The leadership bench for a secondary buyout and exit
North America was the growth market the next owner would pay for. The leadership to serve it did not exist. Five executives and the delivery teams beneath them over three years, twenty-one of the hires in the eight months around the change of sponsor, to a $1.3 billion exit.
- Situation
- Two successive private-equity sponsors. North America was the growth market the next owner would pay for.
- Mandate
- Five executive seats and the relationship management, consulting and delivery teams beneath them.
- Result
- 31 hires. Sold to a global asset manager for $1.3 billion.
- Pace
- Three years in all. Twenty-one hires in the eight months around the change of sponsor.
The company's value to its next buyer rested on whether its North American enterprise clients were served, retained and expanded as well as its European ones. Over three years Brian built the leadership that made that true: the SVP of Global Support, the Head of Professional Services for the Americas, the VP of Relationship Management, the VP of Product Operations and the Chief Marketing Officer, then the relationship management, consulting and delivery teams beneath them. Twenty-one of the thirty-one hires landed in the eight months around the change of sponsor, when the new owner's plan needed the North American organization in place.
He ran every search himself, as the single point of contact for the COO through the change of sponsor. The company was sold to a global asset manager for $1.3 billion. The COO has since brought Brian into three further companies, and referred the founders of a later private-markets search.