Faces of the BIA: Valley Professional Search

Category: Member-Features
06/01/2026

Taking the leap:

Building Valley Professional Search from experience

Welcome to our “Faces of the BIA” series! We are excited to introduce you to the organizations and people behind our Building Industry Association. It’s all about fostering connections, celebrating our members and helping you get to know the incredible companies that make up our BIA family!

With several years of building knowledge in professional hiring, Matt Helander reached a point where experience, timing and trust aligned. After working side by side for nine years, he and colleague Lacey Peppersack took the leap to start their own company, bringing a shared vision to life.

Founded this year in Fargo, Valley Professional Search focuses on direct-hire placement, helping employers find talent while supporting individuals who are ready for their next career move. Matt and Lacey are intentional at building a business around face-to-face relationships from the start, believing that stronger conversations lead to better outcomes.

Valley Professional Search works with many core areas across the Building Industry Association, focusing on residential and commercial construction. The team regularly fills roles from foremen up through construction managers to key support positions in human resources, accounting and sales. They also have expertise in handling C-suite and leadership roles when needed.

Together, Matt Helander and Lacey Peppersack (pictured above) bring a well-rounded mix of experience to their roles as co-owners. Matt started his career in information technology, graduating from Alexandria Technical College in 2004 with a degree in computer technical support. He then spent six years building custom, unbranded computers for resellers, followed by roles in IT project management. From there, Matt spent nearly 13 years with one of the largest staffing companies in the United States before launching Valley Professional Search.

Lacey’s path to recruiting began in central North Dakota, where she grew up on a cattle ranch before moving to Fargo to attend North Dakota State University. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business with an emphasis in hospitality and tourism, then relocated to the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area to begin her career in college admissions and student recruitment. After returning to Fargo, she transitioned into employment recruiting, where she has spent nearly 10 years helping companies find top talent and professionals advance their careers.

While new artificial intelligence-driven tools have streamlined many of the administrative parts of their work, Matt believes the work’s core has not changed. AI allows the team to be more efficient, freeing up time to focus on building real, face-to-face relationships with candidates and clients. That’s ultimately where the best matches are made.

What Matt enjoys most about his job is the variety it brings. Each day offers the opportunity to meet new people, learn about different career paths and make connections that can genuinely change someone’s life.

Like many in the staffing industry, Valley Professional Search navigates economic uncertainty.

He says, “The staffing industry tends to flow with local business demand, so our job is to stay adaptable.”

Hiring needs can shift quickly, which makes planning difficult on all sides. Lacey and Matt remain consistent with networking and meeting new people, so they are ready when the need is there.

When asked what advice he would give someone just starting out in the industry, Matt did not hesitate to respond:

“Network. Find groups where you can learn what people do for a living and build genuine relationships. My entire career has been built on being the person who ‘knows someone,’ whether I’m helping a client hire or helping a professional find their next opportunity.”

Above: Matt Helander at the January BIA Happy Hour event hosted by Fabricators Unlimited.

Matt joined the Building Industry Association with a previous employer as he began recruiting in the construction industry, working closely with local builders and contractors. Involvement made sense to him because so many of their partnerships and placements are tied to the industry. He currently volunteers on the Events Committee. Both he and Lacey will volunteer at this summer’s BIA Golf Outings.  

Above: Matt Helander with fellow Events Committee member Irena Johnson, Bell Bank. They were volunteering at the August Golf Outing. 

“After 7+ years as a BIA member, I’m genuinely grateful for the work the organization does to build connections in the community,” Matt says. “It’s become one of the premier networking groups in the FM metro, and the events consistently bring people together in a way that’s actually meaningful and worth your time.”

Through every stage of his career, and now as a business owner, Matt stays driven by relationships, trust and the belief that meaningful connections are the foundation of long-term success.

With Valley Professional Search, the leap he and Lacey took created new opportunities not just for themselves, but for many individuals, professionals and businesses they help connect.

Written by Lydia McLaughlin, BIA-RRV Communications Intern