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Functional Expertise

 

Globalization. Convergence. Disruption. The demands on functional leaders have never been greater, requiring professionals who understands these issues firsthand.

As former functional leaders, our experts have direct experience with the challenges you encounter and the pressures you face. We can offer deep insights into your business. We build trusted, long-term relationships with functional leaders, often spanning decades and the course of their careers.

Because we operate as one collaborative team, we merge our individual talents with the collective expertise of our global network. This means that the power of the entire firm is delivered to every client, every time.

Cheif Financial Officer

Today’s Chief Financial Officers must shoulder a seemingly endless range of responsibilities. They must fend off activist investors, ensure compliance, and manage global capital flows. The Chief Executive Officer, in particular, is often tasked with the oversight of transformation, innovation, and other far-reaching initiatives. And the financial function itself is undergoing significant change, becoming more automated and capable of providing rich analytic insights for those who can harness them.

All of this change requires a new type of Financial Officer. These leaders must be adaptable, innovative, and fast. The Chief Financial Officer must not only lead this group but agitate for better performance, generate insights for the rest of the C-suite, and stand as the Chief Executive Officer's closest advisor. At Reed & Sterling, our Financial Officers Practice works hand-in-hand with the board and chief executives of all ownership structures — publicly and privately held companies, private equity portfolio companies, and family-owned businesses — to help them identify, develop, and recruit the financial leaders of the future. Because we come directly from industry, we are able to leverage our experience and networks

Chief Operating Officer

The Chief Operating Officer practice leverages some of our most accomplished professionals around the world. Our deep understanding of the ever-transforming nature of across industries, sectors and regions. We understand that the Chief Operating Officer role is unique, particularly in the current atmosphere of complexity and volatility. Operations leaders are now positioned squarely at the center of business strategy. They need to be able to seize opportunities, forge strategic alliances internally and externally, and be a full business partner to the rest of the C-suite.

Globalization, digital disruption, financial markets, low-cost country sourcing and customer service pressures have transformed operations management from a tactical function into a strategic one.  Our COO Practice consultants have previously worked at the world’s leading consulting firms and fortune 500 companies as Head of Operations or SCM. We are experienced in finding operations, supply chain, procurement, manufacturing and logistics leaders who can meet the growing scope of the function.

Chief Technology Officer

Technology isn’t merely transforming businesses — it is transforming virtually every part of every business, from using Big Data to accelerate drug discovery to harnessing artificial intelligence to predict consumer buying patterns. Every organization, no matter its product or service, is built on a web of data and the insights that can be derived from it.

 

This new reality has reset the benchmarks for technology leadership, forcing companies to reexamine how every aspect of the technology function is integrated into the rest of an organization. At Reed & Sterling, ​our Technology Officer Practice understands the unique needs of technology leadership, as well as the strategic and management expertise that is needed to remain competitive in a dynamic business environment. We help organizations find leadership in the critical areas of data and analytics, cybersecurity, engineering and information technology. We strive to find leaders with the right mix of management skill, technical depth and cultural fit with our clients’ organizations and their levels of technology readiness.

Chief Strategy Officer

In these challenging times, Chief Strategic Officers play a critical role for financial institutions and other industries. The stakes are higher than ever, and one poor decision can have a seismic impact on a company’s bottom line. Strategic Officers must have the skills to navigate and manage complex relationships with regulators, boards, the C-suite, and other external shareholders. They must have the business acumen to monitor cash flow, oversee business operations, and model potential outcomes. And they must have the strategic foresight to implement plans that qualify acceptable levels of exposure and minimize business losses.

 

Companies are adding CSOs to their management teams (or at least considering doing so) for several reasons. Start with changes to the business landscape—complex organizational structures, rapid globalization, new regulations, the struggle to innovate—that make it ever more difficult for CEOs to be on top of everything, even an area as important as strategy execution. We apply proven strategies to help them navigate corporate culture and build functional teams. And we help them define and communicate their strategic vision, and align the teams and processes to proceed thoughtfully and act confidently when risk is highest – and the opportunity is greatest.

Chief Human Resources Officer

Standing at the intersection of strategy and execution, the Human Resources executive of today anticipates the business needs of tomorrow in order to drive the organization’s objectives through the acquisition, development and retention of the right human capital.​ Our Human Resources executive search team works with clients to ensure that Human Resources leaders and their teams are equipped with the right qualifications to lead and manage in this rapidly changing environment, with the adaptability, insight and operating skills to have impact on business results. Similar to any line function, these roles demand strong business acumen, strategic and market insight, financial savvy, operational capabilities, and the ability to exploit data and technology.

The Human Resources executives of the future will have the credibility and advisory skills to interface with the board and to partner with the entire leadership team. They will be tasked with a complex challenge, to build culture and value, mitigate risk, and plan for the future state of their organizations – leveraging an integrated talent management approach and anchored by deep functional and technical knowledge. Through our work, we advise boards, senior management teams and Human Resources executives themselves on how to identify and select the best leadership for the function, and align with our Leadership Consulting colleagues in helping to optimally shape the Human Resources organization. We view our work as essential to the success of today’s increasingly global organizations, providing a true and lasting competitive advantage.

Chief Product Officer

Today’s customers have access to a vast array of information – from suppliers, purchasing consultants, and social networks – that promote independent decision-making. It’s not unusual for a customer to complete more than 75% of their purchase journey before they ever engage a sales person. Additionally, as technology enables suppliers to offer more complex, expensive and risky solutions, customers have become far more risk averse, bringing more and more stakeholders to the table to weigh in on the purchase decision.

At Reed & Sterling, our Chief Product Officers Practice consultants have previously worked at the world’s leading marketing companies and the most innovative startups. Our ability to assess and quantify an executive’s potential, in addition to past experiences and competencies, ensures that we help you identify the leader best prepared to meet tomorrow’s challenges. 

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