Home old – Blair Search Partners

ABOUT

Every organization’s performance is the sum of its people. As such, our mission is straightforward: source the highest caliber talent from across the nation for our San Diego and Orange County-based clients.

Blair Search Partners is a retained executive search and recruiting firm, serving corporate, nonprofit, and public-sector clients. In particular, we offer unique specialization and unparalleled experience serving not-for-profit organizations of all sizes and sectors. Our clients retain us to manage search engagements at all levels, including c-suite, director, manager, and program/staff levels.

While each search engagement is customized around the needs of the individual client organization, we place equal emphasis on the candidate experience throughout the entire process. Today’s candidate could very well be tomorrow’s customer, volunteer, donor, or board member.

Our work is not finished until the board has a finalist candidate who not only meets the job requirements, but that the board is also excited to work with, and proud to have as the keeper of its legacy.

We don’t think of this as the business of recruiting: to us, this is the business of community building.

TREVOR BLAIR, PRINCIPAL & FOUNDER

A native of San Diego, Trevor has nearly 20 years of experience in executive search, recruiting and workforce development. He began his career with Manpower, a global provider of recruiting and HR solutions, and was based in Sydney. After holding a number of client-facing and internal roles within the Australian operation, he transferred back to the US for graduate school, and then rejoined Manpower in San Diego. After serving for several years as a Business Development Manager, he shifted focus to build the company’s workforce development and executive search practices. During this time, Trevor worked closely with nonprofit organizations to develop training and job placement programs for groups facing barriers to employment, such as youth and veterans. He also helped secure significant government and private funding to back those programs. On the executive search front, Trevor built a significant practice at Manpower serving a range of clients in the public, nonprofit and private sectors. In 2016, he leveraged this experience to launch a new firm, Blair Search Partners, specializing in search engagements for nonprofit and public-sector clients. Executive level placements include the San Diego Foundation, Regional Task Force on the Homeless, San Diego Housing Commission, San Diego Unified Port District, Goodwill Industries, Rady Children’s Hospital Foundation, Feeding San Diego, and the San Diego Workforce Partnership. Trevor’s community engagement is centered on education and employment issues. Current board and committee positions include the San Diego Workforce Partnership, San Diego Grantmakers, LEAD San Diego, Lotus Credit Fund and The Barrio Logan College Institute. Trevor is an avid triathlete, having competed in over 200 events around the world. He is a 10-time Ironman finisher and 3-time Boston Marathon finisher (2013, 2014, 2015). He holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania (summa cum laude), and a MBA from the University of Southern California.

SARAH THOMPSON, DIRECTOR

Sarah manages executive search and recruiting engagements for the firm’s nonprofit clients in the San Diego area, including current projects for the San Diego Symphony and the San Diego Housing Commission. Sarah brings 16 years of nonprofit sector experience to the firm, serving in workforce development, leadership programs and youth programs. Prior to joining Blair Search Partners, she served as the Executive Director of the Eric Paredes Save A Life Foundation, an organization providing free heart screenings for teens in San Diego. Sarah’s prior leadership roles include Program Director for Athena San Diego and Director of Community relations for the San Diego Workforce Partnership. Her community engagement includes her current role as Chair of the United Way of San Diego County’s Women’s Leadership Council and LEAD San Diego. She was also a finalist for the San Diego NEXT Top Business Leaders Under 40. Sarah holds a BA from Oregon State University and a MA in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from the University of San Diego.

LILIANE LENDVAI, DIRECTOR

Also a native of San Diego, Liliane serves as the Director for Blair Search Partners, where she manages the firm’s daily business operations and works directly with clients and candidates to fill positions at the staff, director, and executive levels. Her nonprofit client experience includes the Rady Children’s Hospital Foundation, Promises2Kids, the San Diego Police Foundation, Feeding San Diego and the EastLake Educational Foundation. Liliane is a 2018 graduate of the San Diego Leadership Alliance (SDLA) as well as the LEAD San Diego IMPACT program. Her community engagement includes the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, Women Give San Diego, and Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy. She was recently honored by LEAD San Diego with the 2018 Herbert G. Klein Memorial Award. In addition, Liliane is a professional flautist and has taught both privately and for award-winning music programs in San Diego County for over six years. She received both her BA and later her MBA from CSU San Marcos, graduating with summa cum laude undergraduate honors, and was also valedictorian of her MBA program.

RYAN JONES, TALENT MANAGER

Ryan has over 15 years of experience as a human resources and organizational development professional in a range of industries, including life sciences and biotech, high-tech, manufacturing, energy and telecommunications. In his role as BSP’s Talent Manager, Ryan has led the firm’s talent acquisition efforts for a range of clients including Blue Star Families, Thrive Public Schools, Voice of San Diego, Rady Children’s Hospital Foundation, and the San Diego Workforce Partnership. Ryan recently received his Masters in Social Work from the University of Southern California, and in addition to working for Blair Search Partners, serves the San Diego community as a mental health clinician for the non-profit Community Research Foundation.

KELLY ETTER, ACCOUNTING AND ADMIN MANAGER

Kelly is the owner and founder of EtterOps, which provides all of BSP’s support functions, including administration, accounting, finance and HR. Kelly has been supporting the firm since day 1, allowing us to stay focused on providing the best possible service to our clients and our candidates. Prior to her work in client services, Kelly’s first career was in elementary education as a primary school teacher, providing her with valuable and relevant experience to help us serve our nonprofit and education clients. Kelly holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.