January 5, 2026 • 20 mins
Beth Maser CEO | Knowledge Management Expert | Chief Bottle Washer
"HAI is adept at proactively reading our target markets, and we're continually raising the level of the value we deliver. We are agile, imaginative, and we respond to our clients' needs for solutions quickly and effectively.”
Work at HAI
Beth Maser is a veteran Knowledge Management expert and certified PMP, she leverages decades of experience with organizations like the National Archives and ABC News to transform complex historical data into innovative, tech-forward solutions for global clients. As CEO of History Associates, Beth leads the company's growth strategy focused on major industry segments including government, legal, commercial, and associations and nonprofits. Beth and her team are delivering distinct service offerings to clients with expanded capabilities in digitization, culture heritage, litigation research, and advanced uses of technology. Together with her HAI team and strategic partners, Beth helps clients leverage opportunities from historical information and analysis to find creative ways to engage audiences of all types and add value to top and bottom lines.
Path to HAI
Beth's experience includes managing high-profile projects for the National Archives and Records Administration, the Library of Congress, USAID Knowledge Services Center, ABC News, and Fortune 500 companies and law firms. Leading multi-skilled teams, she helped to source, organize, and apply information in strategic and innovative ways. Before joining History Associates, she was the Director of Records and Information Systems at PPC, a management consulting firm, where she quadrupled the firm's knowledge management services to $17M. As the Senior Director of Professional Services for an INC 500 Information Services firm, she led teams of professionals to win and execute corporate and government contracts valued at more than $15M annually.Beth also founded and managed two organizations—University Ventures, a consulting operation, and Semantic Staffing, a boutique information management services recruiting firm. She is an active member of several professional organizations and engages with the UMD iLEAD Council and the Corporate Council of the National Archives Foundation.
Beth is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with an MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Beth also holds an MA in History and Public Policy from George Washington University and a BA in History from Washington University. She maintains a strong network of industry contacts and is also active in several DC-area organizations and nonprofits.You can also read Beth's articles published on Inc.com here. Inc. is the premier media brand for American entrepreneurs, offering inspiration, insights, and practical advice through its award-winning magazine, website, and events like the Inc. 5000 Conference.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
M and T Bank presents CEOs you Should Know, driven
by Western Transportation Group and iHeartMedia. Let's meet Beth Maser.
She is the CEO for History Associates, Incorporated, also known
as HAI, based in Rockfielle, Maryland, a professional services firm
that helps organizations manage research and interpret their history through
(00:21):
expert historical research, archival services, storytelling, and museums. Support serving corporations, government, legal,
and nonprofit clients by turning complex information into accessible narratives
and valuable insights for exhibits, legal cases, and records management.
Before we talk more about best Company, I first asked
her to talk a little bit about herself, where she's
from and her origin story.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I am from Longmeadow, Massachusetts, a town of fifteen to
sixteen thousand rate outside Springfield, mass I grew up in
the scrap metal and.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Paper recycling industry.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Went to college in Saint Louis at Washington University, came
to DC for graduate school at GW and I also
masters in history and public policy. And I've got a
master's in Library science from University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
And does that mean that we got you for good
once you moved here. Yes, lovely.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Sure. I met my husband two weeks after I moved here,
and that is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
That is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Well.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
I always love to talk about things that people are
learning in college and what they want to do, because
sometimes they're on the path and they stay on it.
