CEO, global leader in electronic shelves
Chief Executive Officer, global leader in electronics shelf labelling (technology)
Client
Our client is a 100 M€ company, global leader in electronics shelf labelling, with specific solutions for every type of retail environment, including hypermarkets, supermarkets, DIY stores, electronics stores, pharmacies and service stations. For 15 years, it has been managed by his founder, a passionate entrepreneur, who had successfully developed the company from scratch to becoming a global leader in its sector. When we were called, the founder had contracted a degenerative illness that progressively impaired him from holding his role. In that sensitive and confidential context, we were mandated to recruit his successor.
Role
When we were called, the company had a turnover of 50 M€ and ~100 employees, mostly in France. The company was majority owned by a well reputed French private equity, and had just been listed on the Paris stock exchange. After a period during which the company had successfully developed on the French market – taking a strong market share – international development was now the priority.
Candidates
We agreed to look for French speaking candidates with strong experience of selling electronics equipment or systems in the retail sector (cash registers…). The difficultly is that most vendors in this sector are Foreign (mostly US or Asian) electronics groups, which French subsidiary covers essentially the domestic market. Hence, most candidate profiles had very limited, if any at all, international experience. After having interviewed a solid short list of this type of candidate, our client asked us to consider completely different, more entrepreneurial profiles, with retail experience.
Outcome
We recruited a extremely international - Franco/American citizen - seasoned executive, with 10 years experience in retail and a recent experience of CEO of a mid size, private equity owned, consumer goods company. The candidate had an extremely strong fit with the founder, which proved to be an essential ingredient for success in the first few months in his role. Our new CEO agreed with the founder that he would stay for a transition period of a year, to smoothly transition the client base.
Client
Our client is a 100 M€ company, global leader in electronics shelf labelling, with specific solutions for every type of retail environment, including hypermarkets, supermarkets, DIY stores, electronics stores, pharmacies and service stations. For 15 years, it has been managed by his founder, a passionate entrepreneur, who had successfully developed the company from scratch to becoming a global leader in its sector. When we were called, the founder had contracted a degenerative illness that progressively impaired him from holding his role. In that sensitive and confidential context, we were mandated to recruit his successor.
Role
When we were called, the company had a turnover of 50 M€ and ~100 employees, mostly in France. The company was majority owned by a well reputed French private equity, and had just been listed on the Paris stock exchange. After a period during which the company had successfully developed on the French market – taking a strong market share – international development was now the priority.
Candidates
We agreed to look for French speaking candidates with strong experience of selling electronics equipment or systems in the retail sector (cash registers…). The difficultly is that most vendors in this sector are Foreign (mostly US or Asian) electronics groups, which French subsidiary covers essentially the domestic market. Hence, most candidate profiles had very limited, if any at all, international experience. After having interviewed a solid short list of this type of candidate, our client asked us to consider completely different, more entrepreneurial profiles, with retail experience.
Outcome
We recruited a extremely international - Franco/American citizen - seasoned executive, with 10 years experience in retail and a recent experience of CEO of a mid size, private equity owned, consumer goods company. The candidate had an extremely strong fit with the founder, which proved to be an essential ingredient for success in the first few months in his role. Our new CEO agreed with the founder that he would stay for a transition period of a year, to smoothly transition the client base.