Wesley, Brown & Bartle Adds West Point Leadership to Executive Search Operations

NEW YORK, Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Former Captain Jerry Pegram, a West Point graduate who saw combat duty in Iraq prior to departure from military service, has joined Wesley, Brown & Bartle Inc. as Principal to manage executive search operations.

"We hired Jerry to bring military-trained leadership to our executive search operations," said WB&B Chairman Wesley Poriotis. After his tour in Iraq, he returned to West Point to identify and mentor future minority officers for the Army.

According to Poriotis, WB&B -- the oldest executive search firm in America devoted to diversity -- the addition of military-trained leadership and its meritocracy without regard for ethnicity and gender "provides the firm with a significant diversity demographic for our operations."

Ken Arroyo Roldan, the firm's CEO, noted that the military -- with 46% of its ranks comprised of women and people of color -- is the epitome of inclusion. He sees this as a significant "difference" and as "strengthening the sinews" when applied to business organizations and added that "the application of military culture to executive recruitment is well ahead of the coming crunch in talent acquisition."

In 1996 WB&B established Veterans Across America, a non-profit organization to provide economic well-being initiatives for veterans, disabled veterans and their family care-givers.

Pegram first came to WB&B's attention as a civilian volunteer in the VAA "Champion Mentoring and Family Delta Force" programs which link business executives as mentors for veterans -- including family caregivers for the disabled -- and reservists, one-on-one, to provide them with vital business networks. He continues to provide volunteer service for the program.

VAA reaches out to corporate executives to serve as champion mentors for veterans to help form networks to civilian employment and career development. According to the New Jersey Star Ledge, the program achieved a 65% job-creation success ratio over the past year.

Pegram said he was particularly impressed with volunteers from WB&B staff on behalf of family-member caregivers of disabled veterans unable to work. "I saw mothers who had to leave employment or self-owned businesses to render life-saving care," he said. "When they were ready to re-enter the workforce to provide for the whole family, we were able to find a 'champion business mentor' to help guide them toward economic self-sufficiency."

At West Point, he lettered in varsity basketball prior to being commissioned as a Military Intelligence Officer. He served in the First Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was the intelligence lead for combat missions as well as an Executive Officer for the headquarters company while serving in a dual role as Airfield Defense Commander.

Contact:

Bill Schechter, (845) 679-6878, [email protected]

Wes Poriotis, (212) 684-6900, [email protected]

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SOURCE Wesley, Brown & Bartle Inc.