And we found out this series that there are all
these different doors and paths going on. When you were
graduating from school, what'd you want to do?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Had no idea, you know, And I mentor a lot
of younger people right now, and I'm telling you, they
all have this plan. It's all mapped out, and I
think that they don't deviate from their plan. I wonder
if I had it easier in a sense that I
had no plan. And I fell into the reason I
got into history as a profession was I went to
(01:52):
go talk to my advisor at GW and he had
just gotten a call from a company, a public history
company called PHR Environmental. And ironically, my boss from that job,
Shelley Bookspan, is in my office today and she's on
my board.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Of directors currently.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
So it's a very small universe, and what goes around
comes around. But he had just gotten a call they
needed an intern, and I had just accepted an unpaid internship,
and I said, is it paid? And they said yes,
So I went on the interview. So I canceled the
other internship and went to go work for PHR Environmental
And I've been doing this historical detective work since the
(02:31):
early nineties.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It never ceases to amaze me where you have this
plan and then something happened at the last second and
it diverts your entire life, usually for the better. But
that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, I think people are reticent to take risks anymore,
real risks. Everything has got to be planned out, and
I think life happens when you're making other plans, right.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, you know I agree with that, And I know
this is not going to surprise you bet. But anytime
I've talked to people that either have started a company
or joined a company, it's usually about taking a risk
or that leap of faith and just going with it,
and usually it does pay off. And I'm sure you
can agree with me, and we'll talking more about it
in the leadership portion of the conversation about what you
(03:13):
have to do as a leader. And sometimes they are risks,
sometimes are calculated, but nonetheless they are risks. Well, I
want to talk to you about joining the company. You
mentioned a little bit about it, but as you were
coming on, and I know you've been there for about
seven years and almost four years as CEO, what was
the main attraction or attractions that led you to this
(03:33):
company that you're at now.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
You know, I knew a lot of the players in
the industry because I started. You know, my career has
taken a lot of weird turns, but it all led.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Back to hear. A recruiter reached out.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
They were recruiting for a president in early twenty eighteen,
and they sent me the job description and I remember
I was lying somewhere for another client.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I was reading through and I was like check.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Check, check, and I was like, this job description was
completely written for me. I was like, I really hope
that this works out.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
And it did, and I've been having a lot of fun.
It's not been without its challenges, but I never ever
thought I would get back to history as a job.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Well, it's really amazing what you and your team do
at History Associates, Inc. And we're going to talk a
lot about your programs, your capabilities, the kind of clients
you work with, because it really is vast, and when
I started learning about you a few weeks ago, I
was blown away. I knew you existed, and I know
we're going to be introducing a lot of our listeners
to what you do and it really is vast, and
we're going to talk about that. But before we do that,
(04:44):
I know mission and vision, especially for what you and
your team do, are very important.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Can you tell us what those are?
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I would say, you know, we're currently reworking our mission statement,
but basically HI transforms history into foresight and legacy into leverage,
you know, giving our clients clarity, resilience, and strategic advantage
for what's next. I think a lot of people don't
understand that they can use their history to really publicize
(05:09):
their company for good right, and.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
You're not the first CEO that we've talked to that
might be changing their mission. I don't know if you
can share with the audience about why you're doing it.
But is there a reason why the mission is changing?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I think the mission has always been similar, but we
think we're just updating the language to terms because I
think right now, in this day and age, I think
terms like legacy and foresight are really important.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, I agree with that. I do want to talk
a lot about what you're doing at History Associatesinc. And
I think the first thing we'd love to do, once
again as an introduction to our audience and may not
know much about HAI, is that if you were to
give Beth a thirty thousand foot view to tell all
of our listeners about what you exactly do, what would
(05:58):
you tell them?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
We really make history usable and for our clients, we
can preserve your legacy if we are doing your papers,
like we just did that for Tim Russert's papers in
conjunction with a company called Axial and John Carroll University,
so there's an online exhibit, you know, and he had
such a profound impact in journalism, so people can learn
(06:21):
a lot about him. We had his Emmys in our office.
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
It's like really cool stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
We've done a lot of congressional members as they're leaving office,
you know, they've got to clean out their office. Some
of their papers go back to committee, others our personal
their correspondence. We can do that fortune five hundred companies.
We leverage their archives for their marketing programs and just
(06:47):
letting people, you know, Feeld the nostalgia. I mean, think
Coca Cola, think Hallmark, think all those companies. You know,
you cry when you see their commercials, but they're using
their historical assets to you know, show those and commercials.
We do a lot of litigation research for ongoing court cases,
(07:07):
expert witness. Most of that's under NDA, but we've found
the rabbit in the hat for a lot of litigation.
We've saved our clients billions of dollars and settlements.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And with that, and without assuming Beth, I imagine that
a lot of historians and archifice are hired by you.
Is that the majority of your forty plus staff.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yes, MLS degree librarians that have a specialty in archives,
Masters level historians, PhD historians. But we're open, you know,
we can hire people with any background. But you've got
to love history and you've got to love solving the puzzles.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Right. I'm just going to you know, as I was
thinking about what your people do, and you can tell
us a little bit more about it. You're kind of
history detectives, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
We are totally history detectives.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
In fact, law Dragon has ranked us as one of
their top independent consultants, and they call Jason gart, director
of Litigation, a history detective.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I imagine that your reputation around with your team, it just
surpasses about what all you do. And I'm sure it's
incredible work that I know you want to talk more about.
