllers, CIO's, Audit, Tax, M&A. Her expertise and connections are always called upon for our senior Finance positions. Erinn continues to contribute her available recruiting time to Midwest, though she has co-founded a new company, www.Hiredmyway.com. Erinn is a graduate of Michigan State University and at one time, held several state swimming records. The success of our team is due largely to sticking to our business model. While we are purposely a small team, it is by design. We are not tripping over each other. We navigate within our closely tied sectors of defense contractors, tools & equipment, commercial & off highway vehicles and their associated components, sub systems, highly engineered industrial products and we function at the top of the organizational chart. We never try to force a square peg into a round hole. We use common sense, confidentiality and are task oriented. Our past and current overly satisfied clients become our future marketing presentation. The members of our team have worked together at Midwest for a number of years and share a strong results-oriented culture that promotes collaboration. Our team has a wide variety of skills and experiences but each plays an integral role. Being able to draw on a wide range of knowledge and experience contributes significantly to our shared success. Jennifer came to Midwest Executive Search in 2004 with 5 solid years of contracted free lance researcher experience where she provides our firm with recruitment services, sourcing qualified candidates, managing our candidate database and candidate tracking. Jennifer manages the gathering of corporate information, data collection and reporting