The Lapham Group Recruits Chief Revenue Officer for One Concern

September 8, 2021 – Top-drawer chief revenue officers are commonly found at start-ups and smaller businesses and tend to the bottom line while the rest of the C-level team expands key partnerships, seeks growth opportunities or sources funding. That is changing. Larger businesses now view the CRO post as an essential, long-term role. In one recent search, The Lapham Group placed Sean Rider as the new chief revenue officer of One Concern Inc. in Menlo Park, CA. CEO Craig Lapham led the assignment.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Sean to the One Concern team,” said Ahmad Wani, co-founder and CEO of One Concern. “Sean’s established leadership and expertise across strategic risk finance and the alternative risk space will enable us to offer our clients unparalleled value in the resilience space. We’re seeing an increased demand for resilience solutions given that climate change is here and now.” Mr. Rider previously served as executive vice president and head of client development in Willis Towers Watson’s risk and analytics business. In this role, he drove double digit growth and differentiated product proposition in the North American market. Before that, Mr. Rider led business development as part of the strategic management team of HSBC’s global insurance management business.
In his new position, he will lead the scaling and expansion of commercialization of the company’s resilience-as-a-service solutions for climate adaptation, extreme weather and natural disasters.
“I am incredibly excited to join an energetic team committed to building resilience to increasing climate threats and other disasters,” Mr. Rider said. “Today, there’s a disconnect in global markets deriving from a failure to fully understand the underlying vulnerabilities that impede resilience and consequently allow for mispricing of risk.”
“One Concern rather uniquely is building a ‘digital twin’ – for nearly every piece of the built environment – to the physical world that enables a better understanding of physical and transition risk, and ultimately can guide proper mitigation and pricing of that risk through proprietary resilience metrics at an asset level,” said Mr. Rider. “By combining best-in-class research from academia with machine learning, One Concern transforms how the market measures and manages resilience.”
One Concern provides resilience-as-a-service solution to bring disaster science together with machine learning for better decision-making. With operations in the U.S. and Japan, the company quantifies resilience from catastrophic perils, empowering leaders to measure, mitigate and monetize risk. One Concern is part of the World Economic Forum’s Global Innovators community.
Respected Recruiters
The Lapham Group is a leading boutique executive search firm headquartered in New York City. For over two decades the firm has conducted senior-level search engagements in insurance and diversified financial services, including private equity, venture capital, and asset management. Searches include board directorships, president/CEO/general management, risk management, finance & investment, marketing/sales, and information technology engagements conducted across North and South America, Europe, Asia and the Far East. In addition, The Lapham Group has developed strong working relationships with its clients in the implementation of strategic initiatives and new business ventures to include numerous search assignments for start-ups and turnaround opportunities.
Mr. Lapham has served as CEO since 1997. Under his leadership, the firm has conducted senior executive search engagements for multiple Fortune 100 insurance clients and smaller emerging insurance/financial services firms across both P&C and life insurance. He previously served, from 1992 to 1997, as an attorney with global insurer American International Group within the corporation’s U.S. property and casualty business.
Recruiting Chief Revenue Officers
Hunt Scanlon Media has reported on a number of search firms finding chief revenue officers for their clients. Here’s a look at searches either underway or recently completed:
Benchmark Executive Search, a boutique provider of cybersecurity talent, recently placed Ben Wenger as chief revenue officer of Dedrone in San Francisco. In his role, Mr. Wenger heads global sales to provide counter-drone technology to enterprise and government customers globally. “We are excited to follow Ben’s progress as he and the Dedrone team solve problems for new federal and commercial customers,” said Jeremy King, president of Benchmark.
Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor, managing partner of the private equity and venture capital practice at Caldwell, placed Melissa Feinstein Gordon as the new chief revenue officer of Rasa Technologies. Ms. Feinstein Gordon brings experience in leadership, general management, and sales. She excels in building out teams that execute at various stages of company growth, putting process in place to hire, train, motivate and close business. Most recently, Ms. Feinstein Gordon was senior vice president and GM marketplace at Tradeshift. In that role, she managed a cross-functional team of sales, business development, engineering, and operation functions.
Executive recruitment firm Buffkin / Baker has been selected to assist in the search for a new chief revenue officer for independent data cooperative Alliant. The search firm is seeking a dynamic sales leader and innovator in the data as a service (DaaS) arena as the company drives continued growth through multi-channel consumer marketing solutions. Candidate must be experienced executive with a proved track record of leading and developing high-performing sales and sales operations teams, said the search firm. They must also have hands-on experience selling consumer data solutions direct to mid-level to enterprise brands, understanding how data can impact direct and digital marketing initiatives.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media