The Company/The Situation
- 150-year-old Life, Health and Retirement Services Carrier with over $50BB in assets.
- Audit team is made up of experienced audit professionals with a combination of industry experience and Big-4 backgrounds.
- Environment is collaborative, but emphasis is needed on building better relationships with the operating units.
- New Head of Audit has been named.
The Challenge
- New Head of Audit has determined a need to develop a leader (Head of IT Audit) with an eye toward further strengthening the organization’s IT Audit capabilities, as technology plays an ever-increasing and important role in the organization.
- Candidate should have a track record of developing collaborative relationships in the operating units in order to embed a solid controls mindset into the fabric of the organization.
- Candidate must have combination of Big-4/private background backed up with audit experience from a Life and Retirement Services carrier of a similar size.
- The Big-4 experience is particularly important as the client has had good results with that background, because an ability to forward-face internal clients in an effective manner is learned in that environment.
- The new Head of IT Audit must also be able to develop a collaborative mindset within his/her own team; a mindset that values the perspective of all the team members and leverages their deep experience.
The Choice
- ARExecutiveSearch already had a strong relationship with the new Head of Audit for a number of years. He was confident in ARExecutiveSearch’s ability to identify and recruit a key player who had the combination of deep IT Audit experience, leadership skilss, and who had the Life and Retirement Services background needed.
The Approach
- ARExecutiveSearch determined that there were two key carriers of a size, business profile and geographic fit similar to the client’s.
- There were a number of potential candidates on the radar screen from a prior successful y completed IT Audit search.
- One candidate had the requisite Big-4 background, IT Audit experience and was currently working for a competitor of the client.
- ARExecutiveSearch had stayed in touch with this candidate over a three-year period.
- The candidate had previously declined to consider a move, however, this role represented the next logical step in the candidate’s career, and the candidate was more open to considering a move at this time because upward movement in his current organization was somewhat limited due to the organization’s constraints.
- A selection of three candidates who fit the parameters were identified, contacted, and interviewed by ARExecutiveSearch.
- All three were put into an interview process which included six people over a two-day period.
The Selection and Solution
- The candidate mentioned above was the top choice.
- An offer was extended and salary negotiations were wrapped up in two days.
- Acceptance and start date set.
- The Head of Audit and the new Head of IT Audit are both pleased with their decision. The Head of Audit feels that the new Head of IT Audit has a strong future ahead of him in an organization that is complex, interesting and growing.
- Relationships within the audit team and between the audit group and the operating groups are strengthening, and a strong IT controls framework is being built out.
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.
