Now a $230 million company; Nelson founder to head board
[caption id="attachment_21158" align="alignleft" width="108" caption="Catherine Candland"][/caption]
SONOMA - Catherine Candland, the former chief executive officer of Advantage Human Resourcing Inc., was hired as the new CEO for the Sonoma-based Nelson Family of Companies last week.
Ms. Candland will take over the CEO position for Nelson from its founder Gary Nelson, who started the staffing firm in 1970 and who has been the CEO for 40 years. He will now serve as chairman of the board.
Ms. Candland founded Advantage in 1985 and remained CEO of the Connecticut-based company for the next 24 years. With Advantage, she developed the company’s differentiated services offerings, which included recruitment process outsourcing, contingent work force management and business process outsourcing, direct hire searches and project recruitment, among others, according to Nelson.
“I undertook the new CEO search with extremely high expectations and requirements,” Mr. Nelson said. “I was looking for the perfect candidate, and I found her.”
Advantage recently was ranked the number one managed services program by HRO Today, and WorkforceLogic, a business division of Nelson, was ranked number six in the same category, the company said.
Advantage also grew from a single-office startup to a $230 million global human capital organization under Ms. Candland’s tenure, according to Nelson, which said she also became interested in “identifying a new opportunity with growth potential,” leading her to join Nelson.
“I’m very pleased about my new role with the Nelson Family of Companies,” the Greenwich, Conn., resident said. “This is a progressive organization.”
Nelson spokeswoman Courtney Dickson said Mr. Nelson was “ready to pass the helm on to someone like Catherine, and we’re thrilled to have her.”
In addition to working as the CEO of Advantage, Ms. Candland served on the New York Federal Reserve Bank Board of Small Businesses as well as the Connecticut Governor’s Council on Economic Competitiveness and Technology.
As board chairman, Mr. Nelson will focus more attention on “expanding the service offerings and the international operations” and will remain active in company acquisitions, strategic planning and industry alliances, the company said. He also plans on spending time “serving the health care needs and educational needs of Sonoma County.”
