Bill Budde, Managing Partner

For any organization to be successful, it needs a leader. And in Bill Budde, Searchlight People has an enormously capable one.

Prior to founding the company, Bill had been a Global Manager with a successful track record of marketing, selling and delivering Business and IT services for public and private branded companies. He has more than 15 years of outsource management experience for Global IT and BPO services (operating in over 60 countries around the world).

Previously, he was Managing Director of the Global Insurance Practice for Electronic Data Systems (NYSE=EDS) and Senior Vice-President and Business Unit Leader for Patni Computer Systems (India) (NYSE=PTI).

Carol Kardas (KardasLarson), Human Resources Associate

For all the emphasis these days on technology, the business of recruiting is still about people. Carol understands human behavior and dynamics as well as just about anyone.

Carol has more than 20 years of experience in the Human Resource and Compensation fields. Before joining Searchlight People, she was a Strategic Planning Director for the State of Connecticut Human Resource Council, and past president for the Human Resource Association of Central Connecticut.

An expert in HR, she has also written several training courses and a book on the subject.

Kevin Martin (Beyond-Search), Talent Officer

Kevin Martin has been an executive recruiter since 1997.  As the lead Talent Officer for Searchlight he utilizes his experience to help companies locate and hire candidates that are a good cultural fit for their environment.  He particularly specializes in finding “game-changers” or candidates that can have an immediate impact on their organization.

Kevin has worked with major corporations and small companies. Past clients include Hewlett Interwoven, EDS and Compaq Services.  His primary focus is on placing Information Technology service professionals who combine technical and interpersonal skills. 

Before becoming a recruiter, Kevin was a computer consultant and programmer for over fifteen years.  He is able to draw on this experience when interviewing technical candidates.

Patrick Driscoll, Managing Director, Insurance Markets

Patrick Driscoll, CPA, CPCU has been named the Managing Director of the Insurance Consulting Practice for Searchlight, LLC.  Patrick comes to Searchlight with over 30 years insurance expertise in all aspects of carrier and distribution having worked for A.J. Gallagher, Balboa Insurance Group (now owned by Bank of America), CNA, Zurich and the last three years leading his own consulting practice. He has worked with many of the top rated carriers, brokers and specialty providers.

Patrick was the SVP and National Director at Zurich where he grew a profitable division at Zurich from $42 million to over $400 million in less than five years.  He has held positions as CEO of a new venture start-up, President of Sales & Marketing, CFO of National Accounts & Captives, EVP of Accounting, Actuarial, Reinsurance & Product Development, RVP of Sales & Marketing, Head of Applications Development, Director of Internal Audit and Manager of Market Research.

His primary focus will be on building an insurance consulting practice that assists and leads the insurance carrier, broker and specialty players in building revenue and reducing expenses.  His areas of specialization include; Strategy & Execution, Architecture, Project Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Sales & Marketing and Distribution Channel Management, Organizational Design, Expense Reduction and Vendor Evaluation. 

Stephen Provost, Director and Chief Technical Officer

Prior to joining Searchlight People, Stephen was an independent consultant for the most of his 30-year IT career, working with companies such as IBM and EDS.

Prior to joining the company, Steve honed his skills as an enterprise architect with mastery of technologies from large mainframe applications to mission-critical web services applications. He has brought his global experience while working for the US government in far away places to build a company that would meet his needs as an independent contractor for over 30 years.