Case Studies

During the first fifteen years of the company’s existence, the company’s top leadership role was selected by individuals from the four utilities that had created and capitalized the firm. By the mid 1990’s it had become evident to the company’s board that the firm needed to hire a CEO from the power services industry who could drive the company’s future, continued growth and vitality. The industry was far too competitive, and the company found itself vulnerable to hungry OEM’s that ramped up their O&M and other professional services businesses during the same era. [more]

Unfortunately, the company did not have the leadership to either execute the contract profitably or to leverage the contract into further business. The $25 million business was floundering. RSMR was tasked to identify and recruit an individual who could take over the contract and build the business through strategic acquisition. [more]

The client needed this search done very discreetly, as there were sensitivities regarding an incumbent who was in the role on an interim basis. The company needed a leader who could restore profitability to the business and get it back onto a growth track that earned the confidence of the German parent. It also required an executive who was accustomed to reporting to an overseas board. [more]

Our client, which historically has covered the U.S. market from Europe, made the decision to establish a North American operation in the Western part of the United States. The company’s international leadership team asked RSMR to identify, attract, and hire a leader for the North American business, someone who had been active in the U.S. and who understood the intricacies of the regional landscape. [more]

The most immediate realization was that this person would not come from solar, the industry was too immature and the project scope was too limited. Our client at first had little definition for the role, leaving us to identify the ideal candidate profile and to solidify the scope of the position. Also the business was changing so quickly that the company was in a state of culture shift, so finding people who could fit well into the current and future organization was a unique challenge in itself. [more]

QA/QC specialists with strong process improvement skills do not exist in most construction companies. Therefore, RSMR was challenged to find an individual who was working in manufacturing or another comparable industry that employed process improvement QA/QC specialists and then convince him or her to move into the construction industry. The key problem is that, historically, the construction industry has the reputation for lacking interest in creating and maintaining tangible process efficiency improvements to create better, long-term QA/QC solutions for projects using historical data and leveraging past performance as a guide for future actions. [more]

Because this was a newly created position with its own unique intricacies, characteristics, and requirements, there was a great deal of uncertainty around exactly what the ideal candidate should look like and where this person would come from. The company had a number of managers internally who were very interested in the role, so we needed to identify someone who was clearly head and shoulders above the internal candidates and would also earn their respect and trust. [more]

With the resources for expansion in place, the company’s executives identified the U.S. as a primary target because of the mandates and support for renewable energy in this country. However, the company lacked the internal bench strength to deploy an executive who could develop the marketplace. The international executives asked RSMR to help them identify and bring aboard a seasoned industry veteran who possessed national experience in the sales of power solutions, project development, and who was highly skilled in the negotiation of power purchase agreements. [more]

Finding a reputable management consultant who possessed extensive experience in environmental systems and who could establish relationships at the C-Suite level had been problematic for the company. The company had been leveraging its industry and professional networks to find suitable candidates, but they interviewed the same re-tread professionals who had failed in similar roles in the past with competitor firms. [more]

From our initial conversations, it was very clear that the executives had developed a unique, family-oriented culture built on trust, respect, and integrity. They would only hire someone with the ability to grow the business while also maintaining the unique culture they had worked so hard to create and maintain over half a century. The prevailing feeling was that there were no family members or executives in the company with the breadth of experience and personal drive to take this slow-growing company to the next level, so it was unlikely that it would be an internal hire. [more]