I advise principal investors on the people behind important investment, partnership, and leadership decisions. I work especially with large family offices and family-owned holding companies with active direct-investment programs, as well as the institutional investors they work alongside.

Through independent, confidential conversations, I help clients form an informed view of a founder, management team, co-investor, business partner, or senior leadership candidate before an important decision is made.

Some clients involve me for a specific decision. Others work with me on an ongoing basis as individual questions arise.

Back them

Before an investment or acquisition, I speak with people who have worked with, backed, invested alongside, or done business with the founder, CEO, or management team.

The objective is to understand how they actually operate: how they lead and execute, make decisions, handle pressure, and work with investors and boards; where their strengths and limitations lie; and whether people who know them well would back them again.

Partner with them

When a client is considering working with another investor, sponsor, operating partner, adviser, or business partner, I speak with people who have worked or invested alongside them.

The objective is to understand how they behave as a partner, how they handle disagreement and difficult decisions, whether they do what they say they will do, and what the relationship is likely to be like over time.

Hire them

For critical external appointments into an investment firm, family office, or company it owns or backs, I assess the finalist with the candidate’s knowledge and authorization.

I speak with nominated references and additional people I identify who know the candidate’s work well. I bring those perspectives together against the requirements of the role and provide my own assessment of the candidate’s strengths, risks, and fit.

Introductions and search

Clients also ask who else they should be meeting with, whether for investment, partnership, or leadership reasons. When I believe there is a clear reason for two people to know one another, I make the introduction.

Within UHNW wealth management, I also handle select searches for senior client advisory roles.

How I work

Every engagement begins with the decision being made and the questions that matter most.

I identify people with firsthand knowledge, conduct every substantive conversation personally, consider the perspective and potential bias of each person, and triangulate what I hear. I then provide a clear, concise account of the findings together with my own assessment. Individual sources are not identified.

I work globally and across industries. Assignments range from a handful of targeted conversations to broader mandates requiring extensive interviewing across markets and stakeholder groups.

The client’s identity, intentions, and concerns remain confidential, and I do not disclose who I work with.

Experience

My career has been spent assessing senior people and advising the organizations making consequential decisions about them.

I began at Russell Reynolds Associates, became Co-Global Head of Talent Acquisition at UBS Wealth Management in the United States, and later joined Korn Ferry in Europe as a Senior Client Partner, where much of my work involved advising principal and institutional investors on leadership hiring and succession.

My clients have included family offices and holding companies of Forbes-ranked individuals, large and middle-market private equity and growth equity firms, sovereign wealth funds, and major endowments and foundations.

I have particular depth in wealth management and family capital, including the people and investors behind wealth management businesses.

I was born in Ireland and hold both Irish and U.S. citizenship. I spent more than a decade working in New York and now work internationally from the London time zone.

Get in touch

If you are considering backing, partnering with, or hiring someone, or would value an independent view of the people behind an important decision, I would be glad to compare notes.