We publish mandates only in a form that cannot identify the client or the appointed executive. What remains — the brief, the market problem and the outcome — is accurate.
Industrial Technology · Europe
The board required a first external CEO able to professionalise the operating model without losing the engineering culture that created the business.
Appointed a divisional CEO from a listed industrial group; the founder moved to Executive Chair as part of the agreed transition.
Private Equity Portfolio Company · United Kingdom
A CFO with integration experience across multiple acquisitions and credibility with lenders, recruited confidentially while the incumbent remained in post.
Appointed within eleven weeks; refinancing completed the following quarter.
Life Sciences · Switzerland
Launch experience in the relevant therapeutic area was held by a population of fewer than forty accessible executives across Europe.
Mapped the full population, approached twenty-two, presented a shortlist of four and completed the appointment.
Advanced Manufacturing · Germany
Bridging a traditional engineering organisation and a software roadmap, with supervisory board approval required at each stage.
Appointed a CTO from an automotive tier-one supplier; the software roadmap was re-baselined within two quarters.
Search practice
Boards remember the appointment, but they decide on the evidence. A shortlist without written assessment and coverage documentation asks a committee to act on opinion.
Confidentiality
Almost never through the search firm. They leak through scheduling, internal calendars and the number of people told before it was necessary.
Succession
A two-year-old internal succession plan usually reflects a market that has moved. External benchmarking is what keeps it honest.
“The market coverage was systematic and the written assessments gave the committee something to actually interrogate. We appointed from a longlist we would not have reached ourselves.”
“A confidential CFO replacement ahead of a transaction, handled without a single leak. The process was disciplined and the partner stayed on the mandate from briefing to onboarding.”
“They pushed back on our original specification, and they were right to. The appointment we made twelve weeks later has held.”
“Board search done properly: a defined competency gap, a mapped market, and candidate evidence rather than opinion.”
“As a candidate I was told the truth about the role, the risks and the timeline. Nothing that emerged after I joined was a surprise.”
“The talent mapping we commissioned still informs our succession planning two years on.”