Yellow Tree’s Founder and Principal, Bryan Erkkila, has 21+ years of experience in Minnesota and across the United States in the placement of Executives and Individual Contributors. His primary focus is on retained search and placement of VP and CxO’s (CFO, COO, CDO, CSO, CRO and others), as well as, senior-level individual contributors across a broad industry. Practice Areas: ◆ Accounting & Finance ◆ Technology ◆ Operations/Engineering/Supply Chain ◆ Sales ◆ Marketing.
Today, Yellow Tree Executive Search is the Twin Cities’ premiere relationship-based Executive Search company because Yellow Tree has always kept one thing a top priority — “a core focus on our customers.” Before founding Yellow Tree, Bryan spent seven years recruiting Executive Consulting Leaders from Fortune 500 and Big 4 / National Consulting firms for a top-tier Strategic Advisory and Project Execution firm. Prior to this, Bryan was the first employee hired by the Founder and President of one of Minnesota’s top search and placement agencies as recognized by Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Bryan played an integral role in growing this agency to one of the largest and most respected agencies in Minnesota and the U.S..
Bryan earned his Bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University and is a second-generation Executive Recruiter and agency owner.
Bryan lives in the Twin Cities with his wife, two kids (a boy and a girl), and English Cream retriever “Bear.”
Quote from Yellow Tree’s Founder and Owner:
“Yellow Tree is a tribute to my father; once recognized as one of the top recruiters in the country. He went by “Russ Edwards” for business reasons because he felt it was easier to spell and remember. My father often tells a story of when he told a candidate to accept a position with a different client than his own. The candidate trusted my father and asked him for his advice toward the end of the search process. My father advised the candidate to accept the “other offer” because he knew it was truly the better fit. In doing so, he lost out on a significant placement fee at that time. This candidate never forgot my father’s integrity. As the candidate went on to grow his career, he used my father’s services for another 20+ years as both a candidate and client.
These are the values my father has instilled in me, not to mention my work ethic and passion for the search business. I am bringing these values, work ethic, and passion to Yellow Tree and intend to pass these on to Yellow Tree’s team members and partners.”