Case Studies

Regional CFO, US listed mulitinational

Scenario
As part of it’s global growth initiative, the Company focused on significant business development in Asia in order to achieve its growth targets. The Company required a Regional CFO who was able to partner with the Country Heads to maximise their initiative into Asia.

The key selection criteria included;

• Specific sector experience in Senior Finance management within the Asia Pacific region
• A track record of providing commercial input into growth strategies within the Asia Pacific Region and the ability to contribute at the Global Finance Management level ·
• Significant people management & development experience

Solution
An executive search process was seen to be the best approach:

• Mapping out CFO’s from the industry which had Australia or Asia responsibilities and tracking previous CFO’s who may have left Asia.
• Contact was then made with these potential candidates to establish relevance and interest.
• A search of our candidate database in Australia, Asia Pacific, UK and the US with relevant sector experience was conducted.
• Advertising was not undertaken given the sensitivity of strategy and existing management

Outcome
A Regional CFO was successfully appointed. His previous career was with a US business in Europe, the States & the Asia Pacific region. He was tracked down in New York having returned to the head office after a 3 year role as the Regional Finance Director for Asia Pacific based in Hong Kong.

Head of Technology Risk, Major Australian Retail Bank

Scenario
The lack of maturity in the domestic market meant that there was a shortage of qualified candidates in Australia. In order to secure relevant skills to assist the bank to build it’s Risk Framework and it needed to broaden its search beyond Australia. The Bank had tried unsuccessfully for 8 months to source appropriate candidates with the requisite combination of risk, operational management and technology experience in Australia to lead a the banks strategy moving forward.

Solution
A targeted national and international search was recommended given the finite and dispersed market for these people globally specifically targeting Investment Banking and consulting houses Michael Page mapped out the 55 key people in London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney and Melbourne who were likely to have the right level of experience These people were approached and a shortlist of 4 people was presented – I from Australia, 2 from Singapore and 1 from London.

Outcome
The Australian candidate was benchmarked favourably with the international shortlist and was selected. They had a strong Risk consulting background from the big 4 and had recently most recently established a complete end to end risk framework for a major Australian ASX listed company.

CEO, Major Apparel Retailer, HK listed

Scenario
Our client had seen its turnover drop in the last two years, faced with new market entrants and stiffer competition from established players however, they retained strong brand equity and remained an attractive proposition for a prospective new CEO to turn the operation around.

Solution
The strong brand meant that branded advertising and targeted search would generate a strong response with a lot of interest. A search list of 15 major players within the market place was generated and the relevant individuals were approached. Advertising also brought in strong candidates who had taken time out of the market or who had returned from overseas that search wouldn’t have uncovered.

Outcome
A strong and varied shortlist was presented to the company and the preferred candidate selected after an extensive interview process. The successful individual brought to the table a strong track record in apparel retail with extensive store networks and of turning around loss making operations and was selected on this basis.

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Contact us

The strength of your business lies in the ability to obtain highest quality candidates. For more information contact:

Scott Mewing
National Director Executive Search
scottmewing@michaelpage.com.au
Tel :  +612 8292 2100

or visit the Executive Search Team Profile