N.C. headhunters find glowing success.

• Position: Robison & McAulay - Company profile

The axiom is as old as business: One person's misfortune is another's opportunity. For John Robison and Albert McAulay Jr., a big break came in 1979 as a result of the Three Mile Island nuclear-reactor accident.

Up until then, the Charlotte executive search firm of Robison & McAulay had made a name for itself finding top management for financial institutions. This was only natural, because associates Robison, 59, and McAulay, 41, had about 30 years of banking experience between them. But when the nation's power companies got together to try to contain the damage Three Mile Island did to the industry's image, Duke Power Co. CEO Bill Lee called on his old friend Robison.

"Basically, the power companies needed us to find somebody who could walk on water," says Robison, a Salisbury native. Robison & McAulay's job was to locate someone who could set up the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations.

They successfully recruited Vice Adm. E.P Wilkinson, who had commanded the United States' first nuclear-powered submarine, the U.S.S. Nautilus.

Twelve years later, Robison & McAulay is considered one of the premier headhunters for the nuclearpower industry, with clients ranging from the Tennessee Valley Authority to Pacific Nuclear in Seattle. That brings a grin to McAulay's face. "I...