About Us
The Lancer Group has four areas of core competency.
I. Retained Executive Searches for CEOs and Direct Reports to the CEO (i.e. CFO, COO, etc.)
EXAMPLE: We completed a CEO search for a $280 Million revenue portfolio company of a private equity firm. It was a particularly challenging search. The company is based in the Eastern Seaboard and sells into an underappreciated sector. In addition, the search committee had set the bar incredibly high. To successfully complete the search, The Lancer Group spoke to more than 400 operating executives before recruiting an exceptional CEO. Most recently, the CEO was the number two executive out of an $11 Billion business unit of a publicly-traded $60 Billion company.
RESULT: Since joining the portfolio company, the CEO has taken the stock from $12/share to $22/share and the market cap from $425 Million to over $1 Billion dollars. The CEO is also a rare example of an executive who can scale down.
II. Executive Introductions/Proprietary Deal Ideas
EXAMPLE: When The Lancer Group was founded ten years ago, we specifically architected a search model to leverage executive ideas. While conducting a CEO search, we met an executive who was not interested in the search opportunity. However, he did have a proprietary idea for a transaction. The Lancer Group introduced the executive to a private equity firm.
RESULT: From the introduction we made, the private equity firm wrote a $200 Million equity check to buy a division from an $8 Billion in revenue, publicly-traded parent. 15 months after the transaction closed, the private equity firm took the spin-off public. The deal has put more than $580 Million back into the private equity firm’s pocket.
III. Private Equity Operating Partners Searches
EXAMPLE: We are seeing an increasing demand from private equity firms who are looking to bring executives in house to bolster their operating expertise and drive more value throughout their portfolio companies. A Managing Director at a private equity firm asked us to undertake what he said “would be our most challenging search to date.” The private equity firm had never looked externally to recruit a role at this level, which required a unique skill set and culture fit. The Managing Director wanted to bring in a Managing Director-level Partner who would be exclusively focused on portfolio operations.
RESULT: It took us only 90 days to successfully place the private equity firm’s first Operating Partner and Managing Director. The executive was a rare find in that he had an early career at Bain as a Partner, then he moved into private equity as a Partner. He preferred operating over deal making and left the private equity firm for an industry job. Then he was hand selected to spearhead a turnaround at a $3 Billion in revenue, publicly-traded company. At the time we called the executive, he was running the company’s single most profitable business unit, generating 30% of its cash flow.
IV. Due Diligence and Board of Directors/Advisory Roles
EXAMPLE: The Lancer Group provides executives for industry due diligence and Board of Directors/Advisory roles. For example, a private equity firm asked us to put together a slate of world-class Board of Directors candidates who would advise them on operating improvements for an $8 Billion business they acquired.
RESULT: From one search, the private equity firm hired not one, but, two Board Members. In addition, the Private Equity firm is working with a third Board candidate on due diligence for a new investment.