Bespoke Partners

About Us

At Bespoke Partners, we identify and recruit your next leaders the way we deliver our own — efficiently and effectively. We leverage a proven search process to build tier one executive teams that drive faster and higher returns for our private equity clients. We are a group of driven, responsive, and passionate people who have vigorously examined every aspect of the search process and applied unconventional methodologies to drive faster and more successful results.

We partner with leading private equity portfolio companies to recruit elite executives throughout the entire investment lifecycle.

In the early days of private equity, funds could generate outsized returns for their limited partners through financial engineering. As more firms entered the industry, forward-thinking funds implemented operational excellence into their portfolio companies. These firms continued to generate outsized returns and became market leaders. Today, most private equity firms have internal consulting groups and operating partners who can enhance productivity across their portfolio. However, this expertise is no longer enough.

There are more investors and capital than ever before and sales multiples are at an all-time high. Succeeding in this environment requires precision in recruiting elite talent.

Enter Bespoke Partners.

Who are we? We are a retained executive search firm dedicated to partnering with leading private equity firms to recruit exceptional talent at every stage of investment, from late venture to growth equity to buy out.

What are we passionate about? Talent. And how talented people work together. We help companies build the organization and talent they need to accelerate growth and exceed expectations.

How do we partner? Bespoke Partners works side-by-side with private equity firms to evaluate and recruit top quartile leaders throughout the entire investment lifecycle – from Diligence through Value Creation to Exit.

Achievements

Placements

Bespoke Partners

Solutions And Expertise

Solutions
  • Executive Search
  • Retained Executive Search
  • Retained Searches
Industries
  • Private Equity
  • Software
  • Venture Capital
Functions
  • Board/Governance
  • C-Level
  • C-Suite
  • CEO/President
  • CFO
  • Chief Marketing Officer
  • Chief Technology Officer
  • CHRO
  • CIO
  • CISO
  • CRO
  • GM/Operations
  • Private Equity

Our search process is collaborative, thorough, accelerated and therefore effective. We kick off every search by conducting a comprehensive needs assessment. Out of the discussion we develop a detailed and weighted scorecard to assess for competency. We also spend time with the executive team to understand critical behavioral attributes for the role and culture to ensure successful transition into the organization. From there, we develop a tailored research and recruiting strategy to identify executives for the role that will have the right skill set and leadership profile. We leverage our previous searches and network in addition to conducting net new research and outreach to provide you with the most comprehensive view of the market and the most optionality for your search.

We conduct daily and weekly stand ups to review research and recruiting work flows. Throughout our search process, we provide you with access to the executives we are contacting along with feedback on how the opportunity is resonating in the market. We topgrade and back channel candidates through all phases of the search process to minimize surprises and ensure we understand every aspect of an executive’s candidacy. As a result our average time to close is 76 days and our candidate placement success rate is 99%.

Bespoke Partners

News Briefings

A Look at Key Trends in Executive Recruiting for Private Equity-Backed Companies

A long-awaited interest rate cut in the U.S. finally arrived in September. Bespoke Partners’ Second Half 2024 Private Equity Talent Report asks will it thaw the deep freeze gripping private equity deal-flow and exits? Signs were that prospective deals in late Q2 and early Q3 had already priced in the expected rate cut and deals

Bespoke Partners Recruits CFO for WorkWave

San Diego, CA-headquartered Bespoke Partners has assisted in the recruitment Greg Doran as the new CFO for WorkWave in Holmdel, NJ. Katelyn Quaresma, partner, and Erin McElfresh, vice president at Bespoke Partners, led the assignment. “At WorkWave, we have set exceptionally high growth goals for ourselves, and while we are making great strides through our innovative solutions

Bespoke Partners Forms Alliance with Alphaskill

San Diego, CA-headquartered Bespoke Partners has formed an alliance with Alphaskill, a U.K.-based executive search and deal advisory firm. The partnership is intended to enable private equity firm portfolio companies to accelerate execution on geographic expansion strategies. “We’re seeing an increase in European companies looking to expand into the U.S. and hire their first U.S country

Bespoke Partners Forms Alliance with Ampersand Leadership Group

San Diego, CA-headquartered executive search firm Bespoke Partners has formed an alliance with Ampersand Leadership Group, a leadership advisory firm for private equity firms and their portfolio companies. “Recognizing both firms’ expertise optimizing talent to drive value for private equity portfolio companies, this collaboration will give clients streamlined access to tailored talent solutions spanning the investment lifecycle,” Bespoke said.

Bespoke Partners

Press Releases

Bespoke Partners’ ‘Search 2.0’ Process Delivers High-Impact Executives to Private Equity Portfolio Companies

(July 14, 2021) Bespoke Partners, a leading provider of retained executive search and leadership advisory services, today announced that its Search 2.0 process has produced industry-leading results in recruiting high-impact leaders for private equity portfolio companies. Search 2.0 is Bespoke’s comprehensive data-driven approach to executive search that holistically links leader recruiting to a private equity

Bespoke Partners Expands Executive Team

(Jan. 12, 2021) Bespoke Partners, a leading provider of retained executive search and leadership advisory services, today announced the addition of two senior executives to its executive team. Joining Bespoke as President is Eric Walczykowski, a technology industry veteran who has served in leadership roles in business development, sales, and marketing. Eric will drive Bespoke’s

Bespoke Partners Welcomes New Partner

(Sept. 2, 2020) Bespoke Partners is pleased to announce that Brian Waivada has joined the firm as a Partner. Bespoke CEO Kristie Nova shared, “Brian is an experienced search leader and client manager, and we are excited to bring his knowledge and expertise to the Bespoke team. Our model continues to evolve as we introduce

Bespoke Partners Appoints New Board Member

(July 1, 2020) Bespoke Partners is excited to announce the appointment of Matt Sharrers, CEO of Sales Benchmark Index (SBI), as a new Board Member. Matt was appointed to provide mentorship to Kristie Nova, CEO, as it relates to effectively scaling a professional services organization. “I have been tracking Matt and SBI for several years

Bespoke Partners

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