Executive Search
Case Study:

Type: retained executive search
Title: President
Role: primary company leadership role
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Client: $45M IT Professional Services company
Collaboration: Partners, CFO
Completed by: Deare MN executive search team

Company Profile
Privately-owned, Minneapolis company and a recognized leader in the IT Professional Services arena in the Midwest. Recent recognition includes “Fast 50” and “Best Places to Work”. Until the acquisition of a President, all units and functions of the business were managed by the two Partners and the CFO.

To meet the challenge of accelerated local and regional growth, leadership developed a structured 5-year growth plan with defined and budgeted sequential growth initiatives. Success will depend on strengthening business within existing client relationships, while expanding two significant professional services segments.

Key Selection Criteria
– 15+ years of relevant business experience, including sales and marketing leadership
– 7+ years of successful executive leadership experience in a reputable professional services environment, with full P&L responsibility and demonstrated success managing complex and rapidly changing business variables
– Broad knowledge of information technology markets, trends, innovation, disruption
– Proven growth-strategy, business operations, sales/marketing leadership and team building experience
– Collaborative work style
– Performance-to-plan orientation
– 4 year college degree (MBA strongly preferred)

Challenge
After conducting an in-depth assessment of the current-state and committing to a long-term vision, the Partners decided to bring aboard a President in order to fuse and align an increasingly matrixed organization, handle an array of sales, marketing and customer support challenges related directly to rapid growth, optimize operational efficiencies, and provide the directional leadership needed to shape the future of the company.

Solution
Deare was approached by the Partners and asked to take on the search. Given the business-critical nature of the role and a pressing timeline attached to growth initiatives already in place, the Deare executive search team immediately deployed two executive recruiters and assigned a research/search coordinator to provide process assistance.

The lead Executive Recruiter immediately developed a Position Specification and a corresponding Executive Profile. A search plan utilizing Deare’s proprietary PinPoint Search Methodology was also created. Candidate prospects were immediately invited to briefings and exploratory meetings.

Result
A high-profile executive, regarded within the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business community as a top growth player, emerged as the candidate of choice early in the search process. Ultimately, the role was offered to this remarkably talented leader. Having described the addition of a President as “… the most important role we’ve ever hired…” our Clients were thrilled with the search outcome and excited by the new possibilities introduced by their newly acquired executive during the interview process.