One of Greater Des Moines’ top executive recruiting and search firms has changed hands. Bob Gates purchased Executive Resources from Gerry Mullane, who for 24 years was the company’s sole owner. The sale became effective March 3.

The sale price was not disclosed. “He’s really happy, and so am I,” Mullane said. Mullane founded the company in April 1982 to help small and medium-sized businesses attract top professionals. The company works with the top 10 percent of the talent pool in Greater Des Moines, she said.

At the time she established the company, Mullane was working for a nationally franchised executive recruiting firm that was struggling financially. After a failed attempt to buy it, she founded her own headhunting company to serve the needs of employers, who were encountering difficulty finding top-quality candidates for executive positions. “The upper 10 percent are employed and aren’t out there looking for jobs,” she said. “We try to recruit them.”

Mullane built her business slowly, starting out with one employee. At one point, she had 19 recruiters, but the business became too unwieldy and she cut back. When Gates purchased Executive Resources last month, the company employed 13 people, a half-dozen of whom are recruiters.

Before buying the company, Gates was an information technology consultant who contracted with large organizations such as Principal Financial Group Inc., Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, and John Deere Credit Union. He primarily provided project-management services, but also did some human resources consulting.

Gates said he “had been looking around passively” for a business to buy for some time when he saw Mullane’s blind post on an Internet business board. She had described her business in general terms, but Gates saw enough similarities between his consulting practice and her business to turn his passive interest into an active pursuit.

“They’re not that far apart,” he said. “They’re both service-oriented, and involve a lot of the same clients. It really wasn’t that big of a step.”

As the new owner and president of Executive Resources, he plans to expand the company steadily and expects to hire two more recruiters and another researcher within three months to respond to industry demand in Greater Des Moines, building on what he calls Executive Resources’ already strong reputation for cutting through the clutter of resumés and referring only top candidates to its employer clients.

“We are going to find them the right person, not just throw resumés at them,” he said.

When hiring more employees, he plans to build on another Mullane tradition and involve all current Executive Resources employees in the process to ensure the candidates are a good match for the corporate culture Mullane has created. “You hear a lot of people complaining about where they work, and it’s usually because of the people,” she said.

“The people who established this company are good-quality people,” Gates added. “You can’t train somebody to be a good person if they are not.”

Mullane will remain on staff for about a year in a consulting role, “not a micromanager,” she said. “It’s his company now.”

Eventually, she hopes to invest in another business venture.