Market Credible Search Process in Houston, Texas

Jonathan founded Magellan International, LP in 1993. He works with many diverse clients in the professional services sector including: General Management Consulting, Turnaround Advisory Services, IT Services Firms and building Consulting Services within operating companies. For these clients he has performed searches in multiple industries, such as: Upstream Oil & Gas, Downstream Energy, Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Packaged Goods, High Tech and Retail.

Prior to Magellan, Jonathan worked for Shell Oil Company. During his tenure at Shell Jonathan served in various Engineering, Research & Development, Product Management, and Planning roles. He held positions as a refinery engineer, a research chemist, technical sales professional, a product manager, and a business manager before leaving to build Magellan.

Jonathan is an active member of The Petroleum Club of Houston, The Houston Technology Commission (HTC), The Greater Houston Partnership, and Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC). He was previously a member of Houston Area Association of Personnel Consultants (HAAPC). In 1998 he was honored as CPC of the year for the state of Texas. He served as President of HAAPC for two years and was a past Vice President of Arbitration for HAAPC, and its Director of Education and Certification for four years. He has also served on the Texas State Board (TAPC).

Jonathan holds a B.S in Chemistry and an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia. He also holds an M.B.A. from the University of Illinois. In his free time, Jonathan enjoys fly fishing, cycling, skiing, and camping. He is a member of the Krewe of Thoth in New Orleans.

Marlie is a Communications Advisor with cross-functional expertise in public relations and legal analysis.

At Magellan, she is responsible for business development, marketing, and public relations. Marlie is also in charge of planning Magellan’s quarterly charity event. Past events have raised thousands of dollars in kind and monetary donations for: Houston Children’s Charity, Texas Children’s Hospital, and local communities effected by Hurricane Harvey.

Prior to Magellan, Marlie worked at Rubenstein in New York City where she helped clients think through their most pressing challenges to build, advance, and protect their reputations with authenticity and integrity. She designed integrated campaigns that aligned organizational initiatives, personal activities, and communications with business goals to reflect what clients were trying to achieve.

Marlie holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Alabama and a J.D. from the Tulane University School of Law. Marlie an active member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on the Breeders Greeters committee. She enjoys golfing and spending time with her family.

Jason Sanders has helped numerous consulting firms grow their businesses based on quality talent he has provided. For more than 20 years, companies turn to him when they need to make a critical senior hire or grow a practice.

He focuses on selling your organization and open role by drawing on deep market knowledge and consultative selling capabilities. This combination of skills will allow you to hire the best consulting talent available.

Jason offers two types of recruiting services: a traditional executive recruiting model and a cost-effective multiple hire model. If you are looking to hire more than one experienced consultant, you will want to learn more!

In addition to running his own business for more than 20 years, Jason holds multiple Master’s degrees and loves learning about new cultures and languages. He is fluent in Spanish and spends significant amounts of time in Colombia, South America.

John specializes in developing and implementing innovative business models, marketing strategies and business development/sales improvement projects, while taking advantage of licensing, alliance and partnership opportunities to help his clients achieve their goals.

John has spent the past 25 years as an external and internal consultant, holding senior positions as the head of strategy groups at Hitachi Consulting, Discovery Communications, Sony Corporation and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. He was the President & CEO of the Association of Management Consulting Firms (AMCF) before starting Furth & Associates. In 2015 John became Vistage’s Chair for Brooklyn, a role which allows him to draw on his experience and extensive network to coach and advise CEOs and business owners of NYC-based small and medium-sized companies.

He has spoken at the Harvard Club of New York City, the Waseda Marketing Forum in Tokyo, the National Press Club in Washington D.C., IBM’s Global Innovation Outlook, National Public Radio and in front of various trade groups and has been extensively quoted in publications such as the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, American Banker, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Industry Standard, etc. John is a regular columnist with New York Daily News and blogs often on topics relating to management, leadership and strategy.

John received his MBA in Finance from the Stern School of Business at NYU and has a B.A. from Harvard College.

Carol is fluent in the principles of business and leadership, grounded in 25 years of experience. She was a member of senior leadership teams in two public companies, then founded and managed a multi-million-dollar services firm, and now serves as an advisor and coach to senior executives, leadership teams, and organizations. Clients count on Carol for her business knowledge, intellectual honesty, creative thought partnership, and bias toward action.

