McCann Partners Appoints Chief Growth Officer
February 26, 2020 – Chicago-based recruiting firm McCann Partners has expanded with the addition of Jane Hamner to the newly created position of chief growth officer. She will be responsible for growing the firm’s recruitment service lines and expanding its executive search offering. She will also seek to increase McCann Partners’ Chicago footprint and explore regional growth opportunities.
Ms. Hamner has been an IT staffing professional for more than 30 years, delivering top technology talent and IT solutions to businesses in a wide range of industries. “She is especially adept at identifying and understanding today’s vast IT challenges, as well as developing solutions that help businesses thrive in a competitive environment,” the search firm said.
Ms. Hamner is a strong advocate for diversity in technology, and is a co-founder of ARA, a national organization that seeks to promote women in technology and leadership through mentorship, networking, and open discussion. She also co-founded the Chicago Executive Women’s Networking Group, and is frequently invited to speak on tech diversity topics. Ms. Hamner most recently served as vice president of national enterprise sales at Harvey Nash.
“Creating the chief growth officer role was an organic decision that came from our recent company growth and the strong relationship between Jane and myself,” said Megan McCann, founder and CEO of McCann Partners. “Jane’s deep expertise in sales, leadership, training, development and mentorship will open doors for McCann Partners, allowing us to capitalize on our recent successes and further our professional goals as a company. She also shares our commitment to lifting up women in tech and leadership, and I look forward to continuing our work in Chicago and beyond.”
“I’m excited to contribute to the future growth of McCann Partners by forging new, strategic partnerships and building additional service capabilities to support our clients’ evolving needs,” Ms. Hamner said. “I’m also looking forward to working even more closely with Megan on our shared passion of supporting women in technology.”
Founded in 2011, McCann Partners is a Chicago-based IT recruitment firm that specializes in developing custom solutions through a collaborative process, which the firm said “reveals each client’s unique needs and goals.” The firm’s team has deep technology and recruiting experience and is dedicated to creating solutions for the most demanding IT challenges with transparency and integrity.
Chief Growth Officer
Chief growth officer is a relatively new C-level position. And while not every company has one, more of these roles are likely to emerge. According to recruiters, the CGO role is growing and its popularity is rising, especially among professional services firms that understand client needs and who want to be front and center to achieve long term revenue growth and stay competitive. The CGO, they report, is free to challenge the status quo in order to discover new pathways to growth. But the position holder also leads their organizations to a heightened sense of responsibility and purpose.
Frederickson Partners Appoints Chief Growth Officer in Chicago
Frederickson Partners, an executive search firm that recruits high impact human resources and people leaders for innovative, high-growth and transformational companies, has named Brian Brinkley as chief growth officer. He will be based in the firm’s Chicago office.
“With the increasing utilization of artificial intelligence in strategic HR and the focus on building companies based on culture and values, the need for experienced, modern HR and people executives continues to climb,” said founder and CEO Valerie Frederickson. “Across every part of our industry segmentation from health tech to enterprise software, biotech and not-for-profits, we anticipate increased demand for experienced HR and people leaders who utilize culture to create engagement.” As such, the need has risen internally for a professional C-suite leader to help manage that demand and the inherent growth expected to come with it.
Recruiters focused on finding C-suite leadership for their corporate clients say that CEOs have created the position of chief growth officer to drive revenue growth during periods of slowing economic activity. But leaders are now seeing advantages to having growth leaders on board much earlier, when business is booming, to help establish organizational rigor.
CGOs, report recruiters who specialize in identifying them for clients, are there to discover new pathways to growth. In today’s global, digital world, there’s suddenly this imperative to focus on growth at the highest possible level. Many companies think about growth in the context of quarterly earnings, or in terms of meeting current demand. The benefit of having a CGO is the ability to develop a longer-term vision, they added.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
