Retained Executive Search for US-Based PE, VC, Hedge Funds & Family Offices
We conduct retained, partner-led executive search for investment firms and principal-led companies in the United States — designed by operators and investors who have made and managed leadership decisions under capital, board and exit pressure. Hiring executive leaders or board members requires dedicated leadership advisory firms and is a high-stakes endeavor with minimal room for error.
Where Our Work Begins
Our involvement starts when leadership selection is a capital decision — not a hiring task. Mandates are initiated by General Partners, CIOs, Operating Partners, Family Principals, Investment Committees and Board Chairs when the choice of leader will alter the trajectory of value creation, governance confidence or timing to exit.
At that altitude, the work is not to search broadly — it is to choose correctly once.
Retained, Partner-Led, Built by Investors/Operators
In investor-backed environments, leadership is judged by outcomes that survive exposure — not by résumés or interviews. Our process exists to protect the decision that will later be audited by boards, LPs or transaction events.
Mandates are executed by partners with operating and investment backgrounds — not delegated to pipelines or research layers. The slate is constructed around the realities the leader must withstand: governance cadence, capital horizon, stakeholder friction, regulatory posture, and reputational reversibility.
Why Capital Allocators in the US Choose This Model
US investment firms and principal-led companies engage us when they need decisions that will remain correct after disclosure, not just appear reasonable at the point of hire. Our work aligns to that standard by:
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Starting from conditions of success, not job titles
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Producing small, defensible slates suitable for board and IC review
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Treating leadership choice as a risk decision inside a capital plan
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Operating without noise, volume or search theatrics
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Integrating US governance expectations with execution realities across markets without distortion or post-rationalization
The objective is not to fill a position — it is to install a decision that can withstand time, scrutiny and exposure.
Private Equity Executive Search
(US mandates
In PE-owned businesses, leadership is evaluated under the conditions of a hold period — decisions must convert into compounding, not narrative. We surface CEOs, CFOs and board leaders whose prior decisions have held when capital, time and governance pressure were active and observable.
Evaluation is anchored to the fund’s value-creation logic — not to abstract competency labels. The slate that reaches the committee is already calibrated to the thesis, the exit horizon, and the cost of being wrong.
Hedge Fund & Alternative Investment Leadership Search
Systematic / HFT / Quant / AIF-Equivalent Execution Contexts
In systematic and high-velocity environments, leadership must function under speed, model-risk, operational exposure and regulatory optics simultaneously. We identify leaders and operators whose behavior under those constraints is evidenced — not theorized — in prior mandates where error carried real cost.
The bar is not intellectual capability alone—it is the ability to behave predictably under algorithmic risk, institutional oversight and real-time accountability.
Public / Private / Multi-Asset / Hybrid Investing Contexts
For discretionary and multi-asset mandates, we generate slates of individuals who have run capital, risk or operating functions in environments where decisions were later interrogated by partners, LPs or regulators. Track record alone is insufficient — we look for judgment that held when conditions were not favorable.
Venture Capital Executive Search
(US context)
In venture-backed companies, leadership decisions compound into dilution, momentum or replacement risk. We prioritize operators and growth CFOs who have professionalized without freezing innovation, and who have executed under board oversight without destabilizing founder leadership.
We look for evidence of decisions that traveled beyond the moment — that could withstand the scrutiny of the next round, audit, or exit dialogue.
Family Office Executive Search (US Principals)
In principal-controlled environments, leadership carries reputational, relational and inter-generational consequences. We surface executives whose prior behavior demonstrates alignment to private capital logic — discretion, continuity, and reliability under conditions that will never be narrated publicly.
Engagements are conducted in controlled privacy — decisions are completed, not broadcast.
Board Member & Independent Director Search (US / cross-border mandates)
Board composition is a control variable — it defines what decisions are possible and what failure modes are survivable. We seat directors and committee members whose governance judgment has been exercised under conditions where outcomes were visible to investors, regulators or public markets.
Reputation, alignment and viability are resolved before approach — so the board only meets candidates who can withstand exposure.
Operating Model—How We Engage
Market Intelligence Aligned to Conditions, Not Titles
We begin with the conditions the leader must withstand — governance design, scrutiny profile, exit horizon, board cadence, compensation physics — and build the map around those constraints so the slate is viable before it is visible.
Evaluation Based on Evidence Under Exposure
We examine how candidates behaved when decisions were audited — by boards, partners, LPs, regulators or markets — not how they present when conditions are favorable. The standard is survival under visibility.
Shortlist, Diligence & Decision Execution
Slates are intentionally small and defensible. References are structured for committees — triangulated, specific and consequential. Transition, offer and stakeholder choreography are engineered to land a decision that remains sound after disclosure.
Evaluator’s Lens: What Distinguishes a Retained Executive Search Partner for US Capital Allocators
Capital allocators retain partners whose work:
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Begins with capital and governance reality, not with requisitions
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Produces decision-ready slates, not pipelines
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Anticipates how the decision will be scrutinized later, not just how it will be made now
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Integrates cross-border execution without distortion or narrative shortcuts
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Treats leadership selection as a risk decision inside a capital plan
At this level, search is not a sourcing exercise — it is a judgment function.
Engagement Protocol
Mandate Calibration
We define what must be true for the decision to stand — decision rights, veto logic, confidentiality posture, timeline discipline.
Retainer & Mapping
Signals, conflicts and reputational risks are cleared before engagement momentum forms.
Shortlisting & Board Vetting
Board-grade documentation, reference logic and offer precision ensure the decision can withstand exposure, not just consensus.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
We do not present slates until we have interrogated the candidate’s past decisions under conditions similar to the mandate — fund horizon, governance exposure, compensation physics and cost of a wrong hire. What reaches committee is already pre-argued, not just pre-screened.
We compress indecision, not diligence. The velocity comes from front-loading calibration — decision rights, veto logic and reputational constraints — so criteria are not re-litigated mid-search. Speed without future regret.
We normalize evaluation to governance, not geography. We only elevate leaders whose decisions have survived scrutiny under comparable oversight — so the appointment is acceptable to US boards and investors even if execution is elsewhere.
Integrity, litigation, conflict and reputational checks are run before candidates reach principals or boards — so reversals do not occur when political cost is highest.
Partners run calibration, approach and shortlisting end-to-end. We do not sell candidates; we install decisions. Our work ends when the appointment can withstand exposure — not when introductions are made.