True Launches Forensic Referencing Offering
September 14, 2026 – Global executive talent platform True has launched True Forensic Referencing, a new executive intelligence capability designed to help investors, boards, and executive teams make more informed leadership decisions before high-stakes investments, new business relationships, and governance milestones. The firm named Christopher Jaros as partner to build and lead the offering. This expands True’s executive intelligence platform, complementing the firm’s executive search, assessment, and leadership advisory services with deeper investigative insight when leadership decisions carry the greatest strategic and financial impact.
“Post-close leadership surprises are one of the most consistent and most preventable sources of value erosion in private equity and high-stakes corporate decisions,” said Sam McGrath, global GM, True Search. “Investors apply extraordinary rigor to the business, but often crave for more due diligence on the people running them. That gap has consequences, and they tend to show up at the worst possible moment. True Forensic Referencing exists to close that gap.”
True Forensic Referencing gives investors and boards a more complete picture of executive leaders through structured, confidential conversations with high-signal sources across an executive’s full career. The offering surfaces consistent behavioral patterns, for example, how executives build teams, navigate pressure, make decisions, and are experienced by the people around them over time. “What emerges is leadership intelligence that sharpens conviction ahead of a deal or key decision, and informs the talent and strategic planning that follows,” True explained.
Mr. Jaros brings two decades of experience in investigative due diligence, law, and executive intelligence. He joins True from a partner role at boutique global investigations firm Quinlan Partners in New York where he helped build and lead the business intelligence practice, and he has been ranked by Chambers & Partners as a leading practitioner in crisis and risk management for global investigative due diligence. Prior to that, he practiced law for more than a decade, including as a partner at a major global law firm, handling complex civil and criminal matters and federal regulatory investigations.
“True is already in the room when the most consequential leadership decisions are made,” said Mr. Jaros. “Growing the Forensic Referencing offering will allow True to extend its impact to a different phase of executive evaluation, before key investment and partnership decisions are made. True has developed extraordinary relationships not only with its clients, but also with an enormous network of executives around the world. Coupled with True’s best-in-class technology platform, we will have the opportunity to deliver insights to clients when they matter most in a way that others cannot. That’s what drew me to True.”
Working in both the private and public sectors, True has offices throughout the U.S. as well as the EMEA and APAC regions. Since the late 1990s, the firm’s founders have refined their search process with a blend of data-centric insights, relationship-building, and experience to produce a methodology that consistently improves hiring decisions and accelerates growth. The firm’s clients include Jet, Work Front, and Summit Partners.
True Search is a subsidiary of True Platform, a global portfolio of human capital services and products for high-growth tech and tech-enabled organizations. True recently placed No. 6 on the Hunt Scanlon Media “Top 50 Recruiters” ranking.
AI Capability Index for Executive Assessment
True also recently launched the True AI Capability Index, a proprietary framework that predicts executive performance in the AI-transformation age. “We are entering a phase where relationship depth and judgment matter more than ever,” said Brad Stadler, co-founder and CEO of True Platform. “The cost of finding names is decreasing. True’s advantage lies in our ability to assess talent using these advanced frameworks. We’re modernizing executive hiring to ensure our clients have the leadership they need to outperform.”
Related: True Appoints Regional Lead for Middle East and North Africa
“The talent market is currently split between proven leaders who are failing to adapt their playbooks and high-potential candidates who lack the experience to manage large organizations,” Mr. Stadler said. “True’s AI Capability Index gives clients a clearer view of which leaders will continue to create value as the rules evolve.”
The True AI Capability Index categorizes candidates using two primary metrics: execution pedigree and AI skill/will. This data-driven approach allows clients to commit to hiring profiles that offer both immediate results and long-term upside.
“Our clients are looking for leaders who can drive transformation with no historical precedent,” said Evan Grossman, managing director and co-head of the CEO & board practices. “The framework creates a shared language for these conversations. We help clients understand the trade-offs between expert operators and AI-focused innovators. This clarity narrows the candidate pool and leads to more realistic hiring decisions.”
Recruiters say that leadership has not changed but how executives succeed has. The True AI Capability Index assesses candidates on five dimensions of adaptive intelligence including model-updating speed and hybrid organization design. True looks for leaders who reason through ambiguity and design teams around human and AI collaboration. This focus on real capability reduces the risk of hiring leaders who might plateau as technology changes.
Related: True Acquires Jopwell
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
