2 year succession plan becomes immediate requirement for medical device & training firm

A European medical equipment and training firm needed to plan for the pending retirement of their regional President. They were looking for someone fitting a COO profile to consolidate and oversee Finance, Supply Chain, Customer Service, and QA in preparation for eventual takeover of the operation.

We developed 2 market maps, one focused on Operations and the other focused on Finance candidates, and from these we created several benchmarks for each profile type.

To attract top talent, we focused heavily on positioning the company as highly ethical with significant societal contributions. After benchmarking, it was agreed that a financial focus for the role would be prioritized given that strategic financial planning was key to future success of their business in this region.

We began our search focused on smaller medical device firms with CFO or COO type people who were handling more than just the financial side of the business. We conducted a preliminary round of interviews with their hiring team and from this shortlisted 2 candidates with one heavily favored.

However, the client wished to see more of the market. As the search progressed and the performance issues of the incumbent President persisted, the client wished to collapse the 2 year retirement window to immediate retirement. This necessitated plug and play candidates who could immediately step into the President role.

We updated our research and identified several potential candidates of whom one came from a direct competitor. By selling him on the client’s ethical focus we were able to get him to attend an informal initial meeting that was highly successful.

The candidate was fast-tracked and ultimately offered and hired, with the global CEO remarking that he was the best candidate he’d interviewed in his 40 years of business experience.