Carol focuses on working with leaders to execute strategic change. She and her team bring organizational development, change management, planning, and team building experience to organizations. Her clients include the C-suite, managing partners, division leaders, functional heads, and rising stars across all functional areas. Industries served include management consulting, telecommunications, healthcare, technology, transportation, education, food service and distribution, manufacturing, venture-backed start-ups, not-for-profit, recycling, and financial services. Clients include United Healthcare, Hewlett Packard, Sysco, Bell Helicopter, Tenet Healthcare, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, Waste Management, Alcatel-Lucent, Silver Ventures, CYMI, and Bar-S Foods.

Carol received an MBA from Texas A&M University and a BS from the University of Texas. She has completed numerous post-graduate leadership, facilitation, and coaching certifications.

Jim has recently completed a 44 year career in Sales and Marketing with ABB Inc., and now joins our staff of advisors at Magellan International. Jim specializes in mentoring young sales/relationship management professionals who have gone on to successful and lucrative careers in their respective industries. He brings a wealth of real-world experience and insight to enable clients to reach their fullest potential in their chosen career paths.

He began his career with the Westinghouse Power Marketing organization. Initial assignments involved Account Management for sales of equipment, software and services to energy companies, including major operational projects for the power management.

Later ABB Inc purchased the power operations of Westinghouse, and Jim had several assignments in Houston working with major energy companies the past 30 years. Most recently, Jim led the marketing team to win the contract to provide the Smart Grid system operating the Houston metro area. His specialty was to craft long-term Alliance agreements with key clients to enable advanced technology deployment more quickly, beyond that possible in conventional competitive bid-award cycles. In 2016 Jim won the “Speed and Innovation” award for ABB Inc in North America, based on his work leading the marketing team of a Homeland Security project for CenterPoint Energy in the area of grid resilience technology.

Jim received his B.S. in Industrial/General Engineering at Iowa State University. In his free time, Jim volunteers for the Fort Bend Family Promise. He is also an avid cyclist and participates in a number of charity rides including the Tour Gruen, LBJ 30 and others.

Over the last 30 years Mike has designed and led professional development to over 55,000 professionals in 450 organizations including the top 20 consulting, accounting and law firms and investment banks, 6 of the top engineering firms, most of the major energy firms and 41 of the Fortune 100. He specializes in strategic problem solving, business development and leadership.

Originally a professional violinist and pianist, Mike’s expertise and research focuses on how professionals achieve breakthrough results and create high performance cultures; combining the psychology of individual performance with the science of organizational change. His clients have achieved over $51b of additional profitability in part from Mike and his team’s involvement. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Coaching at Harvard Medical School and on the teaching faculty at Cambridge University’s Executive Education

Mark practiced as an auditor with Price Waterhouse early in his career, and then progressed through a series of leadership positions in the firm’s internal recruiting group before joining a boutique retained executive search firm in 1999. He founded Olsen Day in 2011. Originally from upstate New York, Mark graduated cum laude from Notre Dame in 1981, where he overlapped two years with Joe Montana, and zero years with Rudy. He has served on the boards of directors of SouthWest Electronic Energy and SouthWest Electronic Energy Medical Research Institute. He currently serves on the boards of directors of the Norwegian-American Chamber of Commerce and A Child’s Hope.

Jacob is an Executive Recruiter with expertise in medical and high tech industries. At Magellan, he is responsible for: talent assessment and acquisition, client-candidate liaison, data analysis and management, project management, and business development.

Prior to Magellan, Jacob worked as a Digital Asset Analyst at a tech startup.

Jacob holds a B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Physiology from the University of Houston – Clear Lake and is a current MBA candidate at the University of Houston – Clear Lake. Jacob enjoys hiking and kayaking and competitive gaming with his colleagues.

Talent Acquisition Partner | Engineering & Technical Recruiting | Program Manager

Blake Phillips is a results-driven executive recruiter with deep expertise in full-cycle talent acquisition across technical, engineering, analytics, and executive roles. With over five years of experience at Magellan International, Blake has built a strong track record of delivering top-tier talent to some of North America’s most demanding clients in energy, advanced analytics, and manufacturing.

Currently serving as Account Manager and Program Manager for Magellan’s Advanced Analytics practice, Blake leads concurrent searches across the U.S. and Canada, partnering directly with HR and business leaders to shape recruiting strategy and execution. His placements have generated over $4 million in revenue and include complex roles such as data scientists, algorithm developers, and geospatial engineers.

Blake brings a strong background in retained search, corporate recruiting, and research operations. He is known for his structured approach to stakeholder communication, transparent reporting, and an ability to build and manage deep technical talent pipelines. Earlier in his career, Blake led the internal transition of Magellan’s research function, delivering significant cost savings and operational efficiency.