But I don't want to assume that there are other
companies out there that do exactly what you do. But
if you are to differentiate yourself from any kind of
said competition that's out there, how do you do that?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
You know, I would say we've got a great multidisciplinary
team of researchers, storytellers, archivists. You know, we're creative and
we have rigorous standards for research, and you know, we
totally stick to the facts. We won't work with anybody
that wants us to manipulate the facts. You know, We've
got a deep bench of experience, We've got thought leaders
(08:47):
in archives. We're doing really cool things. We're asked to
be on panels.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
We have cool.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Strategic partnerships for archival one offering or Milestone collective offering.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
And I think we just have a unique positioning.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
We just don't preserve history, we try to activate it
as a decision making tool.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Branding.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
My next question could be its own podcast, and we'll
try not get political here. But history is in the
news now and facts are in the news, and I
think you've made yourself very clear about how you dissertain
that with your team and how you get it out there.
With that said, I'm just a layman, but there are
there any challenges for you and your team out there
(09:29):
because they're the Internet and social media and we are
battling what necessarily are facts and one art out there
right now.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
You know, the first thing they teach you in library
school is to authenticate your material. So you know, as
far as I'm serted, Wikipedia is not authenticated. You know,
you can't substantiate most of the facts that you're just
finding on social media. You have to be able to
trace the provenance of documents. So we do tens of
(10:01):
thousands of hours of work in the National Archives every
year Library of Congress, and every document that we use
is authenticated and thoroughly prominenced. Because you have, especially for
our legal clients, you've got to be able to trace
where it came from and prove that it's a legit,
(10:21):
authenticated source.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
I imagine you have handfuls of helping clients out there. But
my question always leads to, well, this is why we
get up every day, me and my team to make
something special happen. And I imagine with all the different
programs and capabilities and the different things that you've helped,
whether it's somebody singular or a business, is there a
story or two that you could share with us and
you don't have to mention the name or the company,
(10:44):
but you know it was this is why we get
up every day. We did something pretty special and that
you were really proud that you and your team accomplished it.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Well, we've done a lot of work for I don't
think a lot of people realize that each National park
has an archive. We've in the past chronicle and put
finding aids together for every National park, and there are archives.
We just sent a couple of years ago a couple
of people out to Catmine National Park out in Alaska
(11:13):
and they did strategic planning and interpretation for three parks,
so they basically connected the remote wilderness to public audiences.
We supported the Vera Institute of Justice sixty years of
their advocacy work and they had a huge party to
show off all the work that they've done, and we
(11:35):
did a lot of their exhibits for that party, a
lot at oral histories.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
So we've just done some really really neat stuff. You know. Unfortunately,
a lot of our work is under nda and people.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
We've worked with the World War Two Museum, the World
War One Museum, it goes on, and we were really
working on revamping case studies that we can talk about
for our website.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Okay, well, it's really cool, and I know it's just
a tip of the iceberg, and without assuming anything, I
imagine that when it is public, whether it's a plaque
or it's something in a museum or at a park
and somebody noted or you see it on social media,
but it's out there for the entire public to see.
Not sure proud is the right word, but it must
be pretty awesome that all that hard work comes together
(12:20):
to fruition and you see the final project. It must
be pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
It's really cool. And in fact, I had my entire
staff in last week for.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Meetings and one of the things that came out and
the group session was could we send the employee that
worked on these things to the actual exhibit so they can.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
See their work.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
It's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
In news and I was like, of course, we can
do that.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Why haven't you know?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
I know that we've been invited to some openings of
things that we've worked on in the past and the
employees that worked on.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
It have got to go.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
But I was like, that would be great social media
content for us moving forward. So I said, absolutely, we
will start doing that.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
You know, I'm glad you brought that up because I'm
sure you agree with It's me and I've been experienced
this in my industry for a long time that when
you have wins or something that was herculing in and
the project is finished, we're in such a fast world
that you just move on to the next project and
there's no time for celebration or an ada boy, and
that you're doing that and allowing that person that worked
(13:18):
on that project to go there and see the finished
project and the final part of it. I think it's
cool and celebrating the whole event.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree with that.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
And you know, when you're in consulting, you never know
what piece of the puzzle you're solving for. You know,
it could be just like a slice of pie, but
not the whole piece. A lot of times we as consultants,
we do our piece, we give it to the client,
but we're not entirely sure how it's being used. It's
really nice when clients are transparent and they're like, this
(13:51):
was your piece of the pie, or you helped us
from the entire life cycle of this project.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
You know, let's celebrate that.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And I think if you're consulting a lot of themes,
you really don't ever get to see the finished product
or how they used your work.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I imagine without any assumption that you work with anybody domestically.
