Dawn Duncan joins A-Train staff
FORT COLLINS – After many years as a serial entrepreneur, Dawn Duncan has sold the accounts of Broadreach Recruiting and Consulting to become Senior Account Manager for A-Train Marketing in Fort Collins on May 1.
Duncan, who has written the Authentic Entrepreneur column for the Northern Colorado Business Report since 2008, will also become “second-in-command” for A-Train owner Gretchen Gaede.
“It makes so much sense, but it never occurred to either of us before,” Gaede said. “We’ve been friends for so long – we even started our first businesses in the same tiny office 12 years ago because we couldn’t afford separate spaces – that I didn’t think of Dawn as a possible business partner.”
Duncan had relocated Broadreach to the A-Train offices at the beginning of the year, after former partner Rob Timme left the business to become director of human resources at SafeBuilt Inc. in Loveland. Ryan Keiffer, co-owner of A-Train, became executive director of the Beet Street arts organization in Fort Collins last summer.
“So, we had both lost our partners and needed to redefine how we were running our businesses,” Duncan said. “I love being around the energy of the A-Train team and all their creativity, and I feel I have a better chance of success working with a team that is aligned with my values.”
As a member of a team, Duncan said, she will be looking for one thing many entrepreneurs never receive when working alone – feedback.
“It sounds crazy, but I’ve rarely had anyone tell me what they liked or
didn’t like about the way I did things,” she said. “I’m craving that interaction.”
Duncan added that another motivation for her move was a growing dissatisfaction with the direction the recruiting industry has taken in recent years.
“It’s not about building relationships and finding the right person for the right job the first time anymore,” she said. “It’s all about job boards and automation and speed and hit ratios, and results aren’t reviewed for long-term success. It’s like video killed the radio star – I just wasn’t having fun doing what I was doing anymore. I have no regrets leaving the industry.”
While she declined to reveal financials, Duncan said she had sold the Broadreach accounts but not the brand. Action Staffing Solutions in Loveland purchased roughly 200 recruiting accounts, and Katy Piotrowski of Career Solutions in Fort Collins bought nearly 500 coaching and resume accounts.
At A-Train, Duncan will be selling and managing client accounts as well as providing backup for the operations side of the young company.
“I’m already the ‘mother hen’ of the office, and I’m not even 40 yet,” Duncan said.
Gaede said she was already seeing the benefits of the infusion of Duncan’s “vast networks” of contacts.
“Our whole approach is about people, not products,” she said. “Dawn joining the team has the staff super-excited. I think it’s going to be a bizarrely natural transition.”
FORT COLLINS – After many years as a serial entrepreneur, Dawn Duncan has sold the accounts of Broadreach Recruiting and Consulting to become Senior Account Manager for A-Train Marketing in Fort Collins on May 1.
Duncan, who has written the Authentic Entrepreneur column for the Northern Colorado Business Report since 2008, will also become “second-in-command” for A-Train owner Gretchen Gaede.
“It makes so much sense, but it never occurred to either of us before,” Gaede said. “We’ve been friends for so long – we even started our first businesses in the same tiny office 12 years ago because we couldn’t afford separate…
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