BrainWorks Recruits CFO for MackeyRMS

August 20, 2020 – New Providence, NJ-based executive search firm BrainWorks has recruited Ross Sullivan as the new chief financial officer of Resurgens Technology Partners-backed MackeyRMS, a global provider of software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based research management software.
The assignment was completed in 60 days by Eric Frickel, partner of private equity at Brainworks. He closely advised Resurgens Technology Partners and the Mackey executive leadership team on the search.
“Ross is an exceptional finance leader who has been highly successful creating and building scalable infrastructure for emerging companies to grow profitably and responsibly,” said Mr. Frickel. “His hands-on nature, attention to detail, while also being able to operate at the 30,000 feet level makes him a great fit for Mackey’s current needs while also being a great business partner to the Mackey executive leadership team. We are very excited for the opportunity to have partnered with Resurgens and Mackey’s leadership team here and look forward to seeing Ross shape the company’s growth and success well into the future.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Ross to our team,” said Chris Mackey, CEO of MackeyRMS. “Ross brings with him a wealth of experience across finance and operations, and we will benefit from his leadership as we continue to scale our business with the world’s leading asset management firms.”
Mr. Sullivan joins the MackeyRMS executive team with a 25-year track record of leadership in creating and transforming the accounting and finance functions into data and metric driven environments driving critical business insights across the enterprise. Most recently, he served as senior finance leader at Validity, where he led all financial and accounting operations in partnership with Providence Equity and Silversmith Capital. Mr. Sullivan has also held senior finance roles working with other leading sponsors including Parthenon Capital and North Bridge Ventures.
In his new role with MackeyRMS, Mr. Sullivan will lead all accounting, financial planning and analysis, internal systems teams, HR, and provide strategic insights to guide business operations. He will focus on maximizing enterprise value while ensuring the company’s strategy and investments align to best serve customers. He will also play a major role in the company’s organic growth and overall business transformation, as the company executes its go-to-market and international growth strategies.
MackeyRMS’ SaaS-based platform unites existing workflows with disparate data sources, enabling buy-side investment firms, including global asset managers, asset owners, hedge funds, fund-of-funds and private equity funds to streamline research and compliance operations in a modern, automated and mobile-friendly interface.
According to a recent financial services special issue of ESR, published by Hunt Scanlon, chief financial officers are suddenly dealing with a vast array of new challenges, from cash flow, declining revenues, and employee health, to advising the CEO and board on strategic alternatives. Since COVID-19 struck, CFOs are being asked to play an ever-broader role.
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Trusted Search Firm
Since 1991, BrainWorks has been providing executive recruiting services in the practice areas of private equity, consumer products, decision sciences and analytics, market research and relationship marketing. The firm focuses on the recruiting needs of C-level and sub C-level management specifically within private equity and Fortune companies.
Related: Acertitude Recruits CFO for OnSolve
Recent Placement
BrainWorks also recently assisted in the placements of James Hill and Kim Mattoon as chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Hollander Sleep Products, a Centre Lane Partners-backed company. Mr. Frickel led that assignment as well.
BrainWorks Assists The Jobe’s Company in CEO Search
BrainWorks assisted in the placement of Chris Armstrong as CEO of lawn and garden manufacturer The Jobe’s Company. CEO Andy Miller led the assignment. “Chris brings the perfect blend of operations experience in addition to a strong growth background,” Mr. Miller said. “His pedigree in management consulting and deep operations experience combined with a unique ability to drive growth will provide a great benefit to the business.”
“The engagement started in August 2019 as Centre Lane Partners was looking to acquire the business out of Chapter 11 proceedings,” said Mr. Frickel. “It was a competitive process and they were not sure they were going to win the deal. Given our business-partner-first directive, and there being no guarantees that the deal would be completed, we put together a detailed search strategy and scorecards for what a great COO and CFO would look like in the business in partnership with Centre Lane.”
“Getting out in front of this before the actual closing of the deal was critical from a time standpoint, allowing Centre Lane to search for their eventual CEO,” said Mr. Frickel. But that also presented another challenge: not having the CEO in place. “So we really needed to do a significant amount of due diligence and assessment given the situation to drive a targeted process that would produce the types of candidates with deep operational and transformation experience to drive the value creation strategy.”
Related: The Verriez Group Places CFO at Farm Mutual Re
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media