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Sponsors cannot rely on inconsistent, portco-by-portco HR reporting formats to manage this risk across an entire fund. They require a unified framework. Implementing ExecSuccession's Leadership Risk Review gives sponsors the standardized, fund-wide metrics they need to identify leadership friction before it impacts exit timelines or operational progress.
Executive Leadership

PE Underwrites Everything But Succession. And It’s Costing Them

Private equity sponsors are the most analytical, obsessive risk underwriters in the corporate world, yet they routinely ignore the single ...
The distinction between an observer and a director is not a formality. It is a governance boundary with real legal and operational consequences.
Director Roles & Responsibilities

Board Observer vs Board Member: Rights, Responsibilities, and When Each Makes Sense

A board observer attends board meetings and receives board materials but holds no voting rights and carries no fiduciary duty. ...
Investor relations is now a mission critical responsibility. See how directors are handling it in 2026.
Board Governance

Board Investor Relations: What Directors Are Being Asked to Do Now

Shareholder engagement used to be management’s job, with the board briefed after the fact. That arrangement is breaking down, and ...
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Most boards review a candidate summary, a compensation proposal, and a reference check. They rarely review any meaningful behavioral data about how a leader operates under pressure, essentially approving a pedigree rather than a profile.
Board Governance

The Hidden Execution Risk Boards Approve Every Quarter

By Maxwell Salazar, Salazar Leadership Advisory — Maxwell Salazar is a business psychologist who helps private equity firms make better ...
Learn how boards should oversee AI risk, compliance, strategy, and governance with a practical AI oversight checklist for directors and board committees.
Board Governance

AI Governance for Boards: A Practical Oversight Checklist

Board AI oversight is the systematic governance of an enterprise’s artificial intelligence deployment, focusing on strategic alignment, ethical risk, legal ...

Audit Committee

How Boards Should Navigate the CFO & Audit Chair Relationship | Board Governance
When the CFO and Audit Chair Clash: How Boards Should Diagnose the Real Problem
By Shawn Cole, President and co-founder of Cowen Partners Executive Search There ...
How Agile Boards Are Redesigning Committee Structures in 2026 | Board Governance
The Agile Board: Redefining Committees for Rapid Change
The world of corporate governance is shifting beneath your feet. Business models ...
Why Independent Board Members Could Be Your Organization’s Secret Weapon | Board Governance
Why Independent Board Members Could Be Your Organization’s Secret Weapon
Stakeholders are more scrutinizing than ever, and businesses are facing increasing regulatory ...

Board Effectiveness

How to make board meetings more efficient.
Why Most Board Meetings Underperform and the 7 Fixes That Actually Work
A high-functioning board meeting is not a reporting session. It is a ...
Discover board meeting best practices that improve governance, streamline decision-making, and help directors focus on strategy instead of presentations.
The Modern Board Meeting Playbook: How High-Performing Boards Actually Run Their Meetings in 2026
The modern board meeting contrasts considerably with the board meeting of a ...
Why high-performing boards welcome dissent — and the practical techniques chairs use to surface challenge, sharpen decisions, and prevent costly groupthink failures.
Breaking the Echo Chamber: Why Effective Boards Embrace Dissent
Most board members claim they value open debate. Far fewer boards actually ...

Board Governance

Investor relations is now a mission critical responsibility. See how directors are handling it in 2026.
Board Investor Relations: What Directors Are Being Asked to Do Now
Shareholder engagement used to be management’s job, with the board briefed after ...
How to score executives for succession with evidence-backed decision making.
Is Executive Readiness a Label or a Process?
By Ash Wendt Most corporate boards still treat “Ready Now” labels on ...
A workplace reckoning hollowed out Nike's leadership bench. Six years later, the board turned to a retired insider. The governance lesson every director should take from it.
Nike’s Boomerang CEO: Why a Workplace Reckoning is Proof of an Empty Succession Bench
By Shawn Cole, President and co-founder of Cowen Partners Executive Search. Most ...

ESG

Executive hiring is a governance decision, not a procurement one. How boards can elevate search oversight, mitigate fiduciary risk, and protect shareholder value.
Board Fiduciary Risk: Why Your ‘Low-Risk’ Executive Search Strategy Is Your Highest Liability
Most boards scrutinize M&A models down to the decimal. They debate capital ...
Top Executive Search Professionals Reshaping Corporate America | Best Executive Recruiters in the U.S.
The Power Behind the Throne: Who’s Shaping the C-Suite?
Meet the executive search leaders redefining who leads America’s most powerful companies. ...
How Boards Should Navigate ESG Disclosures in 2026 | Board Governance News
ESG Communication Trends for 2026: What Stakeholders Expect From Corporate Disclosures
The environmental, social, and governance movement is over two decades in the ...

Executive Leadership

Sponsors cannot rely on inconsistent, portco-by-portco HR reporting formats to manage this risk across an entire fund. They require a unified framework. Implementing ExecSuccession's Leadership Risk Review gives sponsors the standardized, fund-wide metrics they need to identify leadership friction before it impacts exit timelines or operational progress.
PE Underwrites Everything But Succession. And It’s Costing Them
Private equity sponsors are the most analytical, obsessive risk underwriters in the ...
How to score executives for succession with evidence-backed decision making.
Is Executive Readiness a Label or a Process?
By Ash Wendt Most corporate boards still treat “Ready Now” labels on ...
A workplace reckoning hollowed out Nike's leadership bench. Six years later, the board turned to a retired insider. The governance lesson every director should take from it.
Nike’s Boomerang CEO: Why a Workplace Reckoning is Proof of an Empty Succession Bench
By Shawn Cole, President and co-founder of Cowen Partners Executive Search. Most ...