Filling a Role, Rebuilding a Company
Diana Herpel, Executive Director in our Frankfurt office, reached out through her network to a board member of a German commercial fi nance company when she heard that it needed a new head of IT.
She had worked with the fi rm in the past but only on a small number of low-level placements. Her contact introduced her to the other members of the board of directors, who gave her the search. The client was faced by an array of pressing issues.
The global financial crisis had led to an extended hiring freeze, during much of which time the IT division was leaderless. There was no communication between line managers. An equally serious issue was that the platform had been built out by developers and administrators without contributions from business analysts, project managers or architects. It was apparent to everyone that the new hire would need to fundamentally rebuild and modernize the fi rm’s IT platform.
By a number of measures, the search was an enormous success. The client found a new head of IT. It took a risk in entrusting its IT platform to a gifted younger professional; and he in turn revitalized his department and contributed to the development of the company business plan. The team is transforming the fi rm’s IT architecture and updating its core systems.