A written calibration brief
The real mandate on paper — comp band, the three things this hire has to change in ninety days, and the trade-offs we agreed on. We both sign off before I dial a single number.
Engagements & fees · Griffin, GA
Tell me which seat is sitting empty, and I’ll go get it filled.
Everything I do is a retained search — I’m paid to work the phones and stay in the room until an offer is signed, not to forward you inbound résumés. Below is exactly what each engagement costs and what lands on your desk when it’s done.
The core engagement
A retained search for one VP or director seat.
This is the work I do best. You brief me on the seat, I map the market by hand, and I keep the search on my calendar until your finalist has a signed start date. No parallel mandates fighting for my attention — when I take your role, it gets the week.
$34,500 / engagement · billed in three stages
- A live market map of who’s actually doing this job well — including people who aren’t “looking.”
- A vetted shortlist of four to six, each with a written dossier you can hand your board.
- Structured interview kits so every panelist scores the same evidence the same way.
- Deep references and me inside the offer negotiation, holding it together to a yes.
The whole menu
Every engagement, with the number on it.
C-suite
Chief officer search
CEO, CFO, CTO, CPO and equivalent. Confidential outreach, board-ready dossiers, and I stay in the offer negotiation until the ink dries. This is the deepest map I run.
$61,000 / engagement
Open this search
Most requested
VP & director search
A full retained mandate for a single VP or director role — market map, vetted shortlist of four to six, structured interview kits, and reference work carried through to a signed offer.
$34,500 / engagement
Open this search
Governance
Board seat search
Independent directors and audit-committee chairs sourced for fit, not just a familiar name — with a shortlist your existing board will actually respect.
$22,500 / seat
Fill the seat
Bridge the gap
Interim placement
A seasoned operator in the seat within weeks while we run the permanent search — so nothing stalls between the departure and the hire.
From $9,800 / placement
Get someone in
Part-time leadership
Fractional CxO
For companies not ready to fund a full-time exec — a fractional CFO or CTO placed and calibrated to your cadence, one or two days a week.
From $6,400 / month
Scope the role
Add-on
Convert-to-permanent
Like the interim you landed? I run the light-touch conversion — comp benchmarking and a clean permanent offer so a good fit stays for good.
$4,200 / conversion
Make it stick
Sensitive
Confidential succession
Replacing a leader who doesn’t yet know they’re being replaced. Discreet mapping, coded messaging, a shortlist only you and I ever see. Scope varies with the role.
Request a quote
Talk it through
Bench building
Advisory roster
A curated bench of two to four advisors matched to your next twelve months — GTM, finance, or technical depth. Priced by seat count.
Request a quote
Build the bench
In every engagement, no matter the tier
What lands on your desk when I take a search.
The fee buys the same discipline whether it’s a director or a chief officer — the numbers just reflect how wide the map has to go.
Dossiers, not résumés
Each shortlisted leader comes with a written case for the fit — the decisions they made under pressure, why they’ll move, and where the risk sits. Board-ready, every time.
A weekly progress call
You always know where the search stands — who’s in the funnel, who passed, and what I’m adjusting. No black box, no waiting three weeks to hear “still looking.”
If the hire walks in the first ninety days, I re-run the search at no fee.
That’s not a marketing line — it’s written into the engagement letter. Because I only take one search at a time, I can afford to stand behind the one on my desk. A placement that leaves fast is my problem to fix, not yours to pay for twice.
Side by side
How the three retained tiers differ.
| VP & Director$34,500 | Chief Officer$61,000 | Confidential SuccessionQuoted | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical timeline | 8–10 weeks | 10–14 weeks | 12+ weeks, paced to you |
| Shortlist size | 4–6 vetted | 4–5, deeply referenced | 2–4, seen only by you |
| Outreach style | Named market map | Confidential, off-market | Coded, discreet approach |
| Interview kits | Included | Included | Included |
| Offer negotiation | I run it to signing | I run it to signing | I run it to signing |
| 90-day re-run | Yes, no fee | Yes, no fee | Yes, no fee |
Before you commit
The questions I actually get asked.
Why retained, and not pay-on-placement?
Because contingency search rewards speed over fit — whoever answers first gets forwarded. Retained means I’m paid to work the whole market and stay honest with you, even when the honest answer is “none of these three fit, give me another two weeks.” You’re buying the discipline, not a lucky match.
How is the fee actually billed?
In three stages — a portion at kickoff, a portion when I deliver the shortlist, and the remainder when your hire signs. Nothing is contingent on you accepting a particular candidate; it’s tied to the work, done on time. Full terms live in the engagement letter, and I walk you through it before you sign anything.
Can you really only run one search at a time?
That’s the whole model. When I take your role it gets my calendar, which is why the shortlist is short and every name on it is defensible. If I’m mid-engagement when you call, I’ll tell you honestly when the next slot opens rather than half-run two searches at once.
Do you work outside Griffin?
The desk is here in Griffin and Spalding County, but the phone reaches everywhere. I run searches nationwide — most of the mapping and interviewing happens by phone and video, and I’ll travel for the moments that matter, like a final-round panel or a close.
What if the hire doesn’t work out?
If a placement leaves within the first ninety days, I re-run the search at no fee. It’s written into the engagement letter. Because I only carry one mandate at a time, standing behind the last one is something I can actually afford to do.
Two ways this usually goes
Post it and pray, or open a real search.
The usual route
A job board and crossed fingers
- Inbound applicants only — the best leaders never apply.
- A stack of loosely-matched résumés and no way to compare them.
- The seat stays open for months while the team stretches thin.
- A rushed offer, and a replacement search a year later.
Working with me
Open a search
- A short, defensible list of leaders who fit — sourced, not sifted.
- Structured interviews so your panel decides on the same evidence.
- Me in the offer negotiation, holding it together to a signed start.