A great business begins with great people. Our experienced consultants and support staff are highly adept in the industries they serve and implementing our comprehensive search and sourcing techniques. It ensures that we select candidates with the best skill sets available and achieve the optimum fit with the unique
requirements of each client.
To guaranty that these standards are met, Handler and Associates relies
heavily on its Executive Committee. The Executive Committee is composed
of the following principals.
William Handler founded Handler & Associates in 1977 and serves as
Chief Executive Officer.
William
Handler – Founding Partner
Mr. Handler held various positions, including Employment Manager and Labor
Relations Supervisor at Olivetti/Underwood within the company’s
manufacturing division. The subsequent nine years were spent with Coleco
Industries initially as Personnel Manager and ultimately as Vice President
- Administration. Responsibilities included employment, labor relations,
safety, insurance, compensation, data processing, parts marketing and
customer service.
Mr. Handler has addressed numerous state and national professional trade
associations on professional employment related matters. Since 1987, he
has taught at Georgia State University in the Center for Professional
Education, College of Business Administration. He is active in the Cobb
County and Atlanta Metro Chambers of Commerce. He is a 1961 graduate of
Trinity College where he earned a B.S. degree in Psychology.
William A. Smyth – Senior Partner
William A. Smyth is Senior Partner of Handler & Associates and has been a member of the firm since 1985. He began his career as a search consultant in 1983 and has completed numerous assignments for clients in general management, engineering, sales and marketing, distribution, manufacturing, operations, finance, information technology/information systems, human resources, and various staff specialties.
Mr. Smyth’s prior background included nearly twenty-five years experience in engineering, sales and marketing management, strategic business development, and general management. He spent 21 years with Atlas Copco, Inc., an international manufacturer of capital machinery where he held the progressively responsible positions of Staff Applications Engineer, Product Manager (National Marketing Manager), Senior Sales Engineer, District Manager, and Southeastern Regional Manager.
As Southeastern Regional Manager, he managed an organization of 40 persons which included engineering, technical and administrative support and sales personnel. He developed and implemented a restructuring of the firm’s business activities in the southeast, which resulted in a 10 fold increase in product sales, while achieving a 60% improvement in operating profits.
Mr. Smyth received his Bachelor of Engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology and completed his academic requirements for an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University. He is a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College.
Mr. Smyth has held leadership positions in numerous professional and community organizations. He was a career Army National Guard Officer and retired at the rank of Colonel, Corps of Engineers. Upon retirement, he was appointed a Brigadier General on the state retired list of the National Guard of Georgia.Allen
Tansil
– Managing Partner
Allen Tansil is a Managing Partner of the firm and
brings to Handler & Associates strong management credentials as well as a broad generalist perspective that add great value to the firm’s
senior management searches. He gained his reputation for hiring top quality
people and building high performing teams in previous executive positions
at Georgia-Pacific Corp, Ivan Allen Co, and S.P. Richards Co (division
of Genuine Parts Co). Eric Handler is Vice-President of Handler & Associates and brings over 10 years of executive search experience to the firm. Prior to joining Handler, he spent 5 years in industry working within the finance, technology and manufacturing sectors. In these roles Mr. Handler was involved with a venture capital start-up where he assisted in raising a $30 million fund and helped establish a new business process re-engineering function for a leading Georgia-based corporation. Sharon Giles is Director of Research and Administration for Handler & Associates. She has worked in retained executive search in various capacities for nearly 10 years, including administration, research and recruiting. She began her career with Korn/Ferry International and most recently worked with a boutique executive search firm, Fiderion Group, as an Associate responsible for research and recruitment in the financial services industry.
Copyright © Handler &
Associates, 2008
Mr.Tansil’s
extensive management background gives him valuable insight into clients’ challenges and needs. “I have been fortunate to have worked with some outstanding people in my career and learned that even the best business
plans will fail without people who are capable and motivated. I look forward
to working with Handler & Associates’ clients and helping them
find the high caliber people they need to succeed.
Mr.Tansil began his
career with Georgia-Pacific Corp’s building products distribution
division. Over 13 years, he held positions of increasing responsibility,
leading finally to National Sales and Marketing Manager. As Executive
Vice President of Ivan Allen Company, an Atlanta-based office products,
office furniture, and printing company, he led the office products division
to record sales in a very competitive environment.
Following the sale
of that division, Mr.Tansil joined S.P. Richards Company, a $1.5 billion
office products wholesale distributor and division of Genuine Parts Company,
as Senior Vice President. There he led a strategic reorganization of the
national sales department that resulted in a 20 percent sales increase.
Most recently, Mr.Tansil was a partner at Executrack, Inc., an Atlanta
based consulting company, where he developed new human capital services
for clients and led the company’s expansion into Florida.
Mr.Tansil is an active member of Trinity Presbyterian Church and plays
an ongoing role in mentoring and fundraising at The Bridge, a home for
abused teenagers. He has served on the Boards of the School and Home Office
Association and the American Office Products Association.
He holds a Bachelor
of Science degree in business administration from the University of Tennessee.Eric Handler
– Vice President
With this collective knowledge, he joined the search industry to focus on identifying strong leaders for his clients. He has worked exclusively with some of the top companies in the Southeast, with a primary focus within financial services. One of his clients had this to say, "I’ve worked with Eric to fill a few key positions with our company, a CFO and a couple Regional Director roles. He was always extremely responsive and delivered high quality candidates that were a strong fit resulting in new hires. I would recommend Eric and believe he is someone we can trust."
Eric received his Bachelor of Science degree in finance from Auburn University and an MBA from Georgia State University.Sharon Giles
– Director of Research & Administration
An Atlanta native, Sharon is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and Dawnbreakers Toastmasters Club. She also holds a certification in Benchmarks (360º Leadership Evaluation) from the Center for Creative Leadership of Greensboro, North Carolina. Sharon has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in management from Georgia State University.
