VANTAGE EXECUTIVE FORUM

Mary Younggren is the owner and principal of Advent Talent Group, an independent staffing and recruiting agency specializing in the focus areas of Marketing/Creative, Office Operations, and Human Resources. Whether climbing the highest cliff in Norway, or traveling to Haiti to provide aid, Mary isn’t one to shy away from a challenge.  

In addition to her 30-year career in staffing and recruiting, Mary is a life-long learner and widely recognized as an expert in her field. She regularly consults with hiring and organizational leaders about navigating the labor shortage crisis and the future of work.  As a business owner, Mary has generated consistent growth for the agency since taking her franchise private in 2015. This includes a significant increase from 2019 to 2022, exceeding company goals for 2021 and quadrupling Advent’s non-profit business focus. 

As past president of the National Association of Woman Business Owners, MN Chapter, Mary is equally passionate about helping other women business owners grow and achieve success. Through countless hours of service, including six years on the board of directors, Mary has been instrumental in driving pivotal growth and change for the vibrant MN chapter, including creating the successful Catalyst Fund program and winning the 2022 national spring membership drive. This involvement, along with her personal service, aligns with Mary’s purpose of helping people make meaningful connections. Mary is also an active member of the Women Presidents Organization in Minneapolis, the Edina Rotary, and the MN Staffing & Recruiting Association and has served on the boards of directors for each.  

Mary and her company have earned repeated local and national recognition for outstanding commitment to community service and other achievements. Most recently, she was selected as a 2022 Women in Business Honoree by the Minneapolis/ St. Paul Business Journal, and as a 2022 Enterprising Woman of the Year by Enterprising Women Magazine. Mary has also received numerous honors and awards from the Edina Rotary, City of Edina, NAWBO-MN, the American Staffing Association (ASA), and Minnesota Monthly Magazine.  

David is an expert in retained search, corporate recruitment and workforce consulting.  His depth of knowledge is outstanding; he’s been in the field for over 30 years. David is a nationally recognized speaker and blogs on matters related to search, staffing, and ethics.

David has worked extensively designing staffing systems for human resources, from both consulting and corporate perspectives.  David’s impressive grasp of organizations and human capital needs strengthened in the human resource departments of Fortune 500 companies: Honeywell and Pillsbury Company (acquired by General Mills), and Farm Credit Services of Saint Paul as well.

After leaving his corporate career, David joined Career Dynamics, an outplacement and career counseling company.  He became a Partner in the firm and worked there for seven years.  David and his business partners sold the firm to Right Management, a global company in the same industry. 

David established Abeln, Magy, Underberg & Associates, a retained search firm, as a respected partner in recruiting key talent within a large array of business: family owned, non-profit, high technology, food related, manufacturing and multi-national corporations.

David has been awarded a Certificate in Family Business Advising (CFBA) through the FFI (Family Firm Institute) Global Educational Network.

Fun facts and interests

David is very active in the community. As a “friend of the board” within three non-profit organizations, he’s busy with special projects such as assuring a safe and secure environment, working with youth camps, and cleaning up from natural disasters.  He is married to a (retired) fire fighter and has three children and six grandchildren. David enjoys many diverse hobbies and pursuits (he likes to collect experiences) – from martial arts to sports cars.