With that said, is it all all of the United States?
And is it North America? And if you've gone abroad internationally,
how far have you gone.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
We've worked, We've worked across the globe and we have
a strong partner, especially that we're working with Archival One.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
They've got a great software package out.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Of the UK, and we keep every day thinking about
new ways we can work together.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
That's cool, that's cool. Well, let's talk about leadership because
I've teased that enough and I think it's really important
because you have a small staff of forty people and
I'm sure they're hard working, they're cool, and they're smart.
With that said, we have a lot of leaders that
listen to this series and talk about leadership, but also
a lot of future leaders and entrepreneurs. I'd love to
hear how they roll when it comes to leading people,
(14:56):
and when you have forty people or four hundred people,
you have a vision, you have a mission, and you
have a voice, but you have to give that to
your people to execute. With that said, when I talk
about leadership in your team, how do you execute it
and what does it mean to you?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Beth? You know, Dennis, I felt like if I ever
got into a really high position of leadership, like running
a company. Unfortunately, I have so many lessons learned that
I said, if I was ever in that position, I
would never do this, I would never do that, and
I've tried to stick to my guns. I also think
a good leader surrounds themselves with people that can do
(15:31):
their job. And I think a micro management style is
not the way to be successful. I've always been very macro.
I've tried to put the right person in the right
position and trust that they know how to run their business.
You know, I have a transparent, open door policy and
(15:53):
I always tell people I'm not clearvoyant. You know, you
can talk amongst yourselves about things that I'm not doing.
But if I don't know what you need me to do,
I can't do anything about it. And as I told
my staff last week when they were all here for
an all hands meeting, really use my door, come in
let me know because I can't guarantee I can solve everything,
(16:15):
but at least I know about it and we can
try to make things better for you. I just feel
that being transparent, be willing to take some risks, and
knowing when to say no to something is super important.
And I use this on a LinkedIn post a couple
of weeks ago. I think leadership is knowing one to
connell an audible.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
You know. The other thing that caught my attention that
this won't surprise you from other leaders we talked to
in this series is having the employees and your staff
have accessibility to you. And there's a lot of people,
and I'm sure you've worked with them, don't do that.
But there are so many benefits to somebody being able
to come talk to you one on one and saying
(16:56):
this is my challenge, this is what I need, or
here's my celebration. But just having acts to the person
that's running the company, I think is paramount.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, And I also think it's important to be seen,
you know. I think it's important to come into the
office as much as possible to show that you are
that person that tries to know what's going on. And
we just finished performance reviews, and I like to take
my management team one on one out for breakfast or
lunch because A, I think you have a better conversation
(17:23):
when you're outside the office. And two it should be
more of a thank you. It shouldn't be like, oh,
you know, you need to work on this, you need
to work on that. Yeah, that's part of the conversation.
But if I have to wait for a performance review
to course correct, I'm not doing my job right.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Right, And in this day and age of people working
from home or hybrid, how does it work with your team?
Speaker 3 (17:44):
You know, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I kind of equate what I walked into in twenty
nineteen to you know, a mad Men esque kind of
situation because people were required to be at their desk
unless they were a client site, are on travel And
if you know COVID showed you anything is that work
(18:05):
can be done from anywhere. I still like, you know,
to be face to face and to be in the office.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
But we operate on a hybrid schedule.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
We've employed a four to ten week if you want
a long weekend.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
Every weekend, my.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Archivists have to touch people's assets that are entrusted to
us while we're processing them, so you can't take them home.
So we put that schedule into the mix so they
could benefit from some of the hybrid situation that some
of my researchers that didn't have to come in the
office had.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
All right, very good, Well let's do this before we
give the website and everything else. Beth, Let's get some
final thoughts from you of our conversation and recapped what
we talked about. The floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
No, I think this conversation was great and I have
really flattered you wanted to talk about a history company,
and you know, I think using factual research and intelligence,
you know, in terms of heritage solutioning for your companies
is a great option for companies that they don't really
take advantage of, and a company like ours can really
(19:18):
troubleshoot some cool things for your heritage. You know, you're
celebrating one hundredth anniversary. You know you want to have
a party like what assets. You know, we haven't even
talked about oral histories as a storytelling vehicle for companies.
