SPMB Recruits CFO for Emergence Capital
September 10, 2024 – Chief financial officers are in high demand due to their critical role in managing financial strategy, risk, and compliance, which is crucial for organizational success. Their expertise helps companies navigate complex financial landscapes and drive growth, making them essential for strategic decision-making. SPMB Executive Search recently assisted in the recruitment of Kristy Landers as the new CFO of Emergence Capital in San Francisco. Suzanne Heske, who heads SPMB’s investment practice, led the assignment.
Ms. Landers has nearly 20 years of experience in the venture capital industry. Before joining Emergence, she held the position of CFO at Unusual Ventures, a Seed stage venture firm, where she played a pivotal role in implementing comprehensive accounting systems and a new Limited Partner portal to enhance data transparency and security. Prior to her tenure at Unusual Ventures, Ms. Landers served as VP of finance at August Capital, a Series A venture firm, where she modernized the firm’s accounting functions.
Emergence is a venture capital firm focused on early-stage enterprise software companies. Since its founding in 2003, they have invested in companies collectively worth $450B+, including Salesforce, Veeva, Box, Yammer, and Zoom.
Specializing in technology and innovation, SPMB Executive Search recruits upper management and board members to growth-oriented companies in tech, consumer, and sustainability industries. SPMB has also placed dozens of senior executives at the portfolio companies of leading private equity firm partners including Blackstone, KKR, and TPG.
Ms. Heske joined SPMB in 2019 to spearhead its investment practice. She is focused on recruiting transformational leaders to private equity, venture capital and asset management firms. Ms. Heske is also leading the firm’s cryptocurrency and blockchain efforts. She joined SPMB from Caldwell Partners, where she ran the firm’s West Coast financial services team. Prior to becoming an executive search professional, Ms. Heske spent 15 years working for financial services companies, including Merrill Lynch, Fidelity and Piper Jaffray as an institutional salesperson.
Recruiting CFOs for VC/PE Companies
Executive search firm Caldwell recently conducted a survey on the CFO role to fine-tune its understanding of the skills and experiences that define success today for a CFO of a PE-backed portfolio company and, equally importantly, which attributes may sound appealing but are not essential. More than 300 private equity CFOs shared candid responses on their backgrounds and how they landed in their current role. The results provided a clearer picture of who sits in the CFO chair at many PE-backed portfolio companies, and the skills and credentials that are truly impactful in their leadership role.
Related: The Demand for Interim CFOs Soars
When asked to describe their previous experience, 10 percent of the participants said, “I was a divisional CFO or No. 2 finance executive in a PE-backed company,” while 20 percent had the same status at a public company. Another 35 percent had been a CFO of a public or private company. And only 34 percent had been CFO of a PE-backed company. So just a third of the CFOs in the Caldwell survey had previously held a PE CFO role.
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Among companies with less than $25 million in revenue, only 15 percent of the CFOs had prior experience as CFO of a PE-backed company, while 56 percent of the companies with greater than $500 million revenue hired a CFO with prior experience in a PE CFO role. In the three other revenue categories, the companies hired a CFO with prior PE CFO experience 40 percent of the time, or less. These findings would seem to indicate that hiring a CFO with prior PE CFO experience is a “nice to have,” but not a must-have credential for all companies, said the firm.
Caldwell also asked the CFOs: “What were the key factors in your hiring?” and asked them to check all relevant factors. Among the total population of participants, the No. 1 factor was industry experience, and the second factor was PE experience. Tied for third were a previous successful exit and a prior role as a stand-alone PE CFO.
Related: A Look at How the CFO Role in Private Equity is Evolving
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
