Interim CEO & Value Creation Leader | Turnaround, Transformation & Private Equity Portfolio Growth
This executive has a strong track record of leading organisations—particularly private equity portfolio companies—through transformational change, accelerated value creation and operational reinvention. Their leadership style blends high empathy with firm commercial discipline, allowing them to gain trust quickly, uplift morale, attract top talent and drive execution at pace. They are consistently able to professionalise operations, enhance governance, streamline processes and pivot businesses toward customer-centric growth.
Their private equity exposure is extensive, having led multiple PE investments through turnaround, scale-up and value-realisation phases across technology, SaaS, fintech, digital infrastructure, consumer electronics, managed services and data platforms. They work closely with investors as both CEO and adviser, supporting deal qualification, due diligence, business readiness, transformation planning and leadership assessment. They excel at navigating complex shareholder environments, supporting earn-outs and preparing businesses for liquidity events.
Well suited for interim CEO, CRO, President or Transformation Leader roles, they bring deep expertise in commercial strategy, operating model redesign, cost optimisation, digital transformation, major deal execution and cross-functional leadership. Their ability to deliver rapid, measurable improvements—often within the first 90–180 days—makes them a compelling choice for PE sponsors seeking high-impact leadership in challenging or fast-moving situations.
As interim CEO of a global proptech and managed services business, restored EBITDA profitability for the first time in nearly three years, increased gross margin from 50% to 70%, achieved one of the strongest quarters in company history and stabilised operations across an eight-country footprint.
As interim Group CEO of a PE-backed electronics and SaaS business, delivered £8.6m in cost reductions, improved EBITDA from –1.5% to +16% within five months, resolved multi-country litigation challenges and significantly improved customer satisfaction scores and product performance.
Turned around a PE-backed SaaS fintech company, doubling recurring revenue, more than doubling gross profit, securing major enterprise deals, implementing a full brand and technology transformation, and achieving both market-leading customer satisfaction and staff engagement.
As CEO of an established digital events and media company, created and launched a new metaverse-based business unit, attracting senior talent from major technology firms, securing enterprise clients and establishing a strategic plan for rapid scale to £150m revenue.
About the Candidate
This executive is a highly dynamic and impactful CEO with deep experience in turnaround, transformation and value creation across private equity–backed technology, software, services and industrial organisations. Known for restoring profitability, winning major commercial deals and resetting organisational culture, they excel at leading businesses through periods of instability, rapid scale-up, digital modernisation and post-investment performance acceleration. They combine strong strategic clarity with hands-on leadership, bringing credible influence across founders, boards, investors and frontline teams.
They are particularly adept at situations requiring rapid operational reset, cost optimisation, sales and go-to-market revitalisation, technology and product roadmap redesign, commercial turnaround, and cultural realignment. Their experience spans B2B, B2C and hybrid business models across EMEA, North America and APAC, including SaaS, fintech, digital platforms, cloud services, manufacturing technology and managed services. They have repeatedly delivered material EBITDA improvement, major revenue growth, significant customer satisfaction gains and strong investor confidence in short timeframes.