Category Archive for : ‘Industry News’

Shadin Maali has returned to the Gaines International team as principal for the firm’s Chicago office. Maali will co-lead the regional office with the firm’s founder, Donna Gaines .

Maali will implement and execute a purpose driven approach to guide and empower employers and employees to make the best possible hiring decisions for long term career growth and personal fulfillment. She will co-lead the searches for the firm’s AEC clients both domestically and internationally, as well as oversee business development and marketing for the firm’s Chicago offices.

“It is with great pleasure that

Donna Gaines has returned to Gaines International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allen Austin, as Founder and Managing Partner; pending two years offering Transition Coaching services to the design profession where she assisted design firms with ESOP’s, Advisory Boards, Value Acceleration Programs, Valuations and several other organizational needs.

Donna Gaines brings decades of search expertise to both the Gaines International and Allen Austin teams. Gaines International was acquired by Allen Austin in October of 2014 and has continued to partner with client companies in the A/E/C space in over 3,000 search

Congratulation to Allen Austin, our parent company for being recognized as one of America’s Best Executive Recruiting Firms for 2018 by Forbes!

For the second year, Forbes worked with analytics firm Statista for the annual ranking of America’s best recruiting firms. Statista surveyed 30,000 recruiters and 4,500 job candidates and human resources managers who had worked with recruitment agencies over the last three years which resulted in 14,500 nominations.

Click below to view the full lists:

• America’s Best Executive Recruiting Firms
• America’s Best Professional Recruiting Firms

Spring is almost, finally, hopeful here! And so we enjoy the sunshine that’s both outside and inspiring us in the office, by bringing you the second part of the women who motivate and inspire our founder, Donna Gaines with her commentary and insight following each quote!

1. If horses were wishes, beggars would ride. – Willa Mae Alverson This is my deceased Grand-Mother.  She would also say this to me when I wished for something.  It is a great English proverb from the 1700’s that I heard frequently growing up.  My Grand-Mother was a very strong

We hope your week has gotten off to a lovely start! And if you’ve already been down in the weeds of life, even more reason to take a few minutes, collect your thoughts and center yourself on the important things. With this in mind, we present a new short series of inspirational quotes that have motivated and energized Donna Gaines over the years.

1. I love people who make me laugh.  I honestly think it is the thing I like most, to laugh.  It cures a multitude of ills.  It’s probably the most

Hello and welcome to another week of inspiration from architectural thought leaders! Today we present the third and final installment of Donna Gaines‘s favorite quotes, with commentary, focused on the Building and Design industry! Next week keep an eye out for a new theme of favorite quotes. As for now, here are the final four:

1. “Logic will get you from A to B, imagination will take you everywhere. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution”: Albert Einstein.  Einstein’s reputation gained him a

Happy Monday! Welcome to another week. Without further delay, here is the second set of Donna Gaines‘s favorite quotes, with commentary:

1. “I try firstly to make buildings humane. The greatest satisfaction, I think, is when a building opens and the public possesses it and you cut the umbilical cord. You see it taking it’s own life.  There is no greater satisfaction”: Moshe Safdie designs building around the globe that touch many diverse cultures that give back to society.

2. “My passion and great enjoyment for architecture and the reason the older I get,

Good Morning! Are you looking for a few pieces of architectural gold to get your week started? If so, we have a few insights for you! Donna may no longer be in the office every day, but she is still a part of our Gaines International world. As such, we have some of her favorite quotes listed below. And keep an eye out on the following Mondays of this month, as we may just have more on the way! Without further delay, here are her first 5 favorite quotes, with commentary, from

Hey Ho happy Wednesday! At this point, we are almost halfway through February and our personal New Years Resolutions are in full swing. That being said, we’ve been focusing on how to improve our onboarding processes, improving leadership strategies, and how to improve ourselves amongst our coworkers. We hope you enjoy the selections we’ve chosen for you this week.

This Wednesday we thought we would start things off with a brief video. In this video, Amy Simmons the co-founder of Amy’s Ice Creams discusses her trick for hiring new employees. While

Losing top performers has a negative impact on employee morale, productivity, and company revenue. The top performing employees are the ones who improve your bottom line by closing more deals, writing better proposals, creating more effective business strategies, analyzing your finances more closely and many other ways. That’s not the only compelling reason to hold on to them though.