Richard F. Dowd Jr., president of White Plains executive search firm Dowd Associates Inc., filed Chapter 7 liquidation petitions Oct. 6 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, White Plains.
Dowd Associates, founded in 2001, styled itself as a boutique executive search firm, specializing in recruiting and placing senior level financial executives.
Dowd — formerly of South Salem and now a resident of New Canaan, Connecticut — and Dowd Associates both declared assets up to $50,000. Personal liabilities were estimated from $500,000 to $1 million and corporate liabilities from $100,000 to $500,000.
Detailed financial schedules have yet to be filed, but the lists of creditors indicate that Dowd and his job recruiting firm owe money to several banks.
JPMorgan Chase Bank sued Dowd and his company in Westchester Supreme Court in August, claiming they owed $146,836 on a 2006 line of credit and a 2007 promissory note. The firm was then making about $725,000 a year, according to the loan applications.
Last year, Dowd Associates and Dowd, who had guaranteed the loans, defaulted, according to Chase. The case is pending.
In April 2019, several months before the defaults, Dowd landed an executive position for himself with ZRG Partners, a Rochelle Park, New Jersey executive search firm. He was hired as the managing director of its global financial officers practice.
The position was part of a deal Dowd made with ZRG to sell “certain assets” of his firm, according to a ZRG press release.
ZRG described Dowd as an expert on Treasury and as deeply experienced in other financial positions. His company profile states that he has a reputation as one of the industry”™s most effective recruiters.
Dowd and Dowd Associates are represented by Manhattan bankruptcy attorney Gabriel Del Virginia.
