Team Bios
Patrick M. Prout
President & Chief Executive Officer
New York/Cleveland
Pat has responsibility for developing and managing the strategic direction of the firm, the daily operations and providing leadership for the firm's financial services practice. Additionally, he conducts senior level search assignments in the industrial/ manufacturing, non-profit and corporate infrastructure practices.
Prior to launching his own executive search organization, Pat Prout served as a partner in the Cleveland office of Heidrick & Struggles. He was a member of the firm's financial services, diversity, chief financial officer and industrial practices. He also conducted successful searches for clients in the insurance, manufacturing, telecommunications, entertainment and sports fields.
Previously Pat was president and chief operating officer, then vice chairman of Bank One, Cleveland, NA, a $2.5 billion assets affiliate of Banc One Corporation. His career in financial services also included positions with Bank of America in Los Angeles, Rainier Bank in Seattle and Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City. He also held sales and marketing positions with IBM, Miller Brewing Company and American Petroleum.
Pat received a B.S. degree in engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and an M.B.A. in general management from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business. He took his commission in the U.S. Marine Corps and served two tours of duty in Vietnam.
Betsy Bruening
Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer.
Cleveland
Betsy Bruening has over seventeen years of executive search experience and has successfully completed hundreds of search assignments in a wide variety of functions and industries. At The Prout Group, her focus has been on insuring high quality execution on each assignment. She leads the firm's Industrial Practice as well as the Board of Director Practice where she is often sought for her insight on corporate governance.
Before becoming a founding partner of the Prout Group, Betsy Bruening was the associate director of Heidrick & Struggles' Cleveland office. She was a member of the firm's financial services, diversity and industrial practices, as well as the chief financial officer Associates Council. While at that office she managed all research and execution resources, trained new consultants and associates on search strategy and processes, databases, Internet and intranet tools. She was appointed to the Heidrick & Struggles faculty, where she taught search strategy to all new associates in North America, and developed research and execution models used throughout the firm.
Betsy had previously spent ten years with British Petroleum, holding administrative and management positions with BP's executive management team as well as the human resources department in succession planning, organizational development, assessment and executive compensation.
She holds a B.A. in management from Malone College in Canton, Ohio, and an M.A. in psychology from Cleveland State University.
Tony Brown
Senior Vice President, Managing Partner
New York
Tony Brown has over 25 years of experience in global markets, management consulting, and with major retained executive search firms. He served in a leadership capacity with Renaissance Search Partners, Horton International in New York and also the boutique executive search firm, Whitney Group where he developed a Finance, Administration, and Operations practice. Prior to this he was a Senior Managing Director and the Global Head of Staffing & Recruiting at Bear Stearns, where he was responsible for professional and campus recruiting as well as an internal executive search program. Tony joined Bear Stearns from the executive search industry and had been a Principal at Egon Zehnder International in New York.
Tony joined the executive search business from Bankers Trust Company, where he was a Managing Director and head of an internal consulting group. He began his consulting career in the Financial Institutions Practice at McKinsey & Company, where he was an Engagement Manager. Tony also worked as a trader at Lehman Brothers where he helped initiate the firm's derivatives business. Tony began his career at Cobe Labs, a high tech biomedical device manufacturer in Colorado.
He holds a BA in Engineering and Applied Sciences from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford Business School.
Within the larger professional and civic communities, Tony served as a Board Member of the Academy of Finance in New York and the New York Chapter of the March of Dimes. He is on the Board of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, and is also a member of the Board of Advisors for the Macaulay Honors College in New York.
Mark Settles
Managing Director
New York
Mark is located in our New York office and is a member of our financial services industry practice. He also participates in a number of our functional specialty practices.
Previously, he was head of the pension and sovereign wealth fund segments within Worldwide Securities Services at JPMorgan Chase. Prior to this role, Mark was responsible for recruiting and retention efforts for women and ethnic minorities at mid and senior levels in the firm. Earlier in his career, Mark was head of various fixed income product teams and is a specialist in central bank and sovereign reserves management. Mark also spent five years trading dollar and euro-denominated fixed income products on the New York and London trading desks. Prior to joining JPMorgan Chase, Mark traded foreign exchange as a First Scholar at the First National Bank of Chicago and taught at the Paideia School in Atlanta, Georgia.
