BOARD SERVICES PRACTICE

Building an effective Board demands more that relying on referrals of the current board members. Today, a clear strategy to define and attract the appropriate caliber of business governance and leadership requires a committed, targeted, and insightful search process employing well-defined criteria and the benefits of professional counsel.

Response Group recognizes the central importance of new Board appointments and develops a thoughtful and analytical approach to each client project. This includes a detailed search strategy crafted after an upfront diagnostic phase. Once we have arrived at common agreement and an ideal Director Candidate profile, we follow through with steady, yet sensitive, senior search execution.

Our senior executive search experience and our ongoing senior relationships throughout the country enable us to provide a well-defined search process and unique, insightful counsel. We focus all of our attention on bringing the “sought after” leadership experience critical to a successful board engagements.

At the conclusion of our work, not only will an outstanding new board member be engaged, but every executive contacted during the engagement will feel that they’ve been well cared for and properly handled during their involvement. Our complete attention is on enhancing the reputation of the Client Company and its Board, both by the caliber of the appointment, as well as with the manner in which the search was conducted.

THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has brought an intense spotlight on Corporate Governance, the biggest challenge facing Boards today is competent independence. It is now more important than ever for Boards to be truly independent, above all hints of conflict or incompetence.

Boards are more than ever in the spotlight; a bright spotlight cast at various times by Federal regulators, by institutional investors, by lenders, by every possible stakeholder, including the business and general press. New standards of accountability leave no room for substandard board representation. It is no surprise companies and organizations are working diligently to bring independence and unbiased vision onto their Board.

WHY USE RESPONSE GROUP TO CONDUCT YOUR BOARD SEARCH

With us on your team, you ensure that you and your Board look outside of your collective networks, guaranteeing that a genuine effort to achieve true independence can occur. As seasoned, independent advisors, during the diagnostic phase at the beginning we will naturally improve the comprehensiveness and range of your thinking by providing creative ideas and healthy “push back”. By the fact that we have done this type of search more often than you, and are more current in today’s Director Candidate marketplace, we bring proven methodology and experience that together can produce a more thorough Director Candidate pool.

THE CANDIDATE UNIVERSE

There are several insights worth noting about today’s Director Candidate universe. First, with increasing time and accountability demands, many board candidates are limiting even further the number of boards on which they will serve. Next, exposure to litigation and risk to personal reputations results in the application of even more scrutiny to a new board opportunity. Lastly, the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are placing a premium on candidates whose expertise and credentials make them ideal to serve as “financial-expert” directors. The universe of suitable, available and willing Director talent is smaller and less accessible than in the past.

A timely and high-quality outcome when you make the decision to add one or more board members can be better accomplished when there is a larger group of candidates to consider. In addition, the best candidates will perceive your opportunity as being more substantial and important when an outside professional search firm has been engaged. Response Group can provide you with both that expanded access and the aura of importance.

We do this work as a core professional service. It is what we do. We know how to approach and get the proper attention of target candidates. We know how to set the stage properly, and if it’s at all possible, to engage him or her in a productive dialog. Finally, our systems, resources and skills are honed to do this quickly and effectively. We guarantee our focus and our accountability, both on the conduct of the search and the quality of the placed Director.