CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Founder Transition | High-Growth | Confidential Search

On behalf of our client, we are conducting a confidential search for a transformational Chief Executive Officer to lead a high-growth, service-driven organization operating at scale across North America.

This is a rare founder-transition opportunity inside a performance-oriented, mission-driven business entering its next chapter. The Founder & CEO will be transitioning over time and is committed to ensuring thoughtful succession and long-term continuity of culture, performance, and ambition.

For more than a decade, the company has built a strong reputation serving purpose-led organizations through a diversified service platform powered by people, data, and operational excellence. With a passionate team of over 1000 people, an experienced Senior Leadership Team, strong financial performance, and expanding capabilities, the organization is positioned for accelerated growth.

This is not a turnaround. This is not a rebuild. This is a scale opportunity.

About the Organization

The company operates at the intersection of service excellence, commercial discipline, and human opportunity.

Its decision-making framework is guided by three core pillars:

• Client Impact – Delivering measurable, defensible value to partners.
• Sustainable Margin – Ensuring disciplined profitability that fuels reinvestment and long-term durability.
• People Opportunity – Creating meaningful career pathways, leadership development, and economic mobility at scale.

This philosophy has shaped a culture that blends:

• High-performance field execution
• Analytical rigor and data-informed decision-making
• Operational discipline
• Entrepreneurial energy
• Deep commitment to people development

The organization is now investing in technology modernization and AI-enabled capabilities to unlock new value for clients, strengthen operating leverage, and empower frontline teams with better tools and insight.

The foundation is strong. The ambition is stronger.

The Opportunity

The incoming CEO will partner with a seasoned and aligned Senior Leadership Team spanning operations, customer strategy, technology, data, sales, and field leadership.

The mandate is clear:

• Accelerate organic growth
• Strengthen market position
• Deepen client relationships
• Enhance operational scalability
• Institutionalize best-in-class leadership development
• Prepare the business for a successful transaction in the coming years

This role demands range. The next CEO must be equally comfortable:

• Reviewing EBITDA performance and capital allocation
• Coaching senior leaders through complex decisions
• Inspiring hundreds — even thousands — of frontline team members
• Engaging directly with key strategic clients
• Driving disciplined investment into technology and AI enablement

This is a highly visible leadership role internally and externally — but one that requires humility and restraint as much as charisma.

What You Will Do

Define the Next Phase of Growth

Articulate and execute a clear, compelling strategy aligned to the organization’s three pillars. Balance ambition with discipline. Ensure growth enhances both profitability and cultural integrity.

Scale with Precision

Build operating systems, talent pipelines, and leadership capacity that allow the business to grow without losing performance standards or cultural cohesion.

Champion Modernization

Accelerate the integration of advanced data capabilities, AI tools, and operational technologies that drive smarter decisions, improved productivity, and differentiated client value.

Elevate the Leadership Team

Lead through others. Develop and empower an already strong executive bench. Strengthen succession planning and leadership development at every level of the organization.

Expand Strategic Relationships

Engage meaningfully with key clients and partners. Support business development efforts where executive presence drives credibility and growth.

Deliver Financial Performance

Drive disciplined EBITDA growth through operational rigor, margin management, and intelligent reinvestment. Maintain alignment with board and private equity stakeholders on value creation strategy.

What You Bring

• 20+ years of progressive executive leadership experience in service-oriented, distributed workforce, or field-driven environments with P&L ownership of $50M+.
• Demonstrated success scaling organizations across multiple markets, with a successful track record of U.S. and international market expansion being a notable advantage.
• A strong commercial instinct with the ability to balance revenue growth and margin discipline.
• Experience operating in private equity-backed or transaction-focused environments is advantageous.
• Comfort leading organizations with large frontline populations and performance-based cultures.
• Strong board presence and investor credibility.

Who You Are

You are a servant leader at scale. You instinctively elevate others. You build leadership capacity around you. You do not need the spotlight — but you can command it when the moment calls for inspiration. You believe performance and people are not competing priorities — they are reinforcing ones.

You are also:

• A strategic thinker who converts vision into disciplined execution
• A humble but confident influencer
• Energized by building systems that outlast you
• Comfortable making tough decisions in pursuit of long-term strength
• Deeply committed to accountability, authenticity, and continuous improvement

Importantly, you understand that margin fuels mission. And that opportunity fuels loyalty.

The Moment

Founder transitions are inflection points. They test whether a company’s success was personality-driven — or principle-driven. This organization has been built on principles.

This organization has:

• A strong and committed leadership team
• A scalable operating platform
• Meaningful recurring revenue
• Proven profitability
• A performance-oriented culture
• Significant upside through modernization and AI enablement

The next CEO will not be asked to create momentum. They will be asked to steward it, sharpen it, and accelerate it.

This is an opportunity to step onto a rocket ship — not to build one from scratch.

It requires a leader who can protect what makes the organization special while evolving it for its next era of growth.

If you are a commercially disciplined, people-first leader who thrives in growth environments and believes that scale and impact can coexist — we welcome a confidential conversation.

Please connect with Christian Buhagiar ([email protected]) to explore this incredible opportunity and discuss how you, or someone you know, can contribute to our client’s mission.