Advice and assistance in appointing members of an advisory board
An associated company of a major German bank commissioned us to search for a candidate to serve on an advisory board for a north German forwarding and logistics firm with a turnover of around EUR 35 million. The former Managing Director of the firm, now the managing partner, had taken over the company with considerable help from the bank. Following the successful completion of the takeover, he decided in agreement with the bank's associated company to set up an advisory board made up of three members.
The bank undertook to provide a chairman, while the other two members were to be selected from the industry. While at a logistics congress, the managing partner of the company was able to secure a personal acquaintance and owner of a management consulting firm as one of the members.
Dr. Heimeier & Partner was to look for and select a second member. The candidate was to be an experienced manager from a retail chain with the necessary operational know-how in the area of logistics and freight forwarding. As he or she was to take on the role of a constructive "sparring partner" to the management, it was important that the candidate selected not only had the necessary professional and personal qualifications but also the willingness to invest his or her time. Our search focused on logistics managers in medium-sized firms or large-scale groups with top-level responsibility for the area of logistics.
Using our contacts with appropriate individuals and drawing on "multipliers" known to us, we soon made contact with several managers who appeared to be suitable. Following intensive preliminary interviews, we were able to present three interested and "suitable" candidates, the whole process having taken just six weeks.
Owing to his outstanding suitability both professionally and personally as defined by the specific requirement profile - and not least to the remarkable match concerning interpersonal factors - the managing partner of the company and the board chairman representing the bank very quickly agreed on Mr. Z, an executive board member responsible for logistics in a prominent German retail group.