A graduate of Texas A&M University, Blake brings a hands-on, analytical mindset and is equally comfortable in high-growth, high-pressure environments or long-cycle executive search. He has supported recruiting across North America and LATAM, with a particular focus on engineering, manufacturing, and advanced analytics.

JoAnn Thomas is a seasoned Career Strategist with a specialized focus on empowering individuals to achieve their dreams by discovering the career they have always wanted or taking the leap in entrepreneurial aspirations. She leverages a distinguished career encompassing roles as Vice President of People, HR Director, and Broker Associate to guide clients through successful career transformations. With a deep-rooted understanding of corporate environments and market dynamics, she excels in assisting individuals in navigating the transition from job to career or job to business ownership. Additionally, her experience as a residential real estate business owner provides invaluable insights into the challenges and opportunities of self-employment.

JoAnn is passionate about helping others reach their career goals and dreams.

Mickayla Soanes brings a sharp analytical mindset and strong strategic instincts to Magellan’s retained search and career counseling practices. Since joining Magellan, she has played a key role in expanding the firm’s commercial reach, leveraging data insights to enhance client targeting, candidate evaluation, and new product development.

As a Business Analyst, Mickayla has led high-impact projects that shaped Magellan’s go-to-market strategy, including the launch of the AI-powered Career Compass and Retention Edge offerings. Her work has deepened the firm’s reach into the Advanced Analytics and CleanTech sectors, while also helping optimize how senior-level candidates are evaluated and positioned for long-term success. Previously, as a Recruiting Associate, she supported searches across energy, high-tech, cleantech, and consulting sectors, earning praise for her precision in sourcing and candidate evaluation. She also co-develops thought leadership and manages the firm’s LinkedIn content strategy in collaboration with the CEO. Mickayla earned her B.S. in Maritime Business Administration with a minor in Economics from Texas A&M. She brings a rare mix of intellectual curiosity, client empathy, and execution focus to every project—and is fast becoming a trusted resource for clients navigating senior hiring and retention decisions.

Mitch Cullom is a business development professional focused on building strong client relationships and driving growth through customer-focused sales strategies. Currently serving as an Account Development Manager at Magellan International, Mitch partners with clients to identify opportunities, deliver tailored solutions, and strengthen long-term engagement.

Prior to this role, Mitch advanced from Sales Development Representative to Account Development Manager within Magellan, demonstrating his ability to generate qualified opportunities, build pipeline, and consistently exceed business development goals. His career foundation was built at Hydraquip, Inc., where he managed over $7M in customer accounts as an Inside Sales Representative. There, he gained valuable experience in sales operations, process improvement, and customer success.

Mitch holds a Bachelor of Science in Maritime Business Administration with a minor in Economics from Texas A&M. He brings strong skills in sales and marketing, customer service, and communication, and he is passionate about leveraging emerging technologies to enhance the customer experience and streamline sales processes.

With over 20 years of experience leading growth across chemicals, manufacturing, industrials, and SaaS, Tony Simas helps business leaders fix what’s broken in sales and marketing; before wasting more time and money.

A former leader at BASF, Ecolab, and DSM, Tony has turned around $100M+ business units, rebuilt go-to-market (GTM) functions, and launched high-impact commercial strategies that consistently deliver measurable results. Today, as Founder of Client Growth Partners, he serves as a Fractional CMO+, bringing deep operating experience, analytical clarity, and people leadership to B2B organizations facing stalled growth or go-to-market complexity.

Tony specializes in:

• Revenue Architecture: Aligning sales and marketing through clear ICP definitions, funnel metrics, and role clarity across 14 key marketing functions
• Commercial Turnaround: Reversing flat or declining sales with practical GTM strategies and integrated enablement based on a proven Learn, Plan, Build, Execute process.
• Marketing ROI: Rationalizing underperforming spend and overbuilt martech stacks to focus on what drives pipeline
• Change that Sticks: Using his “Hearts → Minds → Habits” model to make transformation sustainable, not just aspirational

His work has helped B2B companies cut marketing spend by 60% while improving performance, recover from 20% revenue losses, increase sales by multiples of the targets, and engage skeptical stakeholders in genuine commercial collaboration. Whether guiding private equity-backed manufacturers or scaling product-led growth teams, Tony brings both strategy and execution to the table; grounded in real-world experience and driven by results.

Based in the New York metro area, Tony also an Adjunct Professor at Fordham Gabelli School of Business, mentoring the next generation of growth leaders with a pragmatic, data-informed approach.

“In B2B, growth isn’t a guessing game, it’s a system. I help companies build it, fix it, or scale it.”