William A. Holodnak is Founder and President of J. Robert Scott. In addition to managing the firm since its inception in 1986, Bill conducts senior level search assignments across a range of industries including For-Profit Education, Biotechnology, Medical Devices, Financial Services, and Technology. His practice emphasizes assignments for Chief Executive Officers and Members of the Board of Directors.

Prior to joining J. Robert Scott, Bill was a Vice President of a retainer-based executive search firm which serviced the Venture Capital and High Technology industries on a national basis. Previously, he was a member of the professional audit staff of PricewaterhouseCoopers' Boston office and holds a CPA certificate in Massachusetts. Before joining PWC, Bill successfully managed the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Bill holds an MBA from Boston University as well as a graduate degree in Medieval History from The Johns Hopkins University. He has taught courses in History and Film Criticism at both Johns Hopkins and Boston University respectively. He has spoken at Harvard Business School, Northeastern University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Babson College and Boston University on organizational development, succession planning and career management. Bill is a Trustee of the Berklee College of Music and Chairs the Membership Committee and serves as an Advisor to the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology.

Bill is married with two children, Lili, a graduate of Princeton University and the creative writing program at Boston University, and John, a graduate of Amherst College.

President, Fidelity Personal Investing, Fidelity Investments

Chief Financial Officer, Fidelity Investments

Chief Executive Officer, Obalon Therapeutics

Head of Managed Services, COLT Telecommunications

Chief Executive Officer, Argolyn Biosciences

Chief Executive Officer, BiPar Sciences, Inc

President:Technology and Operations, Fidelity Investments

Chief Executive Officer, Marinus Pharmaceuticals

Chief Executive Officer, TargetRx

Board Member, Novalar Pharmaceuticals

General Partner, Aberdare

Chief Executive Officer, HR Access Solutions

President and Chief Executive Officer, Posit Science Corporation

Chief Executive Officer, Pyramis Global Advisors

Chief Financial Officer, Surge Trading

Chief of Business Development and Strategy, Surge Trading

Head of Sales, Surge Trading

1. What would you say was your most challenging placement and why?

A memorably challenging placement was Frank Moss at the Head of the MIT Media Lab. The challenge of this assignment derived from both the complex client constituency at MIT and the Media Lab and the breadth and ambiguity of the job charter. The issues involved in finding the right person were political at multiple levels. First, there was the density of the psychic environment at a major research institution and the added wrinkle of this prominent “independent” research organization embedded within it. Second, the larger-than-life personality of Lab founder Nicholas Negroponte permeated and shaped the culture of the organization. Finding a successor to Negroponte was a daunting exercise in and of itself. Finally, we had to negotiate the complex objective function of the lab itself, which had both intellectual excellence at its core mission as well as elaborate interface with the commercial technology world. The Media Lab dimensionally exists at once both within and outside of the Institute.

Our approach to this unique recruiting challenge was to vigorously execute a multi-pronged recruiting strategy across a range of universes including Higher Education (Deans of Schools of Engineering), world class innovators in industrial design (i.e. Renault / Ferrari), sophisticated Media companies (Disney / Warner Brothers), prominent high technology organizations (i.e. Apple and Microsoft), and the world of entrepreneurship. It was in the last category that we found Moss.

The further challenge lay in convincing Frank (at a point in his life where he had made sufficient money and established his executive reputation) to look upon the MIT Media Lab as the right opportunity to “give back” and expand his own already considerable repertoire of skills. Frank was won over by the prospect of self actualization and the notion that successful leadership of this uncommon institution might enhance competitiveness for New England and the US. Finally, it was the mission that got him.

2. What would you say is the top attribute that makes J. Robert Scott more effective than other senior level search companies?

Our intellectual honesty and the fact that we hold ourselves at an elevated objective standard of performance. J. Robert Scott looks for candidates everywhere it should look, and not just within its known database of contacts. This elevated objectivity and compulsive push toward completeness leads to a beautiful effort on behalf of the client that yields the best result possible.

3. What international city do you find to be most interesting and why?

Paris, the City of Light, is the most interesting for me because of all the European history that is embodied in its edifices, monuments, and streets. A graduate degree in Parisian history made me more sensitive to the nuances of the city’s construction. For me, it’s great to be in Paris because of its imposing past and elegant present.

4. What do you consider to be the hardest challenge in finding the right candidate for your clients?

The most daunting challenge is to emotionally and intellectually persist in investigating any given candidate universe to find the right person who truly makes sense for the client, not just the one whom they will most readily hire. Our pledge is to hold ourselves to an even higher standard of excellence than our clients do for themselves.

5. What’s the last book you read and did you like it?

The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester. I liked this book because it was intellectual history with a Victorian quality. This book tells the uncommon story of a Cambridge scientist and polymath who discovered the cultural essence of China at a point in time in western history when intimacy with China was politically not a comfortable position to maintain (Fifties and Sixties). This book taught me a lot about China and England at the same time and Winchester told a compelling story.