Jim Bolt founded Executive Development Associates (EDA) in 1982 in Westport Ct. Previously, Jim had spent 16 years at Xerox Corporation in a series of line and staff jobs in marketing, branch management and human resources. Just before he left Xerox to start EDA, Jim was Corporate Director with world-wide responsibility for executive education, learning and development, and talent management.
EDA was founded on the premise that executive development must clearly support the achievement of an organization's strategic objectives. If it doesn't, don't do it. It will waste the time and money of the organization because it will have no significant impact. Jim's 1983 Harvard Business Review Article, Tailor Executive Development to Strategy, represented a breakthrough in transitioning from education for education's sake, to high-impact, strategic executive development. The article was one of the most requested HBR Reprints. In 1990, Jim's book, Executive Development: A Strategy for Corporate Competitiveness was the first to chronicle how CEOs were using custom-designed executive development programs to set and achieve their strategic agenda and objectives.
Our business model was simple i.e. we would be experts in the process of creating high-impact executive/leadership development strategies and programs. We would not staff up to provide faculty. We still believe that we can better serve our clients by tapping into our world-class resource base of best-of-the-best faculty to meet the unique needs of each custom program design -- and to create a virtual faculty team that works together to create a seamless, integrated learning experience.
EDA has always acted like a consulting boutique providing personal, high-touch service to each client. Our belief was that our consultants should have real, hands-on, business experience. We prefer to provide to our clients consultants who have worked in major corporations to design/develop custom programs tied to the business strategy, and who had to live with the results. We wanted to be consultants whose experience is grounded in practical business experience, not just academic theory.
Our mission was to reinvent executive education - to be pioneers and advocates for the strategic use of executive development. We aimed to achieve this through our consulting work with leading companies and our writing, research and publications. Over the years, we have had the privilege of serving half of the Fortune 100 companies and many other global 1000 organizations around the World.
In 1983 we conducted our first Executive and Leadership Development Trends Survey and the results were published in many industry magazines and journals. Subsequently, we have conducted and published the Trends Survey bi-annually and recently updated the survey process by making it web-based and interactive. Beginning in 1990, EDA began conducting benchmarking surveys for clients and conducting research on other topics such as High Potential Identification and Development, Integrated Talent Management Systems and Executive Coaching.
In early 2007, we merged with another leading consulting firm, Character of Excellence, adding complementary capabilities to Executive Development Associates in executive assessment, coaching and on-boarding, as well as talent management.
Bonnie Hagemann founded Character of Excellence, LLC, which specializes in executive coaching, leadership assessment, and organizational and leadership development, has become the CEO of Executive Development Associates International.
From it's inception, Character of Excellence experienced rapid growth with over 25 senior-level consultants located across the United States and was recently recognized by Inc Magazine as one of the fastest growing companies in the business consulting industry.
New Beginnings
Both founders are involved in building the new Executive Development Associates. Jim Bolt will continue as chairman and Bonnie Hagemann will serve as CEO. EDA plans to build upon it's 25-year history, as a pioneer and leader in the field. Our clients tell us that what makes us unique is our complete commitment to a high-touch experience for them, and providing them with easy access to the most renowned experts in custom executive / leadership development who are personally committed to their success.