Versique Search and Consulting Names CFO
July 3, 2020 – Minneapolis, MN-headquartered Versique Search and Consulting has promoted Erik Fortier to chief financial officer. In this role, he will oversee the company’s finance operations as well as HR, IT and office administration functions, and will focus on maintaining Versique’s continued growth and helping to drive its strategic initiatives.
“Erik has brought a whole new level of financial leadership to Versique,” said Chris Ohlendorf, chief operating officer and owner of the firm. “His business acumen and ability to tie together the needs of finance as well as sales and operations has given our leadership team and entire company an incredible partner.”
Mr. Fortier joined Versique as vice president of finance in May 2019 and brings more than 17 years of diverse corporate finance experience in various companies, both public and private in the staffing, retail, hospitality, aerospace, technology and financial services industries.
“I’ve been fortunate to spend the past year with such a talented group of driven and fun-loving individuals,” said Mr. Fortier. “I appreciate the opportunity and am excited about Versique’s position in the market and our aggressive plans for the future.”
Mr. Fortier has established himself as a top tier finance leader, bringing expertise in operational skills such as cash management, cost analysis and compliance programs as well as strategic skills such as forecasting, financial modeling and corporate investments. He has built and led teams in companies ranging in size from under 50 employees to international corporations in excess of 100,000 employees. “He will bring that expertise to Versique’s corporate services team, helping to unlock potential and drive organizational growth,” the search firm said
Serving the Twin Cities
Versique is the Twin Cities’ second-largest executive search firm with roughly $4.5 million in revenue from placements and about $17 million in total revenue. The firm has almost 60 employees and did about 300 placements in 2019.
Mr. Fortier’s promotion comes on the heels of Versique’s acquisition of St. Paul, MN-based Midwest Financial Search to boost its presence in the banking and financial services sector. Midwest Financial Search specializes in placing executives and others at banks and financial institutions. Versique president and CEO Tony Sorensen said his firm wanted to expand into the financial arena, where it has done few placements. The banking and financial services practice will be led by Mary Lydon and Paul Bees, who ran Midwest Financial Search.
Midwest Financial Search makes placements primarily in the financial services sector. The firm’s clients include Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp., St. Paul-based Bremer Financial Corp. and San Francisco-based Wells Fargo.
“We are thrilled to welcome Paul and Mary to the Versique family,” said Tony Sorensen, president and CEO of Versique. “They each bring a wealth of search industry experience and invaluable networks to our team.” He added that his firm is looking for other deals to expand its offerings into more consulting services.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media