Our firm has been retained to find the Chief Operating Officer for a Charlotte, NC firm that provides custom accounting services to businesses facing a time of change.

Established in 1996, our client serves its clients – from Fortune 100 corporations to privately held businesses – by providing experienced consultants who can solve specific finance and accounting dilemmas.  With a team of 40+ consultants, our client has offices in Charlotte, the Triad, and the Triangle.  The company has experienced 30+% growth each of the last two years and has forecasted similar growth for 2008.

Reporting to the Founder and CEO, the successful candidate will assume responsibility for the firm’s daily operations.  He/she will lead the three City Leaders in the pursuit of larger, more profitable practices.  He/she will also directly manage the Director of Human Resources as she improves the firm’s ability to attract and retain an ever-growing group of ideal consultants.  In addition, the new Chief Operating Officer will be charged with establishing new processes and procedures while simultaneously fine-tuning existing ones, so that the firm runs more effectively and efficiently.  Finally, he/she will assist the CEO as a sounding board and executor of the vision.  Key qualifications include:

•   A minimum of fifteen years of professional experience, including meaningful roles in professional services and/or consulting; the ideal candidate will have had profit and loss responsibility for a staffing, consulting, or project management firm; candidates with some tenure in public accounting will be advantaged; 

•   Compelling leadership; the ability to manage senior business leaders and help articulate and drive the company’s core capabilities to grow the organization; the bent for taking responsibility, moving ahead and encouraging others; can play a meaningful role in defining the company's strategy;

•   Operational orientation; will have demonstrated the ability to improve processes, develop and measure performance metrics, increase revenues, drive down costs, and improve customer satisfaction; exhibits good overall business judgment;

•   Strong managerial credentials with a bottom line orientation; will be comfortable holding people accountable while at the same coaching and mentoring his/her charges; must communicate clearly and assertively to translate the CEO’s vision into execution;

•   Sales and marketing skills; must have demonstrated experience leading people who have sales as part of their responsibilities; will bring knowledge of lead generation, pipeline management, deal qualification, pricing and contract execution; while it will not be part of the successful candidate’s responsibilities, the ideal candidate will have had sales experience at some point in his/her career; 

•   Financial acumen; the successful candidate must be completely comfortable with the “numbers” to help manage the business and appreciate the role consultants play with clients; candidates with a CPA will be advantaged. 

This is an excellent opportunity to join a growing, entrepreneurial organization.  An attractive compensation package, including base salary, participation in profits, and long term net worth building potential, will be tailored to the successful candidate’s requirements.

If you have a personal interest in this position or thoughts of knowledgeable sources or potential candidates, please email resume8@sockwell.com .  Your recommendations and/or interest will be kept in strictest confidence.
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