A few years back, an LP investing in mid-market PE asked me a question on a Zoom call that seemed innocuous at the time. He said: “How does an Operating Partner actually scale? You’re one person. You can’t sit in eight management meetings a week.” I gave him the then-standard answer – prioritization, frameworks, repeatable […]

Why outcome-based pricing is coming for professional services — and what it means for PE underwriting There is a number buried in a recent Wall Street Journal exclusive on ServiceNow that should stop every professional services firm — and every private equity investor who owns one — cold. Fifty percent of ServiceNow’s new business revenue […]

I’ve been placing Operating Partners for 20 years. Over that time, I’ve worked on 250+ searches across more than 100 PE firms. When I sat down recently to count how many women I’ve placed into Portfolio Operations roles, I was disappointed. Not because the women I’ve placed aren’t exceptional—they absolutely are. But because after two […]

What Two Decades of Executive Search Taught Me About PE’s Most Important Role Twenty years ago, when I started placing operating partners at private equity firms, the role barely existed. Most funds relied on a handful of retired executives on advisory retainers — no carry, no seat at the table, no real accountability. Today, operating […]

This is a fireside chat from the Wharton Online/Wall Street Prep private equity certificate program featuring Chris Conti, cofounder and Managing Partner of Lancor, a global executive search firm focused on the Private Equity industry. Conti provides an in-depth overview of the Operating Partner role in private equity, explaining how it has evolved over the […]

The AI Future for Portfolio Operations:“It’s not hard to imagine an AI sitting on the investment committee…” Nik Kapauan joined Access Holdings in 2022 as a Managing Director on the Value Creation team. As a member of the team, Nik supports the firm’s thesis development, origination, execution, and portfolio management activities. He also leads Access’ […]

At the start of 2024, I wrote a post advising Operating Partners to keep their heads down and hold onto good seats. The market felt seized up. Activity was sluggish, and the client base was understandably cautious. Many firms were struggling to sell assets, and cost centers — including portfolio operations — were under review. […]

I’ve always been curious about people. Who are they? What are their stories? How do they think? I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised at headhunting’s inate attraction for me. The best part of my job is, without question, meeting interesting people. I get perspective from them that gets my mind racing about new ideas […]

We’ve hit the dog days of Summer—those long, sweltering stretches that seem to drain us in more ways than one. I’ve heard from several private equity clients about their “Out in August” policies, granting teams the freedom to work from beach houses or mountain retreats for part of the month. It’s a chance to unplug, […]

I had the privilege of speaking at The Wharton School to an extended cohort of MBA and EMBA students about career opportunities in Private Equity Portfolio Operations.