The Company/The Situation
- Client is an international carrier with worldwide interests in insurance/reinsurance and locations/operations in Bermuda, New York, London and other locations overseas.
- The Client is going public in a compressed time frame.
- There is a need for a Chief Audit Executive in New York because the center of audit operations is transitioning from an overseas entity to the US market and this is necessitating a full build out of the audit team.
The Challenge
- The CAE will have to address current internal control issues as well as put in place several control initiatives which will support a SEC Registrant.
- The CAE should be a head of audit at a carrier and the candidate should also have experience building out a team.
- The CAE should have a public/private background.
- The CAE needs to be put in place shortly because the carrier is going public.
The Choice
- ARExecutiveSearch had been working with this client for a number of years and had placed their: Group Control er, their Head of Corporate Finance and their Head of Reinsurance Accounting.
- The Client continues to be confident in ARExecutiveSearch’s capabilities and deep reach in the Insurance Accounting/Finance/Audit space.
- The decision was made to engage ARExecutiveSearch on this search project.
The Approach
- Because the time frame was compressed, ARExecutiveSearch assembled a team exclusively dedicated to this search.
- An initial reach out to ARExecutiveSearch’s database of Audit, CFO, Financial Reporting & FP&A contacts was done to create momentum on the search; A number of strong referrals was generated this way.
- Concurrently, the search team started reaching out to Heads of Audit in the Northeast.
- Within two weeks, ARExecutiveSearch was able to identify an initial pool of Audit candidates who possessed the team building, carrier and public accounting expertise the client was looking for.
- ARExecutiveSearch set up a conference call to benchmark these candidates with an eye towards moving to a short slate of qualified candidates who could be interviewed. A selection of 3 candidates was made based on this benchmarking call and 2 more candidates were later added to the slate.
The Selection and Solution
- 5 Candidates were invited in for first round to meet with the CFO and SVP of HR.
- Out of the 5 candidates, 2 were selected to be invited back to meet with the CEO, the Head of Legal and the Chair of the Audit committee.
- An offer was made to the lead candidate; Compensation negotiations started, and the offer was accepted.
- ARExecutiveSearch stayed close with the candidate during the resignation and on-boarding process.
The AR Group is a high-quality Accounting, Finance and Audit Talent Search and Staff Augmentation Company to the Insurance Industry.
We take pride in working with the best candidates who have Industry, Big-4 and significant finance experience from some of the best companies around.
Our deepest concentration of opportunities is in the NY, NJ, CT area, but we frequently have roles Nationwide and in Bermuda.
If you would like to read more of our completed search and case studies, click here or feel free to download them here.