Mark serves on boards at Howard University and The Association for Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting. Mark's academic achievements include a B.A. in economics from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University.
Cece Lane
Director
New York
Cece Lane brings to the Prout Group several years of corporate and entrepreneurial experience in diverse disciplines. Most recently, Cece was a Managing Partner in the boutique search firm of Lane & Rush. The firm was a generalist group that had particular strength in managing diversity searches.
Prior to launching Lane & Rush with her partner Linda Rush, Cece was head of Global Executive Staffing for JPMorgan Chase. Her financial services experiences also included positions with Bankers Trust Company in Human Resources (Organizational Development, Training and Affirmative Action); and selling Fixed Income Securities to an institutional client base.
Cece has also worked for a pharmaceutical company, Sanofi-Winthrop, as VP of Human Resources and in the financial printing industry as an Account Executive for RR Donnelley & Sons.
Cece received a BS degree from SUNY at Buffalo and completed courses towards a MS at the New School in NYC. In addition, she has completed several executive and leadership programs. She has served on not-for-profit boards including, NYC ACTSO (Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics) for high school students; NFTE (National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship), for at-risk high school students; advisory board for Executive Talent magazine, and currently FEDCAP. She also served on the now defunct board of Key Bank, USA.
John C. McAndrews
Principal
Cleveland
John McAndrews has over 14 years of experience in corporate and agency recruiting. He has focused his experience across specific industry verticals including the financial, utility and industrial industries. He has handled engagements that have placed both mid and senior level management into a variety of functional positions including compliance, finance, human resources, operations, product management, research & development and sales & marketing.
John began his executive recruiting career in 1997, since then he has spent seven years with two of the leading global retained search firms, Korn Ferry and Heidrick & Struggles, where he was both a Research Manager and a Senior Associate. He has also spent four years on the corporate side of the recruiting business with Bank of America and Accenture, where he was responsible for supporting Managers and Directors across multiple lines of business.
John is a member of (SHRM) the Society of Human Resources. He is a graduate of the Portsmouth Abbey School in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and received a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. John recently relocated to Cleveland from the Atlanta area where he was involved in his community with the Jaycees, the Youth Ministry Group and The Interfaith Hospitality Network at his church. He is also an avid hiker, runner and skier.
Myriam B. Stephens
Consultant
New York
Industry veteran, Myriam Stephens, co-founded Hedgepros LLC, a premier consulting firm built to service professional money managers in their marketing, capital and operational needs. Prior to starting Hedgepros LLC in June of 2002, Ms. Stephens was a principal at Banc of America/Prime Brokerage Division for 5 years where she was responsible for generating new business as well as managing top clients' existing relationships and introducing them to potential investors. Previously, from its inception in 1980 to 1997, Myriam was the CFO/COO for Mandrakos Capital Management, a pioneer hedge fund that managed over $150 million. Among her many duties, she was the key contact for all investors, service providers, negotiated all contracts, and was fully responsible for the business, marketing, finance, compliance and operation of the fund. The fund returned an annualized net rate of 20% for 17 years until its portfolio manager, Leo Mandrakos retired in 1997 and returned all assets to the investors.
Myriam is a cum laude graduate of Temple University, with a Bachelor of Science degree specializing in accounting and finance. Myriam's professional licenses include NASD series 7 and series 63. She speaks at numerous industry conferences and has been quoted in a variety of media outlets. Myriam's industry associations include pioneering the Professional Development Group for the "100 Woman In Hedge Funds Organizations;" and has been a member of the Institute for Private Investors.
Lourdes Bennett
Office Manager
Lourdes Bennett is the Office Manager for The Prout Group, Inc. With over six years of executive search experience, she currently provides all administrative and logistical support to the group, their clients and candidates. She is also responsible for all bookkeeping and financial reporting for the firm. Lourdes played a major role in this start-up executive search firm with responsibilities ranging from assisting in securing office space, to the implementation of all office infrastructures while supporting the President and Vice President.
Lourdes' career in executive search began at Heidrick & Struggles. She was part of a three-member team that was ranked first in financial management searches in 2001. She was also the recipient of the Partnership Spirit Award for the Cleveland office of Heidrick & Struggles in 2000.
Lourdes has more than 17 years of administrative support/managerial experience. Additionally, she has experience in intellectual property law as a legal assistant and was previously a claims examiner for a workers' compensation firm.
