The Trewstar team has been doing a lot of high fiving this January

We have completed sixty successful board searches through the end of 2017, and the momentum of past years has continued to grow. In the upcoming weeks, eight more Trewstar candidates will receive invitations to join boards. Six assignments are in progress on top of those. By the end of the first quarter, we project we will have done almost as many placements as we did in all of 2017.

That's a good thing because we have set ourselves a beyond-lofty goal for 2018. We want to reach 100 Trewstar placements by the end of the year, an incremental forty in 2018.

How are we going to do it? The concepts we developed six years ago have served us well, and we will continue to concentrate on these business maxims:

• Interview the women first
• Present outstanding slates of candidates, often sourced from our own original research and connections
• Structure fees fairly, placing the execution risk on Trewstar
• Service clients at a level possible only with a team as thoroughly informed about the Board placement arena as we are

The positive upward spiral we envisioned at the start of Trewstar spins ever higher, but this year we need a rocket booster to get our mission where it needs to go in 2018.

We are writing because you are either one of our well-regarded candidates, a past client or a very special friend.

Our request, therefore, is simple and only a little humble: When you hear the words, “We are thinking of doing a board search,” please make sure you pass on our contact details.  You are essential to the lead generation that develops into assignments. Every completed Trewstar search – all sixty of them – started with a signed engagement letter. Virtually all of our engagements come from referrals or follow-on assignments.

Many, many thanks for all that you have already done to enhance corporate governance by changing the faces in America’s boardrooms.