Chief Executive Officer

Cyber Security, Privately owned, London

The Context of the Assignment

Having worked with this client consistently for over 18 years and helping them to build a number of board structures, Metzger took on a task to assist the client (a highly successful Private Office) to invest, acquire and hire in a demanding and completely new sector of the market. This client wished to establish and build a high quality cyber security business based in the UK, but appreciating that they would need to source top talent globally. Our first task was to identify a Chief Executive Officer for this business that could manage the investment, acquisition and ongoing team building for this business.

The Recruitment Process

We implemented a pan European executive search process, where we identified the major industrial, significant consulting and SME niche cyber businesses in Europe. Our focus was to find a CEO that could buy and build a cyber security platform. We researched and identified a wide variety of potential candidates with the given skills and experience from a vast range of the market providers. This led to a defined list of people that we particularly wanted to target and talk to. Following this very specific method, we engaged with these people to assess their compatibility and interest in this opportunity. Bearing in mind this is a very dynamic sector with a dearth of real business talent; we were limited to a very short candidate list.

Between our process and the client, we introduced four potential candidates and worked very closely throughout the period of assessment, dialogue and promotion of the opportunity. In this case, this resulted in many meetings between the candidates and the client.

We managed the entire process with all communication and dialogue to the offer management stage, which included forming a structured wealth creation scheme for the senior executive management team.

The Outcome

The outcome was hiring a CEO that introduced the client to an acquisition target that was then secured. This then led to us hiring non-executive advisors and a management team to include the Chief Technology Officer, other leading technology functions and professional service teams for the business. These people came from the UK, New Zealand, Belgium, Spain and Eastern Europe.