Case Studies

Among numerous CEO mandates, one Private Equity search required a particularly collaborative approach. Circumstances necessitated a significant degree of discretion, a forensic market search, and most of all, a compelling candidate narrative to be established to attract and engage top tier talent for a challenging CEO role where the founder would be replaced.

Nick and the client took time to scope the brief, establish the components we were seeking in the ideal candidate, and then determine both the markets and cultures that would typically attract and employ the right personalities.
The result was the recruitment of a high profile, impeccably experienced industry executive who had bought into the opportunity as presented by Marketmaker and the client.

This PE brief necessitated a particularly complex set of criteria to be fulfilled in order to hire the right Non-Executive Chair for this fast-growth insurance group. On this occasion, the initial challenge was not so much the selling of the opportunity to the target candidates, rather a comprehensive analysis of the candidate pool to ensure all boxes were ticked – a very complex Venn diagram!

The result was a miniscule pool of relevant individuals who then needed to be brought to the table via careful and considered engagement, highlighting the personal opportunity and the business’s assets as required. Close collaboration with the diverse investor group was important, resulting in a productive, collaborative, and consultative process for all concerned – not least our successful Chair.

This PE-owned insurance group had enjoyed rapid growth but at the cost of its claims and servicing performance, which was impairing loss ratio and both employee and customer satisfaction.

Marketmaker’s brief was to introduce a strong and capable executive claims leader who could assess, address, and reshape the claims TOM in a way that alleviated some of this pressure and corrected commercial performance. On this occasion, Nick was able to turn to a longstanding market contact who had recently ‘gone plural’ and established not only the right platform for change for the client, but also helped a newly established consultant get their business of the ground.

The client, a leading but still ambitious UK Motor insurer recognised the importance of not standing still on a volatile and fast-evolving pricing landscape. Regulatory reform, along with the blossoming opportunities and threats presented by the data revolution, meant the ExCo needed to act to ensure they maintained their position at the forefront of the market.

Against a backdrop of a risk-averse, candidate-driven market that made it difficult to persuade people to move, it was particularly important to develop an attractive candidate proposition.

In a highly competitive situation for the candidate’s services, the client and Marketmaker collaborated smartly to bring the right ExCo members to the table at the right time do demonstrate their commitment to the brief. Consequently, they hired a happy, engaged candidate who had felt respected through the hiring process.

Having worked with this new client as a candidate, the objective was to help them build a team to fulfil an exciting and significant market opportunity, but in the challenges of a hard insurance market and difficult recruitment market.

The client was aware of the challenges of attracting people to a new entity in a market in which time was especially precious and the logic of moving hard to justify given hard market conditions.

As ever, the establishment of a truly compelling candidate proposition was essential alongside the targeting of a diverse but small pool of eligible talent, each of whom needed a tailored approach to their engagement.

On the back of a necessarily considered and tenacious approach, this relationship has now resulted in three highly successful hires each of whom has contributed to the rapid development of a multi-million pound business.

On this occasion, the candidate preceded the role as an exceptional insurance talent sought a new home. Nick had proactively approached this individual having identified that a number of his clients may be interested to speak to them given a broad and interesting skill base.

Taking time to understand their personal and professional drivers, Nick took care to prepare a compelling candidate profile that was targeted at a handful of Motor insurance businesses.

Following a number of interviews, the individual built strong relations across the ExCO and a role was built around their skill set. The consequence of this was an unusually high degree of confidence from client and candidate alike that the role matched the individual and a market opportunity could be exploited.

While engaged on a separate mandate with the founder of this PE-owned distribution brand, Marketmaker separately introduced a genuine market leader who was seeking a new, more entrepreneurial home. Having become familiar with the unique and dynamic culture in the business, Nick recognised a match between the individual’s style and ambitions, and the company’s culture and circumstances. Following a lengthy engagement between all parties, Marketmaker’s introduction and ongoing support allowed the founder to step away from the business they had built and bring the ideal successor CEO into the company. The result has been a new leader for the next phase of the company, which has involved a successful PE transaction.

A proven team of London Market Casualty underwriting leaders had ambitions to venture into a more entrepreneurial home from their primary employer. Working on an extremely confidential basis, they and NC discussed how and where their ambitions may be fulfilled before tailoring a handful of carefully crafted approaches.

As testament to collaborative and thorough research and preparation, Marketmaker helped the pair to establish the first Casualty operation of a leading Financial Lines MGA on the back of a single meeting, developing not only the right platform for two hungry insurance executives, but also bringing new value to an entrepreneurial SME that facilitated and enhanced a significant trade exit.

Perhaps the most satisfying of all placements for client, candidate, and Marketmaker alike. The client was introduced to Nick as a successful supplier to the UK GI markets but who needed to enhance their claims capability.

Upon scrutiny of the existing model, it was evident that the claims proposition was unclear which made it hard both to hire the right person and for that person to succeed.

Marketmaker’s proposal was to combine the search for the right candidate with a market intelligence exercise whereby, having carefully targeted the right talent, we would engage them on their opinions on the same criteria around the industry.

The result was a comprehensive market intelligence report that shaped the client’s thinking; more importantly, however, the successful candidate entered the company having felt they had had a fundamental role in shaping the opportunity, proposition, and then role before beginning.