About the Search Firm
Isaacson, Miller is a national executive search firm devoted to recruiting exceptional leaders for mission-driven organizations. Our founders created the firm in 1982, a time when civic institutions rarely used executive search firms.
The firm has grown steadily, and today, Isaacson, Miller stands alone as a large, national, retained search firm dedicated to the full range of public and civic missions. We have active practices in higher education, science and social science research, human services, conservation and environmental defense, human and civil rights advocacy, K-12 education, academic and community healthcare, philanthropy, arts and culture, and community-based economic development, with sub-specialties in almost every functional area.
Many of our clients and past candidates become part of an extended network that shares our goal of strengthening the civic infrastructure. They see their own missions reflected in the work of the firm and choose to assist us, generously, in our quest for the finest talent in their fields.
The country’s civic community has come to recognize our persistent commitment to recruiting diverse talent. On average, in searches completed with us over the last decade, 40% of our clients have hired women and 25% people of color.
Isaacson, Miller is a mission-driven business committed to the recruitment of powerful civic leaders who raise our own and our clients’ competitive aspirations. We believe that civic organizations are essential to a strong civil society, a vigorous democracy, and to a free market economy. Civic institutions educate us all. They encourage the marketplace of ideas through research, teaching, and advocacy. They inspire innovation, and, through foundations and philanthropy, they arouse the charitable endeavors of private citizens. The civic sector serves as the guardian of our economic and societal strength. We have made its success our business.
Biographies
Gale D. Merseth
Vice President & Director
Gale D. Merseth joined Isaacson, Miller in 2004 after an extensive career in higher education, business and government. For 13 years, Gale was a faculty member and administrator at Harvard Business School, where he served as Director of Admissions for the MBA Program and Assistant Dean for Executive Education and External Affairs. His research and teaching were in the areas of corporate strategy and regulatory policy. In 1982, Gale left Harvard to serve as the founding Executive Director of the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA), which developed an innovative system to provide loans for students at public and private colleges and universities in Massachusetts. Gale was President and CEO of The New England Council in 1986-87, where he led the organization’s work on trade, energy, and environmental issues. Gale then moved to Claremont Graduate University to become the first Dean of The Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management. He returned to the Boston area in 1991 where he consulted to large and small companies and co-founded a company that developed interactive web-based software applications to support individualized and project-based learning. Gale has an AB in economics, an MBA, and a doctorate in business administration from Harvard University.
334 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
617-262-6500
gmerseth@imsearch.com
Martha Brest
Managing Associate
Martha Brest joined Isaacson, Miller in early 2003. She came to the firm with 15 years of executive search experience, working primarily in the financial services industry. After working for two boutique firms in Boston, she established her own search practice in 1991 to focus exclusively on recruiting senior executives in investment management. She was then drawn to Isaacson, Miller’s civic commitment and outstanding reputation, and has effectively brought the discipline and contacts from her corporate work to bear on the firm’s wide-ranging national search practice. Prior to entering executive search, Martha worked in the banking industry. She was responsible for marketing and market research initiatives at BayBanks, Inc. Martha began her career with Bank of Boston as an accounting and finance professional. She holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
334 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
617-262-6500
mbrest@imsearch.com