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Experts in Emotional Intelligence to Develop Individuals and Organizations 1 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />COVER LETTER INFORMATION: <br />Incorporation: As a predominantly female-owned enterprise Developmental Associates is a <br />HUB certified LLC (S) Corporation. We are located in Orange County. <br />Lead Consultant: Stephen Straus, Ph.D. <br /> <br />March 6, 2026 <br /> <br />Brenda Bartholomew <br />131 W. Margaret Lane <br />3rd Floor <br />Hillsborough, North Carolina 27278 <br /> <br />Dear Ms. Bartholomew: <br /> <br />As a firm located in Orange County, we would be delighted to work with you on your upcoming <br />process for the Tax Administrator. <br /> <br />We have partnered with the following NC counties to hire Tax Administrators: <br />• Durham County (the Administrator we helped them hire in 2019 was promoted to <br />Assistant County Manager. We then assisted in the hiring of the current Tax <br />Administrator in 2023.) <br />• Cumberland County (We worked with Amy Canon, former Cumberland County Manager <br />and current NCACC Outreach Associate – see references.) <br />• Beaufort County (Brian Allgood – County Manager is included in our list of references.) <br /> <br />We are the only local government search firm headquartered in North Carolina. We have <br />assisted in over 300 local government executive searches, most of them in North Carolina. In <br />2025-26, we worked with Buncombe, Cabarrus, Granville, Durham, Guilford, Pender, and <br />Cumberland counties on searches for executive positions and have helped North Carolina local <br />governments hire more than 100 managers. <br /> <br />As you review our proposal, you will note that Developmental Associates is not a traditional <br />"headhunting" firm. Instead, we rely on more objective, systematic, and accurate methods to <br />recruit, screen, and evaluate candidates, which we refer to as Evidence-Based Recruitment and <br />Assessment. This evidence-based approach represents a new paradigm in executive <br />recruitment and assessment, gaining significant traction. Our book, Beyond Interviews: Moving <br />from Intuition to Evidence-Based Executive Assessment, will be published in 2026 by Wiley, a <br />leading publisher of management books based in London. <br /> <br />Stephen K. Straus, PHD. <br />Heather A. Lee, Ph.D. SPHR <br />Holly Bishop, PHD. <br /> <br />www.developmentalassociates.com <br /> 510 Meadowmont Village Circle, 299 • Chapel Hill, NC 27517 (919) 812-0132 • skstraus@developmentalassociates.com <br />Docusign Envelope ID: DE8441AA-E59C-82BA-8112-C2D52F2C60C1