There's just the options are endless and it's really cool
if you're willing to talk about how you can leverage
(19:40):
your history or your asset or the good of your
company moving forward, and.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
If you want to check all those things out. And
I wasn't kidding, folks, it is vast of the services
the path in our team offer up. It really is incredible.
What's the website for everybody?
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Bet History Associates dot com outstanding?
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Well listen, it's a pleasure to talk to you. Happy
HOLI to you and your staff. We really appreciate you
doing this. Thank you so much, continue success, and thank
you so much for joining us on CEOs.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
You should know. Thank you for having me, Dennis, it's pleasure.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
To meet you.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs you
should know. Is part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a Bank for Communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive.
Because when businesses succeed, our communities succeed.
M and T Bank presents CEOs you Should Know, driven
by Western Transportation Group and iHeartMedia. Let's meet Beth Maser.
She is the CEO for History Associates, Incorporated, also known
as HAI, based in Rockfielle, Maryland, a professional services firm
that helps organizations manage research and interpret their history through
(00:21):
expert historical research, archival services, storytelling, and museums. Support serving corporations, government, legal,
and nonprofit clients by turning complex information into accessible narratives
and valuable insights for exhibits, legal cases, and records management.
Before we talk more about best Company, I first asked
her to talk a little bit about herself, where she's
from and her origin story.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I am from Longmeadow, Massachusetts, a town of fifteen to
sixteen thousand rate outside Springfield, mass I grew up in
the scrap metal and.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Paper recycling industry.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Went to college in Saint Louis at Washington University, came
to DC for graduate school at GW and I also
masters in history and public policy. And I've got a
master's in Library science from University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
And does that mean that we got you for good
once you moved here. Yes, lovely.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Sure. I met my husband two weeks after I moved here,
and that is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
That is fantastic.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Well.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
I always love to talk about things that people are
learning in college and what they want to do, because
sometimes they're on the path and they stay on it.
And we found out this series that there are all
these different doors and paths going on. When you were
graduating from school, what'd you want to do?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Had no idea, you know, And I mentor a lot
of younger people right now, and I'm telling you, they
all have this plan. It's all mapped out, and I
think that they don't deviate from their plan. I wonder
if I had it easier in a sense that I
had no plan. And I fell into the reason I
got into history as a profession was I went to
(01:52):
go talk to my advisor at GW and he had
just gotten a call from a company, a public history
company called PHR Environmental. And ironically, my boss from that job,
Shelley Bookspan, is in my office today and she's on
my board.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Of directors currently.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
So it's a very small universe, and what goes around
comes around. But he had just gotten a call they
needed an intern, and I had just accepted an unpaid internship,
and I said, is it paid? And they said yes,
So I went on the interview. So I canceled the
other internship and went to go work for PHR Environmental
And I've been doing this historical detective work since the
(02:31):
early nineties.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
It never ceases to amaze me where you have this
plan and then something happened at the last second and
it diverts your entire life, usually for the better. But
that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, I think people are reticent to take risks anymore,
real risks. Everything has got to be planned out, and
I think life happens when you're making other plans, right.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, you know I agree with that, And I know
this is not going to surprise you bet. But anytime
I've talked to people that either have started a company
or joined a company, it's usually about taking a risk
or that leap of faith and just going with it,
and usually it does pay off. And I'm sure you
can agree with me, and we'll talking more about it
in the leadership portion of the conversation about what you
(03:13):
have to do as a leader. And sometimes they are risks,
sometimes are calculated, but nonetheless they are risks. Well, I
want to talk to you about joining the company. You
mentioned a little bit about it, but as you were
coming on, and I know you've been there for about
seven years and almost four years as CEO, what was
the main attraction or attractions that led you to this
(03:33):
company that you're at now.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
You know, I knew a lot of the players in
the industry because I started. You know, my career has
taken a lot of weird turns, but it all led.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Back to hear. A recruiter reached out.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
They were recruiting for a president in early twenty eighteen,
and they sent me the job description and I remember
I was lying somewhere for another client.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I was reading through and I was like check.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Check, check, and I was like, this job description was
completely written for me. I was like, I really hope
that this works out.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
And it did, and I've been having a lot of fun.
