Caldwell Places Chief Product Officer at CentralReach

February 13, 2019 – Toronto-based executive search firm Caldwell has recruited Cheryl Michael as chief product officer for CentralReach in Pompano Beach, FL. Managing partner Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor led the assignment.

CentralReach is a provider of EHR and practice management solutions that enable applied behavior analysis (ABA) clinicians and educators to produce better outcomes for people with autism and related disorders.

“Cheryl brings an incredibly unique combination of skills and experiences that will support us through this extraordinary period of growth and set us on a path of continued product excellence,” said Chris Sullens, CEO of CentralReach. “In a capacity constrained market like that of autism – only 30,000 board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) available to address the needs of the 15 million children and young adults currently diagnosed on the autism spectrum – clinicians need to be armed with the right tools and services to get more kids in the door faster.”

“With Cheryl on board, we are better equipped to increase the size of our product team, mature our product development processes and accelerate development velocity so that we can better serve the needs of our customers,” he said.

Ms. Michael has over 18 years of healthcare experience, most recently as executive vice president of product management and engineering at Envera Health. Her experience optimizing product management practices and delivering innovative healthcare technology solutions will play a key role in advancing “the organization’s mission to provide the end-to-end platform of software and services that help our customers produce superior outcomes for their clients and further solidify CentralReach’s position as a leader in the ABA market,” said CentralReach

Ms. Chatfield-Taylor is managing partner of Caldwell’s private equity and venture capital practice and a member of the technology, consumer, digital and media teams. She focuses on executive-level search for high-growth technology companies, with deep expertise in B2B SaaS, social, eCommerce, gaming and other transformative technologies. Ms. Chatfield-Taylor has completed more than 50 CEO searches as well as other CXO-level assignments for her clients, with a deep passion and expertise in helping to diversify VC and PE-backed company boards and leadership teams.

Chief Product Officers

Today’s chief product officer is responsible for all product-related matters, according to recruiters. The post typically includes product conception and development, production, innovation and project and product management. In many IT/ telecommunications companies, the position includes release management and production.

Chief product officers generally work on product strategy based on goals set by the CEO and/ or board members.

New Officer Level Roles

A handful of new C-suite titles have been cropping up at businesses around the globe, say leading search consultants. A recent report by Odgers Berndtson found that executives climbing the corporate ladder are in hot pursuit of titles that include the words “chief” and “officer.” Among them: chief happiness officer, chief privacy officer, chief people officer, chief digital officer, chief knowledge officer, chief customer officer, chief luminary officer, chief innovation officer and chief observance officer.

Kodak and Dell a few years ago appointed chief listeners; Facebook has chief privacy officers; Microsoft has a chief people officer; Coca-Cola has a chief quality and product integrity officer. Steve Jobs called himself chief know-all.

Here is an overview of unique officer-level positions being filled by leading recruitment firms from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

The Onstott Group placed Christina Van Houten as chief strategy officer of Mimecast Limited. Managing director Scott Tucker led the assignment. Ms. Van Houten is charged with driving corporate development, product management and market strategy as part of building out Mimecast’s email security, archive and cyber resilience cloud platform.

Beverly Hills, CA-based executive recruitment firm Ventura Partners has placed Courtney Gruber as the new chief retail officer for drybar, a blowout hair salon chain. Ventura founder and partner Julie Ford led the search. The chief retail officer role, more commonly known as vice president of retail, encompasses running all retail operations.

Higher Education Leadership Search has been selected by the University of Texas of the Permian Basin to lead in its search for a chief compliance officer. Consultants Geralyn Franklin and Alan Medders are leading the assignment. The University of Texas of the Permian Basin is a general academic university of the University of Texas System.

Executive search firm McCormack+Kristel has been retained by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to lead in its search for a chief program officer. Managing partner Joseph McCormack and partner Michelle Kristel are leading the assignment. 

Freehold, NJ-based Prodigy Sports, a nationwide leader in top-level sports recruiting, has placed Gord Lang as chief growth officer with Engine Shop. Founder and chief executive officer Scott Carmichael led the search. Mr. Lang had been chief growth officer at Octagon Marketing, which he joined in 2001.

The housing group Win, formerly Women In Need, has been transforming the lives of New York City’s homeless families for more than 30 years. The organization recently enlisted executive recruitment firm Bridge Partners to find a chief program officer

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

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