Meet The Owners

Ellen Marcus, President

In 1991, after several years in the recruiting business, Ellen Marcus started her own firm, Marcus & Associates, to satisfy what she perceived to be the integrity and relationship building void in the accounting recruitment space. Through perseverance and a commitment to excellence, she has met that goal, with relationships on the both the candidate and client side spanning over a 25 year period.

Prior to establishing Marcus & Associates, Ellen worked as a “Big 8” recruiter, placing candidates predominately in Internal Audit, Product Control, Financial Reporting, Financial Analysis and other CPA oriented jobs. Over the years as her firm and network grew, she has helped her clients fill roles in their Accounting Policy, Treasury, Credit, Compliance, Regulatory, Risk, Investment and Corporate Finance departments, while continuing to help Big 4 Accountants and Consultants make their entre into the corporate world.

Ellen has her BA in Psychology from SUNY Stony Brook, and believes that her passion for helping people and understanding what drives and motivates them, both studied in college and carried out throughout her career, has enabled her to successfully guide her candidates and clients through the most complicated of job markets and career decisions.

John Schmit, Vice President

John Schmit started working at Marcus & Associates in June of 1995, directly after graduating from NYU. The intensive training that he received working side by side with Ellen Marcus in the beginning of his career has allowed him to evolve into a full-service, multi-industry accounting and finance recruiting expert. John has filled jobs in the power industry during de-regulation, at pioneering web companies during the Dot-com craze, at startups in retail, at leading commercial and investment banking conglomerates before-during-and-after the crash, at for-profit education firms, at trend-setting media companies, top tier consultancies, and premier Fortune 10 manufacturing conglomerates. John has successfully completed over 500 searches in his tenure at Marcus & Associates and made partner in 2006.

In addition to financial analysis, reporting and audit jobs, John works on many jobs that require a thorough technical understanding of complex financial concepts. Some examples include national searches for Accounting Policy, M&A and Corporate Development, Liquidity Specialists within Treasury and Basel/Regulatory Professionals. He works very closely with his clients in order to understand the culture of the firm in order to build long-term, mutually beneficial relationships. Many client and candidate relationships have been built over 10 to 15 years of working together so that he knows what works and what doesn’t, who can commute to which locations, and what positions allow an individual to get the most out of the job market. Because of his straightforward approach, you should always know where you stand with John and if you don’t, just call and ask.