It's not been without its challenges, but I never ever
thought I would get back to history as a job.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Well, it's really amazing what you and your team do
at History Associates, Inc. And we're going to talk a
lot about your programs, your capabilities, the kind of clients
you work with, because it really is vast, and when
I started learning about you a few weeks ago, I
was blown away. I knew you existed, and I know
we're going to be introducing a lot of our listeners
to what you do and it really is vast, and
we're going to talk about that. But before we do that,
(04:44):
I know mission and vision, especially for what you and
your team do, are very important.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Can you tell us what those are?
Speaker 2 (04:48):
I would say, you know, we're currently reworking our mission statement,
but basically HI transforms history into foresight and legacy into leverage,
you know, giving our clients clarity, resilience, and strategic advantage
for what's next. I think a lot of people don't
understand that they can use their history to really publicize
(05:09):
their company for good right, and.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
You're not the first CEO that we've talked to that
might be changing their mission. I don't know if you
can share with the audience about why you're doing it.
But is there a reason why the mission is changing?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I think the mission has always been similar, but we
think we're just updating the language to terms because I
think right now, in this day and age, I think
terms like legacy and foresight are really important.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, I agree with that. I do want to talk
a lot about what you're doing at History Associatesinc. And
I think the first thing we'd love to do, once
again as an introduction to our audience and may not
know much about HAI, is that if you were to
give Beth a thirty thousand foot view to tell all
of our listeners about what you exactly do, what would
(05:58):
you tell them?
Speaker 2 (05:58):
We really make history usable and for our clients, we
can preserve your legacy if we are doing your papers,
like we just did that for Tim Russert's papers in
conjunction with a company called Axial and John Carroll University,
so there's an online exhibit, you know, and he had
such a profound impact in journalism, so people can learn
(06:21):
a lot about him. We had his Emmys in our office.
You know.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
It's like really cool stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
We've done a lot of congressional members as they're leaving office,
you know, they've got to clean out their office. Some
of their papers go back to committee, others our personal
their correspondence. We can do that fortune five hundred companies.
We leverage their archives for their marketing programs and just
(06:47):
letting people, you know, Feeld the nostalgia. I mean, think
Coca Cola, think Hallmark, think all those companies. You know,
you cry when you see their commercials, but they're using
their historical assets to you know, show those and commercials.
We do a lot of litigation research for ongoing court cases,
(07:07):
expert witness. Most of that's under NDA, but we've found
the rabbit in the hat for a lot of litigation.
We've saved our clients billions of dollars and settlements.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And with that, and without assuming Beth, I imagine that
a lot of historians and archifice are hired by you.
Is that the majority of your forty plus staff.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yes, MLS degree librarians that have a specialty in archives,
Masters level historians, PhD historians. But we're open, you know,
we can hire people with any background. But you've got
to love history and you've got to love solving the puzzles.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Right. I'm just going to you know, as I was
thinking about what your people do, and you can tell
us a little bit more about it. You're kind of
history detectives, aren't you.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
We are totally history detectives.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
In fact, law Dragon has ranked us as one of
their top independent consultants, and they call Jason gart, director
of Litigation, a history detective.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I imagine that your reputation around with your team, it just
surpasses about what all you do. And I'm sure it's
incredible work that I know you want to talk more about.
But I don't want to assume that there are other
companies out there that do exactly what you do. But
if you are to differentiate yourself from any kind of
said competition that's out there, how do you do that?
Speaker 2 (08:23):
You know, I would say we've got a great multidisciplinary
team of researchers, storytellers, archivists. You know, we're creative and
we have rigorous standards for research, and you know, we
totally stick to the facts. We won't work with anybody
that wants us to manipulate the facts. You know, We've
got a deep bench of experience, We've got thought leaders
(08:47):
in archives. We're doing really cool things. We're asked to
be on panels.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
We have cool.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Strategic partnerships for archival one offering or Milestone collective offering.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
And I think we just have a unique positioning.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
We just don't preserve history, we try to activate it
as a decision making tool.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Branding.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
My next question could be its own podcast, and we'll
try not get political here. But history is in the
news now and facts are in the news, and I
think you've made yourself very clear about how you dissertain
that with your team and how you get it out there.
