The Go-to-Market pillar/COE inside a Portfolio Ops team has solidified itself across the middle market.  It remains a very hot area for my headhunting practice because growth is so inherent in every thesis.  That said, it’s complicated and still has some art mixed in with the science.  But like everything else, as the enterprise continues […]

On February 4, 2025, I was privileged to present to the Business school students at TheUniversity of Chicago Booth School of Business (via the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship andInnovation). We spent an hour together exploring the paths they might take to land rolesinside PE Portfolio Operations teams. It was awesome to see the interest they […]

About John FlanneryJohn Flannery joined Charlesbank in an advisory role in 2019 after 31 years at GE, where he most recently served as chairman and chief executive officer. At Charlesbank, he co-leads the Portfolio Resources Group, working with CEOs and their teams to improve operating performance, strategy and governance. He also helps the PRG team […]

Having done this work for almost 20 years now, I do enjoy being able to watch the market for Operating Partners evolve as the macro cycles begin and end.  Nothing is permanent in this game.  The period between 2005 and 2008 were heady days for the function. We had the tailwinds of a great market, […]

One reason that I enjoy doing work across Private Equity portfolio operations is that the mandates are rarely ever carbon copies of one another. The beauty of an Operating Partner is that every firm, and dare I say every deal team inside every firm, can define an Operating Partner in their own novel way.  It […]

As I’ve watched firms ebb and flow over the course of the last 20 years, finding ways to be innovative in the Private Equity context really hasn’t been that easy.  The industry generally runs along a well-defined set of rules and expectations and it’s rare that we see any truly fresh ideas or approaches.  To […]

Like many of you, I’m a movie buff.  I’m a sucker for great storytelling and hold many of the Classics in a special place.  As a guy who grew up in Youngstown, Ohio in the 1980s, the mob movie genre has particularly held my attention.  No surprise then, The Godfather trilogy is a long term […]

If you happen to be a sports fan, and in particular a college football fan, then you most likely have heard about the NCAA Transfer Portal.  Created in 2018, it’s a database where collegiate athletes can test their marketability to other college programs to potentially improve their situation as a student athlete.  There’s been quite […]

In December, I spent time with multiple clients who were in the process of thinking through their 2023 budgets.  Each of them runs a Portfolio Operations team inside a PE firm.  The firms for whom they work are quite different… ranging in AUM from $4 billion to $350 billion, and many in between.  They were […]

And How can that Dynamic Impact Firm Culture? “Do your Operating Partners take Board seats, or not?”  I feel like this is one of those questions in our community which doesn’t always necessarily elicit an authentic answer.  I don’t mean that people are untruthful in their responses, but I do think they may be following […]