Deep Experience Inside Executive Search

Mary spent years as Managing Director of Research, Analytics & Marketing at BarkerGilmore, a nationally recognized executive search and leadership advisory firm focused exclusively on in-house legal and compliance. Her role was uniquely cross-functional, spanning the firm's search execution, research, analytics, marketing, technology, operations, and strategic initiatives.

Importantly, Mary did not experience executive search from the sidelines. She led BarkerGilmore's team of project managers who supported the execution of the firm's searches and worked directly on searches herself. Her experience included the day-to-day realities of search execution, from research and candidate identification to project management and the systems, data, and processes required to move searches forward successfully. That hands-on experience gave Mary an understanding of the recruiting business that cannot be gained by simply consulting for the industry. She has seen firsthand what happens after a search is won, how recruiters and project teams actually work, where processes create friction, how technology affects execution, what clients expect, and how the front and back ends of a search firm must work together.

At the same time, her leadership responsibilities extended across the broader business. Mary led proprietary research and analytics initiatives, supported firm strategy and business development, advanced technology and data capabilities, strengthened market positioning, and worked across functions to improve how the organization operated and grew. That combination shaped the philosophy behind R². Search firms are interconnected businesses. Business development affects delivery. Technology affects recruiter productivity. Data affects decision-making. Research creates market authority. Marketing supports relationships. Operations determine whether growth can scale. After leaving BarkerGilmore, Mary founded and grew R² Solutions. BarkerGilmore later engaged R² as a client, evolving the relationship from internal leadership to external strategic partnership.

Having worked both inside the search process and across the business surrounding it, Mary brings a perspective that is difficult to replicate. She understands search firms not simply as a consultant, marketer, or technologist, but as someone who has helped do the work, led the people doing the work, and helped build the systems around it. That experience now informs R²'s work with executive search firms and staffing agencies across the industry.

Strategy Through a Systems Lens

Mary approaches organizations as systems. Growth isn't a marketing function. AI isn't a technology function. Operations aren't a back-office function. Each influences the others. Through R² Mary works with leadership teams to examine the business across six interconnected areas:

Strategy & Leadership
Where the firm is going, how it will compete, and what must change to get there.

Revenue & Business Development
How the firm creates demand, develops relationships, wins business, and builds predictable revenue.

Operations & Process
How work moves through the organization and where better systems can improve efficiency, consistency, and scale.

Technology & AI
How technology, automation, and artificial intelligence can improve the way people work rather than simply adding more tools.

Data & Intelligence
How firms use performance data, market intelligence, research, and benchmarking to make better decisions.

Brand & Market Position
How the firm's expertise, differentiation, reputation, and thought leadership translate into competitive advantage.

The objective is not to optimize one department. It is to build a stronger organization.

Researcher at the Core

Research and analytical thinking have been central to Mary's career. She has designed and led research initiatives, analyzed organizational and market data, developed benchmarking programs, and translated complex findings into practical strategies for leadership teams.

Mary holds a Doctor of Education in Executive Leadership, where her doctoral research focused on strategic planning. She also holds a Master of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts from St. John Fisher University. That research background now plays an important role in R²'s work with the recruiting industry.

R² is developing proprietary research, benchmarking, rankings, and industry intelligence designed to give executive search firms and staffing agencies better visibility into how the industry is changing, how they compare to their peers, and where opportunities exist to improve performance.

Building the Modern Search Firm

The recruiting industry is entering a period of significant change. Artificial intelligence is changing how research gets done. Technology is reshaping workflows. Clients expect greater sophistication. Data is becoming more valuable. And firms are under increasing pressure to grow without simply adding more people. Mary believes the firms that lead the next era of executive search and staffing will be those that combine exceptional human relationships with better systems, smarter technology, stronger data, and more disciplined business strategy.

That's the work R² was created to do. Not simply helping firms market themselves. Not simply implementing technology. Not simply advising from the sidelines. R² helps leadership teams build better search firms.

Beyond R² Solutions

Mary is the author of The Revenue Marketing System™ and is active in business, technology, and nonprofit leadership in the Rochester community. Her work is united by a consistent focus: helping organizations understand complex problems, connect the pieces that others often see separately, and build systems capable of turning strategy into execution.