Bespoke Partners Opens East Coast Office
November 12, 2021 – San Diego, CA-headquartered executive search firm Bespoke Partners has opened a Philadelphia-area office driven by the firm’s rapid growth in its executive recruiting and leadership advisory services for private equity-backed software companies. The new office joins the Bespoke Partners headquarters in San Diego and its regional office in Austin. Bespoke also named Maria Scharper as vice president in the new Philadelphia location. “We are devoted to delivering exceptional service to our clients and the new office in Philadelphia will let us be even more responsive and engaged with clients in the eastern part of the country,” said Kristie Nova, CEO. “Our expansion will boost our services to a new level of efficiency and success for our clients.”
Ms. Scharper joins Bespoke Partners vice president Ned Lanphier in Philadelphia. “We are delighted to have such top caliber executives as Maria and Ned driving our client engagements across the Eastern seaboard,” said firm president Eric Walczykowski. “With this investment we are ramping up our capacity to meet the growing need for services that transform and enhance portfolio company leadership in any part of the market.”
Ms. Scharper brings more than six years of experience in recruiting leaders for dozens of private equity portfolio companies across a range of markets. She joins the firm from LLR Partners – which recently invested in rival True in the Philadelphia area – where she grew the executive teams and boards for over 45 portfolio companies in sectors including edtech, fintech, healthcare technology and security.
Serving the PE Sector
Bespoke Partners is an executive search and leadership advisory firm dedicated to partnering with top private equity firms, including Francisco Partners, Clearlake Capital, WCAS, Insight Partners, GI Partners, General Atlantic, CVC Capital Partners and TA Associates, among scores of others, to recruit software talent and assess and evaluate teams at every stage of the investment lifecycle, from growth equity to buyout.
The search firm has completed over 600 searches since its inception a decade ago. Its expertise includes all C-level searches across multiple functional domains, including financial officers, HR & people, marketing, and technology, as well as board of directors and internal private equity operating partner searches. The firm’s expanding leadership advisory platform includes organizational due diligence as well as executive assessment and coaching.
Bespoke recently added Tess Fischer as a partner. “Tess is a proven search leader with an outstanding track record and exceptional industry knowledge that will be a major benefit to our clients as they enhance their leadership teams,” said Ms. Nova. “Her expertise will boost our ongoing evolution to become a comprehensive human capital advisory firm serving the private equity market.” Ms. Fischer is the firm’s sixth named partner this year.
Bespoke Partners Adds CEO of Sales Benchmark Index as Board Member
Bespoke Partners recently added Matt Sharrers, CEO of Sales Benchmark Index (SBI), as a new board member. Mr. Sharrers was appointed to help provide mentorship to CEO Kristie Nova as it relates to effectively scaling a professional services organization.
“I have been tracking Matt and SBI for several years and have always been impressed with Matt’s passion and incredible vision for growth,” said Ms. Nova. “We have been very deliberate in our board member selection, and Matt’s experience in effectively scaling a professional services organization makes him a truly valuable addition to our board as we march towards $50 million in revenue.”
Ms. Fischer is based in the firm’s Austin office and brings more than 16 years of experience in building executive teams for private equity portfolio companies in the software and software-as-a-service sector. She joins Bespoke Partners from Morgan Samuels where she was a partner leading the firm’s software and tech-enabled services practice.
Bespoke also recently added Katelyn Quaresma as partner. “Katelyn has established herself as an exceptional leader throughout her time at Bespoke,” said Ms. Nova. “Not only has she been an outstanding team player and a true champion of our values and culture, but she has also been instrumental in Bespoke’s growth as we have transitioned into a full-service human capital advisory firm.”
Most recently serving as vice president, Ms. Quaresma has been pivotal to driving Bespoke Partners’ rapid growth and advancing its industry-leading executive recruiting process for private equity-backed software companies. She leads Bespoke’s CFO practice and has recently placed executives for Thoma Bravo, Clearlake Capital, TA Associates, and other top private equity firms.
Related: Why Connecting Private Equity with Executive Search Matters More Now than Ever
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
