Fractional Interim CPO’s in Private Equity

Over the last year, we have seen an increase in demand for interim leaders among our private-equity clients. Private-equity firms often need top-notch executives to support their portfolio companies, yet, those companies are sometimes too small to support a full-time executive, such as a CPO or a head of supply chain. Our private-equity clients are now deploying Tenzing interim executives on a shared basis across their portfolios, giving several smaller companies the benefit of senior talent while sharing the cost.

Bill Parr, recently completed an assignment as an Interim CPO. He found “the position to be valuable as it provides a unique opportunity to learn about a variety of companies across multiple sectors.”

Another recent interim CPO enjoyed the versatility and challenge the role offers. She shared that, “the position is both strategic and tactical; there are different needs across each portfolio company, it’s an exciting challenge finding the proper balance of keeping their goals at interest while also delivering the private-equity strategy.” The interim role allows her to tap into the in-depth knowledge and resources gained from her hands-on experience across operations, supply chain, and procurement.

Recent interim leaders we’ve placed include Chief Procurement Officer, Vice President Supply Chain, Category Managers, Director of Procurement, Head of North American Procurement.