Marsha L. Koelmel, Co-Founder and Co-President of Catapult Executive Consulting, a NYS certified woman-owned business, is a highly experienced business partner who engages Boards, CEOs and Executives in the process of creating innovative, forward-thinking strategies and solutions to address their most challenging people & talent issues.
Marsha leads the firm’s retained executive search practice which specializes in CEO, President, Executive Director, and other senior executive searches for mission-driven clients. Her clients have included People Inc., Forest Lawn Cemetery, Aspire WNY, Community Foundation of WNY, WNY Impact Investment Fund, Child & Family Services, Nichols School, Nardin Academy, Trocaire College, Community Action Organization, Best Self Behavioral Health, and Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. In addition to the firm’s success in executive search, her clients rely on her in-depth knowledge and extensive experience in organizational development including CEO succession & transition planning to design and deliver custom solutions to their unique needs.
As a former executive in the financial services industry, Marsha was responsible for developing the talent strategy for a rapidly expanding publicly traded organization including the integration of multiple acquisitions. Prior to founding Catapult with her partner, Siobhan C. Smith, Marsha spent 20 years in banking where she rose to Chief Human Resources Officer for First Niagara Financial Group.
A life-long resident of WNY, Marsha is a passionate community leader and serves as the Vice-Chair of the boards of NativityMiguel Middle School and Buffalo Hearing & Speech Center. She previously served as a Board member of Wider Opportunities for Women, based in Washington, D.C., and as the Vice Chair of Nichols School—a nationally recognized college preparatory school in Buffalo, N.Y. Her varied accomplishments in the public and private sector led her to receive the prestigious “40 under 40 Award” from Business First, Buffalo’s leading business news publication.
Marsha received her BA in Marketing from Canisius College and completed a post-graduate program with Cornell University in Industrial & Labor Relations.
Personal Perspective: One of our values is to Deliver Meaningful Results. This one resonates with me as it is the promise that Siobhan and I made to each other when we started our business. As former executives, we hired many consultants, so we know what it means to spend company resources and bring someone in from the outside to interact with your team. There is a lot at stake, and the success or failure of the engagement is directly tied to the person who engaged the consultants. Our promise to our clients is that we will listen until we fully understand the challenge, apply our expertise, and design an engagement that will achieve results. It sounds simple, but in our experience, it’s all too rare. For us, there is no satisfaction until the problem is solved and the client is happy.