David C. Smith
President and Founding Partner
David ranked as a top-producing recruiter for two national executive search firms before developing his own management consulting and executive recruitment company, now known as Merit Consulting, Inc. Previously, he was the Director of Environmental, Health and Safety for Allied Signal where he was integrally involved with management of engineering and operational improvements which led to recognition by the State of Florida for Corporate Advancement of Environmental Initiatives on privately held land.
The bulk of David’s knowledge and experience is in manufacturing, specifically in the automotive and aerospace sector. Existing OEMs and new start-ups find him especially helpful securing engineering and operations talent for the electric and hybrid vehicle industry. His passion and experience is in understanding, and teaming with, stakeholders of mid to large public and private companies, and with Private Equity firms. David has a large network of talent who know how to grow through implementation use of Continuous Improvement initiatives He has placed hundreds of Presidents, Board Members, and C-suite talent, including their complete staff (from Manager to VP level) for key roles with companies located in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Throughout his executive search career, David has also successfully trained and developed numerous executive search professionals, and also writes and speaks at the local and national level on progressive methods used in the search industry to find, motivate and place top level talent. He earned his B.S. from the University of Florida in 1984.
David and his wife, Diane, and their three children live in St. Johns, FL.
Patrick D’Errico
Director, Recruitment & Operations
Pat brings over 20 years experience in executive search. He has successfully built relationships with numerous Fortune 500 organizations specializing in finance, accounting, equipment leasing, banking, sales and operations recruiting. He began his career managing and growing technology vendor relationships with Copelco Capital, a large equipment finance organization. Pat then joined a start-up leasing company, Captive Leasing Services, which managed Danka Office Imaging’s captive leasing program. For the last seven years, he has used his financial background to help grow several national executive search practices. Pat earned a Bachelors Degree in English from Montclair State University.
Ted Tippins
Director, Business Development
Ted Tippins joined Merit Consulting with an impressive and strong professional recruiting background. He was a top producing executive for a National placement firm, The CSI Companies. While with the organization, Ted assisted in quick expansion efforts by growing the business from 4 cities to over 20 cities nationwide. Ted was promoted to Vice President of Sales and President of CSI Health, a division of The CSI Companies. Prior to his experience and growth with CSI, Ted was in the financial industry in Washington, DC with Ferris, Baker Watts, Inc. He earned his bachelors degree from Elon University where he played NCAA football for 2 years.
Ted is a great complement to the executive search component of Merit Consulting, Inc. because of his knowledge and experience of the contract and temporary placement industry. Ted has proven experience building long term business relationships with Fortune 100 businesses, non-profit organizations, as well as growing start-ups. In 2012, Ted created a start-up division of Merit called Merit Staffing, LLC, where he serves as its President. With his understanding of the dynamics of the permanent and temporary staffing industry, Ted is developing additional contract staffing business in multiple industries and segments, such as Financial, IT, Health, Logistics and Manufacturing.
Mike Wilkinson
Director, Recruitment Services
Mike Wilkinson joined Merit Consulting with a diverse background in healthcare and finance. Mike spent 19 years with Fortune 100 companies selling medical equipment, medical devices and pharmaceuticals working for P.S.S., Quinton Instrument Company (a division of American Home Products, now Pfizer) and Schering-Plough (now Merck). With these companies, Mike consistently exceeded sales goals and earned multiple President Club honors, among other sales awards. Mike was also a sales trainer where his responsibilities included interviewing prospective sales representatives, training and mentoring.
Mike focuses his time primarily in the pharmaceutical, medical device and manufacturing environment. He spearheaded the largest group search for Merit, a significant launch of a sales force for a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical client. Mike recruits for all verticals, mid to senior level, in the healthcare space, including but not limited to: Regulatory Affairs, Quality, Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Operations and other disciplines.
Mike is actively involved in community affairs, and currently serves as a Commissioner for the Town of Belleair, located in the Tampa Bay area.
Mike earned his B.S. in Marketing and Minor in Management from Jacksonville State University.