Private Equity Recruiting – Return on Investment: Creating Value with Talent
June 24, 2026 – Talent has become a defining driver of performance in private equity, shaping how firms manage risk, execute strategy, and deliver sustained returns. As deal cycles tighten and value creation depends increasingly on operational excellence, leadership quality and organizational design are no longer secondary considerations — they are central to how firms source, underwrite, and scale investments. From talent diligence and CEO succession to team integration and leadership development, human capital decisions now influence outcomes across the entire investment lifecycle.
Hunt Scanlon Media will convene more than 250 private equity operating partners, chief talent officers, and executive recruiters at the Hilton in Chicago on September 29, 2026. The program will explore how firms are elevating human capital into a core driver of investment outcomes—redefining how leadership is assessed, built, and deployed across the portfolio to support growth, execution, and long-term value creation.
Private equity firms increasingly recognize that the difference between outperforming teams and underperforming ones often comes down to how well they understand the people they’re betting on. In this session, In this session, Morgan Taylor, partner and head of executive diligence at Mintz Group, and Michael Karran, partner at Mintz Group, will share insights from executive searches, CEO transitions, and deal-team diligence to illustrate how issues such as résumé discrepancies, online footprints, reputational landmines, or years-old personal offenses influence leadership selection, succession planning, and post-close integration.
Rather than offering a checklist, the panel will explore how to interpret these findings — which risks are material, which may be explainable, and which usually require deeper context. Drawing on more than 30 years of investigative experience, Mintz will outline practical insights and best practices to help investors and talent leaders make clearer, more confident decisions at every stage of the deal lifecycle.
Scaling Executive Teams Across the Portfolio
Private equity firms are placing greater emphasis on building leadership teams proactively to support growth, rather than reacting to gaps as they emerge. In this session, Alice Hurh, principal, head of human capital at Waud Capital, will share how her team develops repeatable frameworks for identifying, recruiting, and onboarding executive talent across portfolio companies. She will also discuss how firms partner closely with CEOs to assess leadership teams, make targeted upgrades, and align talent strategy with key inflection points in the value creation plan.
Related: The Execution Gap in AI Is Becoming Private Equity’s Defining Divide
The conversation will highlight what it takes to build scalable leadership infrastructure that drives performance across the portfolio. The session will be moderated by Keith Giarman, managing partner, global PE practice at DHR Global.
Evolving the Talent Mandate Across the Investment Lifecycle
As private equity firms operate in more complex and competitive environments, expectations around leadership are evolving across both fund and portfolio company teams. This discussion, moderated by Nat Schiffer, CEO of The Christopher Group, will explore how investors are redefining leadership excellence — placing greater emphasis on transformation capability, cultural alignment, and enterprise-wide impact. Panelists will examine how firms are strengthening internal talent benches, building deeper portfolio leadership pipelines, and embedding talent considerations earlier in the investment process, from diligence through exit, to support long-term value creation.
How Private Equity Firms Are Modernizing Talent Strategy Through Technology
As private equity outfits place greater emphasis on talent strategy and leadership intelligence, the systems supporting those efforts are becoming increasingly central to investment operations. Max Woolger of Ezekia recently sat down with Hunt Scanlon Media to discuss how PE firms are leveraging talent CRM and ATS platforms to strengthen collaboration between talent and deal teams, improve leadership decision-making, and support value creation across the investment lifecycle.
Panelists will include: Kelsey Kemp, director of talent at CIVC Partners; John Nimesheim, senior managing director with Slayton Search Partners; Krista Skalde-Roy, chief talent officer of Inovia Capital; Kimberly Kroll, managing director at Pearl Meyer; and Trish Gilbert, chief talent officer with Wind Point Partners.
Optimizing Talent Operations in PE-Backed Companies
In private equity–backed environments, talent acquisition has become a critical operational lever that directly impacts speed to value, execution risk, and growth outcomes. In this session, Ariana Moon, VP of talent planning & acquisition at Greenhouse, will examine how leading portfolio companies are modernizing talent operations to scale hiring, improve governance, and reduce hidden compliance and people-related risks.
Drawing on operator-level perspectives, the discussion will explore how technology and data can be applied deliberately—automating for efficiency while preserving human judgment where it matters most. Attendees will gain practical insight into how disciplined talent infrastructure supports execution across the investment lifecycle and strengthens enterprise value.
Behind the Deal: The Talent Decisions That Matter Most
As talent becomes an increasingly important driver of performance, private equity firms are placing greater emphasis on how human capital strategy supports value creation across the portfolio. In this session, Jamie Jacobs, chief talent officer at Oak Hill Capital, will share how she works closely with investment partners and portfolio company executives to align on the leadership roles, organizational design, and talent priorities needed to execute on each company’s strategy.
Related: How Talent Diligence is Becoming a Priority for Private Equity Firms
The discussion will explore how human capital is embedded into value creation plans, how firms assess and build leadership teams in practice, and what differentiates approaches that consistently drive results. The session will be moderated by Kit Cooper, managing partner at Newco Talent.
Talent Intelligence in Private Equity
Private equity firms are increasingly relying on intelligence — not just instinct — to inform leadership decisions across the investment lifecycle. This session will explore how investors are using a range of tools, data, and insights to assess leadership capability during diligence, support team design post-acquisition, and improve performance across portfolio companies. Panelists will discuss how talent intelligence, including analytics and emerging AI applications, is helping firms sharpen judgment, reduce risk, and more clearly link human capital decisions to operating outcomes and returns.
Panelists include: Michael Sharifi, operating principal at WynnChurch Capital; Leanna Jardine, head of talent acquisition with Keystone Capital; and Michelle Nunez, managing director, human capital at Prairie Capital.
Talent Intelligence as a Driver of Investment Performance
Talent intelligence is rapidly becoming a core driver of investment performance, shaping how firms assess risk, evaluate leadership, and execute value creation strategies. In this session, Richard Stein, CEO of HSiQ, will explore how leading firms are moving beyond fragmented data and AI-driven noise to build a more disciplined, forward-looking intelligence capability. He will discuss how investors are integrating talent insights earlier in the deal process, combining analytics with advisory judgment to align leadership decisions with the specific demands of the investment thesis. The conversation will highlight how firms can convert talent from a variable risk into a consistent driver of returns.
To register for Hunt Scanlon Media’s upcoming conference please click here!
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