With that said, I'm just a layman, but there are
there any challenges for you and your team out there
(09:29):
because they're the Internet and social media and we are
battling what necessarily are facts and one art out there
right now.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
You know, the first thing they teach you in library
school is to authenticate your material. So you know, as
far as I'm serted, Wikipedia is not authenticated. You know,
you can't substantiate most of the facts that you're just
finding on social media. You have to be able to
trace the provenance of documents. So we do tens of
(10:01):
thousands of hours of work in the National Archives every
year Library of Congress, and every document that we use
is authenticated and thoroughly prominenced. Because you have, especially for
our legal clients, you've got to be able to trace
where it came from and prove that it's a legit,
(10:21):
authenticated source.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
I imagine you have handfuls of helping clients out there. But
my question always leads to, well, this is why we
get up every day, me and my team to make
something special happen. And I imagine with all the different
programs and capabilities and the different things that you've helped,
whether it's somebody singular or a business, is there a
story or two that you could share with us and
you don't have to mention the name or the company,
(10:44):
but you know it was this is why we get
up every day. We did something pretty special and that
you were really proud that you and your team accomplished it.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Well, we've done a lot of work for I don't
think a lot of people realize that each National park
has an archive. We've in the past chronicle and put
finding aids together for every National park, and there are archives.
We just sent a couple of years ago a couple
of people out to Catmine National Park out in Alaska
(11:13):
and they did strategic planning and interpretation for three parks,
so they basically connected the remote wilderness to public audiences.
We supported the Vera Institute of Justice sixty years of
their advocacy work and they had a huge party to
show off all the work that they've done, and we
(11:35):
did a lot of their exhibits for that party, a
lot at oral histories.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
So we've just done some really really neat stuff. You know. Unfortunately,
a lot of our work is under nda and people.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
We've worked with the World War Two Museum, the World
War One Museum, it goes on, and we were really
working on revamping case studies that we can talk about
for our website.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Okay, well, it's really cool, and I know it's just
a tip of the iceberg, and without assuming anything, I
imagine that when it is public, whether it's a plaque
or it's something in a museum or at a park
and somebody noted or you see it on social media,
but it's out there for the entire public to see.
Not sure proud is the right word, but it must
be pretty awesome that all that hard work comes together
(12:20):
to fruition and you see the final project. It must
be pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
It's really cool. And in fact, I had my entire
staff in last week for.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Meetings and one of the things that came out and
the group session was could we send the employee that
worked on these things to the actual exhibit so they can.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
See their work.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
It's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
In news and I was like, of course, we can
do that.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Why haven't you know?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
I know that we've been invited to some openings of
things that we've worked on in the past and the
employees that worked on.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
It have got to go.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
But I was like, that would be great social media
content for us moving forward. So I said, absolutely, we
will start doing that.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
You know, I'm glad you brought that up because I'm
sure you agree with It's me and I've been experienced
this in my industry for a long time that when
you have wins or something that was herculing in and
the project is finished, we're in such a fast world
that you just move on to the next project and
there's no time for celebration or an ada boy, and
that you're doing that and allowing that person that worked
(13:18):
on that project to go there and see the finished
project and the final part of it. I think it's
cool and celebrating the whole event.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree with that.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
And you know, when you're in consulting, you never know
what piece of the puzzle you're solving for. You know,
it could be just like a slice of pie, but
not the whole piece. A lot of times we as consultants,
we do our piece, we give it to the client,
but we're not entirely sure how it's being used. It's
really nice when clients are transparent and they're like, this
(13:51):
was your piece of the pie, or you helped us
from the entire life cycle of this project.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
You know, let's celebrate that.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And I think if you're consulting a lot of themes,
you really don't ever get to see the finished product
or how they used your work.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I imagine without any assumption that you work with anybody domestically.
With that said, is it all all of the United States?
And is it North America? And if you've gone abroad internationally,
how far have you gone.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
We've worked, We've worked across the globe and we have
a strong partner, especially that we're working with Archival One.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
They've got a great software package out.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Of the UK, and we keep every day thinking about
new ways we can work together.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
That's cool, that's cool. Well, let's talk about leadership because
I've teased that enough and I think it's really important
because you have a small staff of forty people and
I'm sure they're hard working, they're cool, and they're smart.
With that said, we have a lot of leaders that
listen to this series and talk about leadership, but also
a lot of future leaders and entrepreneurs. I'd love to
hear how they roll when it comes to leading people,
(14:56):
and when you have forty people or four hundred people,
you have a vision, you have a mission, and you
have a voice, but you have to give that to
your people to execute. With that said, when I talk
about leadership in your team, how do you execute it
and what does it mean to you?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Beth? You know, Dennis, I felt like if I ever
got into a really high position of leadership, like running
a company. Unfortunately, I have so many lessons learned that
I said, if I was ever in that position, I
would never do this, I would never do that, and
I've tried to stick to my guns. I also think
a good leader surrounds themselves with people that can do
(15:31):
their job. And I think a micro management style is
not the way to be successful. I've always been very macro.
