Challenge
A large, vertically integrated development firm based in the Midwest was interested in growing its residential development activity while building AUM and introducing new sources of capital. Historically, the company had relied on its robust network of high-net-worth individuals and family offices to fund its LP equity commitments. In order to enable continued growth, the company sought to expand its private wealth channels and increase the average check size while also introducing institutional capital sources.
Solution
The firm first engaged RCLCO to facilitate a long-range strategic planning process and analyze potential new ventures for the enterprise. Through dozens of discovery interviews and numerous working sessions, RCLCO developed a deep understanding of the organization’s strengths, challenges, aspirations, and culture. As strategy planning progressed, it became clear that an expanded capital markets strategy would be necessary to support the type of growth the client company desired. The firm worked with RCLCO to find and place a leader who would drive the equity capital strategy and lead a large team of professionals responsible for capital raising, investor relations, and fund operations. RCLCO’s integrated Management Consulting and Executive Search team enabled a seamless transition from one assignment to the next, ultimately deepening our understanding of the client’s needs across both strategy and talent.
RCLCO’s existing familiarity with the organization accelerated the search process, and we were able to quickly identify candidates who would add a new perspective while also working well with the team in place. Finding someone with experience in a leadership role at a residential development platform that relied heavily on private capital would be essential, and ideally candidates would also have experience with fund vehicles. As the firm contemplated expanding its investor pool to include more institutional partners, it would be helpful for this SVP to bring experience in an institutional fundraising or client services capacity as well. Given that there was already a large, high-performing team in place responsible for a range of functions spanning both operations and fundraising, RCLCO needed to find candidates who demonstrated experience managing large teams with diverse skillsets. RCLCO had a clear sense of the type of candidate who would be successful in this role, but the pool of candidates meeting all the criteria was small, with very few of them located in the same midsized city as the firm’s HQ. RCLCO encouraged the client to hire the best person for the job, even if that meant a remote team member who would travel to HQ regularly.
Impact
Within one month of starting the search, RCLCO identified a candidate in a nearby city who came from an institutional background and also had experience managing private capital relationships on behalf of a real estate development platform. The candidate demonstrated the appropriate level of gravitas, intellect, and experience to garner the executive team’s trust to perform well in this critically important, externally facing role. Since joining the firm, the selected candidate has begun to take over capital relationship management responsibilities from the founder and CEO while further institutionalizing the equity team’s processes and systems. The candidate’s location in a nearby metro has not hindered performance, and the company is now starting to think more broadly about its overall talent acquisitions strategy. With this key hire in place, the company is poised for continued growth and success fueled by its equity capital markets strategy.