What we do
We believe people are the greatest advantage organizations possess and that leadership has the single largest impact on the performance of people. This is the belief that drives all of the people working for Grojean Kirst Associates, and the principle on which we founded our company. In providing consulting services around leadership & strategy, executive search and the recruitment and retention of veteran talent, we strive to fulfill that belief with every client.
To learn more about each of our service offerings, follow the links below.
Our practice areas
Leadership & Strategy
Executive Search
Our focus industries
Energy & Manufacturing
Oilfield Services, Manufacturing, Construction, Chemicals, Pipeline, Utilities
Security
Physical, Cyber, Information, Executive
Healthcare
Patient care, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices Manufacturing
Logistics
Transportation, Modern Materials Handling, Maintenance, Warehouse Operations
Why we do it
Impact
We believe in making a difference. Time is one of the most precious resources we have. We choose to spend our time adding value to our clients beyond financial, creating a work space that nurtures ourselves and our colleagues, and by contributing our attention and resources to causes that are important to us.
Passion
We believe in the value of people. When treated with dignity and respect and given proper resources, people are the greatest competitive advantage of an organization.
Service
We believe to lead is to serve. A position of leadership is not one of privilege but of responsibility. None of us would be where we are today without others who believed in and invested in us. This investment drives our sense of responsibility to serve those we do business with, those within our team, and the communities in which we live.
How we do it
Relationship-based
Our business model is built on long-term, sustained partnerships with our clients. In the long run, relationship-based transactions lead to greater success than transaction-based relationships.
Principal led
All of our work is principal led. Our principals become an extension of your team and remain involved throughout the duration of the relationship. As an extension of your team, we expect to be held to the same standards of performance as the rest of your organization. Our investment in creating a deep understanding of your business results in both cost and time savings across engagements.
Shared Values
To provide that level of engagement we choose to maintain a small, exclusive client portfolio. We work with companies and organizations that share our values and ideals of personal and professional ethics, as well as share our understanding of the value of sustained partnerships.
Who we are
Our leadership team
Michael Grojean, Ph.D.
Leadership & Strategy Practice Area Lead
Dr. Michael Grojean founded Grojean & Associates in 2012 as a response to continuing leadership consulting requests from his prior academic, military and consulting connections. He has proven his expertise in leadership, strategy and organizational development.
Dr. Grojean has worked with national and international organizations during periods of significant change, including facilitating change leadership for the Minister of Health for Malta, consulting for NATO, the UK Ministry of Defense Leadership and Management Center, British Petroleum, Land Rover-Jaguar, Eli Lilly, and the U.S. EEOC.
He served as Leadership Policy Officer for the U.S. Army, where he was responsible for developing, coordinating and implementing leadership and leader development policy and doctrine for the 1.4 million person active and reserve force. During this time, he authored the U.S. Army’s mentorship doctrine, critically changing the organizational paradigm of developmental relationships.
He has served in various academic and operational leadership roles, from teaching leadership at West Point to directing executive education programs at Aston School of Business in the U.K. and at Rice University in the U.S. Additionally, he has provided congressional testimony expert witness, thought leadership research, scientific publications and numerous white papers, and policies regarding leadership, strategy and organizational change. He serves as an expert resource for media.
Joy Brown Kirst
Executive Search Practice Area Lead
Joy Brown Kirst brings with her over 20 years of corporate and consulting experience. For the majority of those years, she was in the executive search industry, starting and growing the regions of two boutique firms entering the North American market.
She was most recently with FWB Park Brown, where she established the company’s presence in the North and South American regions, specializing in the energy industry. Prior to that, Joy was Vice President at Maxwell Drummond International, also focused on the energy sector. During her seven years with the firm, she helped grow the Houston office from two to 17 staff members, and managed teams conducting searches in North and South America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Additionally, she served as the Director of Alumni and Corporate Relations at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.
Prior to Maxwell Drummond, Joy was with Heidrick & Struggles in the Houston office. Working with the leader of the Energy & Chemicals Practice, Joy helped build the practice from scratch to a significant business within the Industrial Practice for the firm.
Joy began her professional career with Western Atlas International, a leading oilfield services company, now a part of Baker Hughes. In her role she worked with the engineers, geologists and geophysicists of the company to provide technical, business and patent data for the development of the company’s logging tools.
Joy has an undergraduate degree in Russian and a Master’s degree in Library Science. In 2012, she completed her Master of Business Administration at Rice University.