Searchlight Newsletter – Q2 2019

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                        Q2 2019

keith pearson

A Message from Keith Pearson, CEO & Vice Chairman

Once upon a time, the chief financial officer role was all about the numbers. But today, if you asked a CFO what keeps him or her up at night, the answer probably wouldn’t have anything to do with accounting.

We asked that question of the CFO panelists at our June 2019 Spotlight SeriesSM breakfast, and their answers were revealing. One said she loses sleep over cyber security. Another is keeping a wary eye on healthcare reform. One is laser-focused on organizational growth. Another spends a lot of time thinking about how to outsmart the competition.

These CFOs’ answers to this surprisingly complex question are a reflection of how the finance leader’s role has changed. CFOs today are an important part of their organizations’ strategic teams and are leading IT initiatives, developing human resources programs, training their future replacements, managing risk, monitoring cyber security and continuously scanning the regulatory environment and global trends to keep their organizations a step ahead of their competition.

The discussion at our recent Spotlight Series breakfast revealed the ever-expanding breadth of the CFO’s responsibilities and shared the increasing complexity and collaboration of this once-siloed role. To learn more, read our summary of the discussion in this issue.

Here at Pearson Partners, our team continues to grow and excel. I am extremely proud to share the news of two well-deserved promotions. In May, we named Renee Baker Arrington President & Chief Operating Officer. Renee has partnered with me on many strategic initiatives over the years and it gives me great pleasure to make her leadership role at Pearson Partners official. In June, we promoted Stephen Konstans to Senior Vice President and Financial Officers Practice Leader. Stephen has long focused on CFO and finance leader search expertise and I’m eager to see our clients realize even greater value as Stephen takes the helm to lead our financial officers practice area.

We are looking forward to our global partnership’s annual meeting in Dubai in October, where our partner consultants from 43 offices in 29 countries will convene to discuss trends in their businesses. With our clients and the global business climate evolving daily, it is a very exciting time to be in executive search and leadership consulting.

 

In This Issue


Quarterly Spotlight SeriesSM Breakfast:
The Changing Role of the Chief Financial Officer

At our recent Spotlight SeriesSM breakfast event, we invited a group of CFOs to talk about how they spend their days and what they worry about at night. Long gone are the days when a CFO’s sole focus was on finance. The increasingly complex responsibilities of finance leaders demand a diverse skill set and continuous attention to a variety of influences that challenge an organization in unexpected ways. A valued part of their organizations’ leadership teams, CFOs are making strategic contributions that establish a strong foundation for growth, competitiveness and future leadership.

Read More

Case Study:
The Flawless Code for a Leading Information Technology Organization’s CEO

When the nation’s leading information technology professionals’ association, Society for Information Management (SIM), needed a new CEO, they knew they wanted to expand the scope of the role to meet the evolving demands of the profession and to do so, they enlisted the help of an executive search firm. Learn how Pearson Partners’ search experts Renee Arrington and Lisa Thompson helped SIM recruit the perfect match.

Read More

White Paper:
Executive Talent 2025: What’s Now, New and Next in Global C-Suite Talent

What are the trends in recruiting and developing C-Suite leadership in the next five years? The Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC) has undertaken an intensive study to find out. Following on its report three years ago, Executive Talent 2020, the organization surveyed global business leaders to study their top challenges and priorities as well as expectations and plans for the next few years. Learn more and read the white paper in this issue.

Read More

Tips from the Leadership Coach:
Boutique Executive Search Firms Help Clients Win the War for Talent

At a time when hiring and retaining the best executives and reducing time-to-hire are crucial in winning the war for talent, boutique executive search firms have a clear advantage over large firms whose hands are tied by constraints like overreaching off-limits restrictions, often taking months to develop a slate of candidates that may not be the best fit. Today, organizations value the speed, agility and fewer constraints of boutique executive search firms with national and international footprints. Read eight tips on the many advantages of a boutique search firm.

Read More

Pearson Partners Profile:
Custis Hoge, Advisory Board Member

Our newest member of our esteemed board of advisors, Custis Hoge, is a leading financial executive with a strong, client-focused management style. He strives to be a servant-leader to his teams and business colleagues. Learn why we invited Custis to join our advisory board and lend his expertise to our team by reading his Profile Q&A in this issue.

Read More

Featured Search

We are conducting a nationwide search for a Vice President of Operations for a buried pipeline water and wastewater infrastructure company. The United States has 1.6 million miles of water and wastewater pipelines, many of which are more than 100 years old. Every two minutes, a water main breaks in the U.S., with more than 2 trillion gallons of treated water lost annually at a cost of over $2.6 billion. Our client aims to solve that problem by building a company based on strong core values and best practices unique to the municipal construction space. The VP of Operations will report to the CEO and proactively partner with operating executives to develop a premier operations group within the organization.

Learn more or provide a confidential referral.

View more featured searches.

Recent Placements

Chief Executive Officer, Society for Information Management (SIM) View our Success Story

Chief Innovation Officer, DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit)

Regional Vice President, Retail Financial Services Provider

Vice President, Software Development & Data Analytics, Travel Technology Company

Vice President of Hospice, Home Health, Community and Hospice Care Provider

Managing Director, Canada, Legal Services Provider

Museum Director, Major Grants Foundation

Senior Director of Human Resources, Home Health Care Services Provider

Other news

Renee Arrington has been named President & Chief Operating Officer of Pearson Partners International. Renee will continue in her executive search capacity, leading our CIO & IT Leadership practice group and our Fort Worth, Texas office.

Keith Pearson has been elected chair of the board of trustees for 2019–2020 of the North Texas Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. A longtime, avid fundraiser, volunteer and member of the chapter’s Team in Training, Keith has served as an advisory board member for the North Texas chapter since 2010.

Renee Arrington has been named program co-chair for 2019–2020 of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) North Texas Chapter.

Our recent Q2 2019 Spotlight SeriesSM breakfast featured a panel of CFO experts discussing The Changing Role of the Chief Financial Officer. Read a summary of our discussion in this issue.

Stephen Konstans was a featured speaker at the recent Financial Executives Networking Group (FENG) Dallas Chapter in May, discussing How to Work with Executive Search Firms.

Stephen Konstans moderated a discussion in April at the Wharton and Northwestern Alumni Clubs of Dallas/Fort Worth, featuring a panel of leading executive search consultants discussing What Executive Recruiters Look for in Top Corporate and Board Candidates.

Lisa Thompson was quoted in Government Technology Magazine and Dallas Innovates Magazine discussing the strategy and groundbreaking nature of our recently completed search for a Chief Innovation Officer for Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART).

Pearson Partners welcomed our newest summer intern in June. Sarah Konstans (daughter of our own Stephen Konstans) is a student majoring in economics at Davidson College. She plans to pursue a career in real estate and loves to play basketball.

Lisa Thompson and Renee Arrington represented Pearson Partners at the annual meeting in May of our global partnership, IIC Partners Executive Search Worldwide, where Renee co-presented on the evolving executive search market and strategies to best structure our global group for future success.

In April, our global executive search partnership, IIC Partners, announced the appointment of six new practice group leaders, including our own Renee Arrington, who will serve as Board Liaison for Practice Groups. Renee explains, “Each of these Leaders and Deputy Leaders strengthens our global offerings by contributing their industry expertise to our practice groups.”

In October, Pearson Partners is joining our global IIC Partners search consultants from 43 offices in 29 countries in Dubai as we convene to discuss trends and innovations in our businesses and the executive search industry.

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