I've tried to put the right person in the right
position and trust that they know how to run their business.
You know, I have a transparent, open door policy and
(15:53):
I always tell people I'm not clearvoyant. You know, you
can talk amongst yourselves about things that I'm not doing.
But if I don't know what you need me to do,
I can't do anything about it. And as I told
my staff last week when they were all here for
an all hands meeting, really use my door, come in
let me know because I can't guarantee I can solve everything,
(16:15):
but at least I know about it and we can
try to make things better for you. I just feel
that being transparent, be willing to take some risks, and
knowing when to say no to something is super important.
And I use this on a LinkedIn post a couple
of weeks ago. I think leadership is knowing one to
connell an audible.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
You know. The other thing that caught my attention that
this won't surprise you from other leaders we talked to
in this series is having the employees and your staff
have accessibility to you. And there's a lot of people,
and I'm sure you've worked with them, don't do that.
But there are so many benefits to somebody being able
to come talk to you one on one and saying
(16:56):
this is my challenge, this is what I need, or
here's my celebration. But just having acts to the person
that's running the company, I think is paramount.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Yeah, And I also think it's important to be seen,
you know. I think it's important to come into the
office as much as possible to show that you are
that person that tries to know what's going on. And
we just finished performance reviews, and I like to take
my management team one on one out for breakfast or
lunch because A, I think you have a better conversation
(17:23):
when you're outside the office. And two it should be
more of a thank you. It shouldn't be like, oh,
you know, you need to work on this, you need
to work on that. Yeah, that's part of the conversation.
But if I have to wait for a performance review
to course correct, I'm not doing my job right.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
Right, And in this day and age of people working
from home or hybrid, how does it work with your team?
Speaker 3 (17:44):
You know, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I kind of equate what I walked into in twenty
nineteen to you know, a mad Men esque kind of
situation because people were required to be at their desk
unless they were a client site, are on travel And
if you know COVID showed you anything is that work
(18:05):
can be done from anywhere. I still like, you know,
to be face to face and to be in the office.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
But we operate on a hybrid schedule.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
We've employed a four to ten week if you want
a long weekend.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
Every weekend, my.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Archivists have to touch people's assets that are entrusted to
us while we're processing them, so you can't take them home.
So we put that schedule into the mix so they
could benefit from some of the hybrid situation that some
of my researchers that didn't have to come in the
office had.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
All right, very good, Well let's do this before we
give the website and everything else. Beth, Let's get some
final thoughts from you of our conversation and recapped what
we talked about. The floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
No, I think this conversation was great and I have
really flattered you wanted to talk about a history company,
and you know, I think using factual research and intelligence,
you know, in terms of heritage solutioning for your companies
is a great option for companies that they don't really
take advantage of, and a company like ours can really
(19:18):
troubleshoot some cool things for your heritage. You know, you're
celebrating one hundredth anniversary. You know you want to have
a party like what assets. You know, we haven't even
talked about oral histories as a storytelling vehicle for companies.
There's just the options are endless and it's really cool
if you're willing to talk about how you can leverage
(19:40):
your history or your asset or the good of your
company moving forward, and.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
If you want to check all those things out. And
I wasn't kidding, folks, it is vast of the services
the path in our team offer up. It really is incredible.
What's the website for everybody?
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Bet History Associates dot com outstanding?
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Well listen, it's a pleasure to talk to you. Happy
HOLI to you and your staff. We really appreciate you
doing this. Thank you so much, continue success, and thank
you so much for joining us on CEOs.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
You should know. Thank you for having me, Dennis, it's pleasure.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
To meet you.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs you
should know. Is part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a Bank for Communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive.
Because when businesses succeed, our communities succeed.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics
Two Guys (Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers). Five Rings (you know, from the Olympics logo). One essential podcast for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Bowen Yang (SNL, Wicked) and Matt Rogers (Palm Royale, No Good Deed) of Las Culturistas are back for a second season of Two Guys, Five Rings, a collaboration with NBC Sports and iHeartRadio. In this 15-episode event, Bowen and Matt discuss the top storylines, obsess over Italian culture, and find out what really goes on in the Olympic Village.