JM Search Launches Dedicated Financial Officers Practice
December 9, 2020 – JM Search, a senior-level talent provider serving private equity investors, portfolio companies and Fortune 1000s, has formed a dedicated financial officers practice to assist public and private equity-backed companies in identifying and recruiting financial leaders.
The firm has a 40-year track record placing CFOs and other senior finance and accounting executives into investor-backed and public companies across all sectors. Over the past decade, JM Search has placed more than 1,000 CFOs into public and private equity owned companies. This newly dedicated team will assist clients in finding top financial leadership necessary to increase enterprise value and generate improved shareholder returns.
“Since our founding 40 years ago, JM Search has established a significant track record of partnering with companies that require transformational leadership to help drive operational efficiency, revenue growth and increased enterprise value,” said co-founder and CEO John Marshall. “By formalizing this practice as a financial officers center of excellence, we’re solidifying our long-standing commitment to helping clients remain at the forefront of ensuring their companies have excellent financial leadership in place amidst rapidly changing environments and required changes brought on by a global pandemic and the lasting consequences.”
Drew Pressman, who founded the CFO practice, has been recruiting executives for over two decades. He and his partners David Robinson and Brian Dwyer see the financial officers practice as a way for JM Search to enhance its ability to provide a more focused approach to meeting the talent needs of their clients. “Since 2001, CFO placements, for private equity backed companies, has been core to what we do, usually comprising upwards of 40 percent of our search assignments,” said Mr. Pressman. “The market is telling us that there is an enhanced need to recruit experienced and proven finance executives. By creating a dedicated financial officers practice, we are able to provide a new layer of service to our existing and future private equity clients.”
“Exemplifying the strength of our commitment is the depth and breadth of our team’s overall recruiting capabilities,” Mr. Marshall said. “With deep knowledge and complementary experience, Pressman, Robinson and Dwyer will anchor a team of senior JM Search leaders who are unmatched in their ability to assist companies with all aspects of financial talent sourcing.”
Hunt Scanlon Media Launches M&A Advisory Network for Recruiters
Make no mistake, these have been sobering days for executive recruiting firms around the globe. Most of them, regardless of size, location, or specialization were caught flat-footed by one of the most sweeping economic crises to ever hit the sector. As a result, the nation’s top search consultants have been resetting expectations throughout 2020 – and, in the process, setting a new course as 2021 looms.
Professional services firms – and executive recruiting outfits in particular – have a long history of finding their way through tough times. The COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. Many search firms have used this time to dust off their own continuity and succession plans, or to reconsider that merger or acquisition which was something of a nuisance when times were flush. Others have taken a hard look at their capitalization strategies. This crisis, like no other, has driven many of the most well-known and respected brands in the recruiting business to reassess everything about their businesses, top to bottom.
Behind the scenes, this has been an active year for executive recruitment firms. To meet their advisory needs, Hunt Scanlon Media earlier this year launched a new set of solutions to assist search firms and talent solutions providers seeking mergers, acquisitions, or funding connections. Founders Scott A. Scanlon and Christopher W. Hunt sit down to discuss the new venture and the state of the industry.
Delivering High Performance Leaders
JM Search is an advisor to CEOs, investors and boards of directors in recruiting, assessing and delivering high performance leaders and transformational leadership teams. The firm’s clients include private equity firms and portfolio companies, venture capital-backed businesses and publicly held companies across North America. Founded in 1980, the JM Search team brings together former operating and financial executives, investors and experienced search professionals with deep industry specialization, functional expertise and proven access to talent spanning multiple industry sectors.
This past September, JM Search expanded its dedicated healthcare technology center of excellence with the hiring of industry veteran, Mike Forgash. As a sponsor-backed CEO, investor, and board member in the healthcare, life sciences and technology sectors, Mr. Forgash has assessed and built management teams, raised capital from top-tier equity firms, and led companies through successful exits, said Mr. Marshall.
Mr. Forgash said this is an exciting time to join JM Search. “The market for investment opportunities and leadership needs created and amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic could not make for a more opportune time to combine our resources and focus on this growing segment,” he said.
In June, JM Search formed a dedicated cybersecurity practice to assist public and private equity-backed companies in identifying and recruiting high-performance leaders. Partners Kevin Kernan and Tom Figueroa co-lead the firm’s center of excellence for cybersecurity leadership.
“Since our founding 40 years ago, JM Search has established a significant track record of partnering with companies that require transformational leadership to help drive operational efficiency, revenue growth and increased enterprise value,” said Mr. Marshall. “By formalizing this practice as a cybersecurity leadership center of excellence, we’re solidifying our longstanding commitment to helping clients remain at the forefront of security best practices and innovation amidst rapidly changing threat vectors, continued disruption, and required changes brought on by a global pandemic and the lasting consequences”.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
