Engagement
HG Capital, who look after Iris, were looking to move extremely quickly to hire a Chief Development Officer role within IRIS to report to the CEO. Hg Capital had existing relationships with PCR and approached us to work on the brief - they were keen to tap into our unrivalled network of exclusive individuals, many of who would be very interested in the role.
The Company
IRIS Software Group is the UK’s largest privately held software company and the most trusted provider of mission-critical software and services. Using their applications, critical operational tasks are done right first time, every time, so organisations can look forward and thrive with confidence.
Over 650,000 SMEs and 21,000 UK accountancy firms use IRIS applications. Four million parents and guardians use IRIS apps to connect with their child’s school, 620,000 UK employees are managed by IRIS HR solutions and 2.3 million UK employees are paid by IRIS payroll solutions.
Situation
IRIS had a small existing M&A team and they needed an extremely high-calibre individual who could run and build a best practice M&A function and report into the CEO. In order to ramp up M&A activity to grow, they were in need of an experienced M&A professional with lots of origination and execution experience. They needed someone who had strong experience in-house who could communicate internally, with Hg Capital and with external advisors.
Solution
This role was to be approached with maximum confidentiality (which is standard practice for PCR). We used NDAs when speaking to our close network of potential candidates. Using the information provided, we looked into our close senior M&A network to identify four extremely high-caliber individuals who were suitable for this role, all of whom were using PCR to find them roles.
We were able to map the market and move very quickly and after a process which involved discussing ideas and meeting with Exco, we successfully placed a candidate we have known for many years. Having frequent contact over a longer period with this candidate ensured that we knew he held the experience and skills to be able to take this role on. The individual has since completed the largest deal in Iris’s history and built a very good M&A practice which has added value immediately to the business.
