THE CHALLENGE
Miramar was retained by its client, a mid-market Private Equity (PE) firm, to appoint a CEO of a life sciences business that provides high-grade chemicals, reagents, and components used in electron microscopy applications. The successful candidate would report into the executive team at the organisation. The challenge was to replace a previous incumbent who had been with the business since its inception, 35 years ago.. The previous incumbent was able to act quickly and take advantage of market opportunities because of their product knowledge and sourcing capabilities. The new CEO had a challenging role to fill and needed the required experience to retain and build upon those capabilities, enabling the business to maintain competitive advantage and organic growth rate as they prepare for an exit process. As the company was set for some major organisational changes the client was seeking a CEO tasked with successfully strategising and leading the organisation through the drastic changes.
THE SOLUTION
The new CEO would be responsible for collaborating with both the PE firm and the executive team within the organisation to ensure both parties were kept up to date throughout the exit process. The client had essential requirements that the CEO must possess domain expertise within Life Sciences, Material Science, Chemistry or Broader Diagnostic / Laboratory Solutions markets. We delivered a focused strategy to target individuals with a track record of driving revenue growth and EBITDA while having product expertise and technical knowledge. We targeted candidates that were familiar with the Company’s customer base and had a track record of selling into the same customers to make the transition easier and smoother for the business and placed candidate, allowing them to make an immediate impact.
RESULT
We successfully delivered a diverse slate of candidates where our client had two finalists to choose from and we supported the client throughout the interview. The company had a strong level of experience in operations and finance therefore the CEO needed to fill the gap and be more commercially inclined than the team which was currently in place. We found a commercially oriented CEO with a proven track record of success creating growth within established markets along with the creation of new business opportunities who was successfully appointed to the role.
