Privacy Policy

Edgewater Associates, LLC ("Edgewater," "we," "us," or "our"), founded and managed by Brian Utley in Evanston, Illinois, conducts specialized executive search, leadership recruiting, and philanthropic advisory exclusively for the nation's premier higher education, arts and culture, healthcare, and civic institutions.

Because advancement recruiting involves confidential career transitions and sensitive institutional strategies, we maintain the highest fiduciary standards of discretion. This Privacy Policy details how we collect, handle, safeguard, and process institutional search data, candidate career dossiers, and website diagnostic telemetry across edgewaterassociatesllc.com.

We collect only the specific information required to conduct high-integrity, personalized executive search engagements:

• Confidential Candidate Career Dossiers: Full name, professional credentials (CFRE, FAHP, etc.), verified major gift closure track records, campaign management histories, salary benchmarks, references, and contact coordinates submitted voluntarily via our executive portal.
• Search Committee & Institutional Parameters: Organization name, IRS Form 990 governance profile, annual philanthropic targets, team organizational structures, and confidential role requirements submitted by Board Presidents and CEOs.
• Diagnostic Calculator Inputs: Annual team fundraising goals and vacancy durations inputted into our Vacancy Cost Calculator. These calculations are processed securely to provide immediate financial analytics.
• Technical Telemetry: Standard secure server logs and SSL/TLS encrypted transmission telemetry. We do not use third-party advertising tracking cookies or ad networks.

All submitted candidate and organizational data is utilized exclusively for:

• Conducting founder-led candidate evaluations, vetting interviews, and portfolio verification by Brian Utley.
• Submitting confidential finalist dossiers to authorized Board Search Committees and Chief Executive Officers.
• Delivering 100-Day Executive Onboarding Support to guarantee seamless post-hire retention.

Zero Data Monetization: Under no circumstances do we sell, rent, license, commercialize, or disclose donor lists, candidate contact details, or search parameters to third-party data brokers or marketing agencies.

To uphold rigorous enterprise trust, our digital infrastructure, client portals, and intake telemetries are architected in partnership with the Developum AI Engine platform.

• Continuous SOC 2 Readiness: Our backend architecture operates under active SOC 2 Type II readiness protocols, ensuring continuous monitoring of access controls, TLS 1.3 encryption in transit, and encrypted storage at rest.
• Restricted Personnel Access: Candidate dossiers and confidential board deliberations are accessible only by authorized search principals.

Candidates and search committee chairs maintain complete sovereignty over their data. You may at any time request:

• A full copy of your submitted dossier records and contact information.
• Correction or updating of campaign achievements, current titles, or salary milestones.
• Complete and permanent deletion (purging) of your candidate dossier from our confidential active talent pool.

Requests for data verification or complete dossier purging are fulfilled within 30 days. Contact Brian Utley directly at edgewaterassociates@comcast.net or via phone at (773) 270-1230.

For privacy inquiries, dossier updates, or executive confidentiality questions, please contact our managing principal: