Last Man Standing: TE Charter Member Steve Brody

As you probably already know since we’ve been mentioning it in just about every post in this issue of The Pinnacle Newsletter Blog, today is the 35th birthday of Top Echelon. Back when we started on March 8, 1988, we were not known as Top Echelon, though. We were known as Nationwide Interchange Service or NIS.

We know. It’s a long story.

Steve Brody

Part of that long story is Top Echelon Network Preferred Member Steve Brody of Executive Resource Systems. That’s because was a Charter Member of the Network. That means his agency was one of the 20 agencies that were new Preferred Member firms on that March day those many years ago.

A lot has happened since then including all of the other 19 agencies that were Charter Members either leaving the Network, closing their doors, or a combination thereof. Steve Brody, on the other hand, is literally the last man standing.

During his time in Top Echelon, Steve has made 140 Network placements totaling nearly $960K. And he hasn’t slowed down, either, as he’s made three split placements already this year and seven splits in 2022.

We reached out to Steve and asked him to say a few words about his tenure in the Network and his many experiences over the years, and he was good enough to do so. (By the way, the photo above is of Steve and Top Echelon founder Mike Kappel several years ago when Steve visited the TE headquarters in Canton, Ohio.)

Here’s what Steve had to say:

“I consider it an honor and a privilege to be a Charter Member of Top Echelon. The Network has been a major part of my life over the last 35 years, socially, educationally, and financially. I consider many of the staff and member recruiters as friends and valued colleagues. I’ve learned many viable skills from the online and in-person recruiter training sessions, and a high percentage of my future retirement savings would not be there if not for the 150+ split placements the Network has enabled me to participate in.

“I recall when the Network was called the Nationwide Interchange Service, which was free to join. They mailed me hundreds of hard copy worthless paper resumes every month. They are no longer free, and now I have to sift through hundreds of worthless resumes every day. However, it is well worth it for all of the ‘diamonds in the rough’ bullseye candidates and resulting split placements.

“Founder Mike Kappel, President Mark Demaree, ‘Head Geek’ Todd Bosler, Matt Deutsch, River Kale, Tyler Harrell, and many other TE staff have been wonderful to work with over the years. However, I want to give a special shout-out to Drea Codispoti, who has come through so many times for me. Whether proactively putting me in touch with other recruiters, mediating the occasional misunderstanding, or organizing and running various programs and conferences, he has been an invaluable resource to both myself and Top Echelon. His level of patience and understanding, drive, intelligence, creativity, and passion for the recruiting industry crowns him as the ‘top echelon of Top Echelon’!

“I strongly encourage other members to take advantage of the monthly core group online meetings and in-person conferences. I’ve made numerous placements that would not have happened without these direct recruiter interactions, and I’m looking forward to meeting old friends and hopeful new trading partners at next week’s conference in New Orleans!”

Everybody at Top Echelon would like to congratulate Steve on his commitment to the Network during these past three-and-half decades and also for his success and longevity in the profession.

And since Steve plugged the spring convention, we might as well, too. We hope that you’ll be joining Steve, the rest of the Top Echelon crew, and close to 90 other Network recruiters in New Orleans for Top Echelon Connect 2023 this week!