
Brian W.
PE Talent Advisor-Deep insight gained from 500+ placements over 25+ years
Studied at Kelley School of Business (Indiana)
Works at JM Search
Available tomorrow at 2:00 PM UTC
My calendar is constantly moving so as times come up please do not hesitate to jump in an book it.
Questions? Start chatting with this coach before you get started.
Brian's Coaching Offerings
Custom hourly · $200/hr
Get help with Skill Building, LinkedIn Review, and .
Brian also coaches for Career Coaching and Talent Acquisition. View all.
Brian’s Private Equity Qualifications
Experience level: Partner or Managing Director
60+ people coached for Private Equity
With nearly three decades advising boards, CEOs, and investors across private equity and venture-backed companies, I bring a deep understanding of what drives success in the PE ecosystem. I’ve partnered with leading sponsors including Thoma Bravo, KKR, Apollo, Blackstone, Clearlake, Insight, Francisco Partners, and Apax among many, many others to assess, recruit, and coach executives through transformational value-creation journeys — from pre-acquisition diligence to exit. Having completed 450+ executive placements and been directly involved in 40+ successful exits creating over $25B in enterprise value, I’ve developed an insider’s view of how talent decisions shape investment outcomes. That experience enables me to coach aspiring and current PE leaders with a pragmatic, investor-aligned lens — focused on readiness, impact, and the leadership behaviors that creates value.
Brian can help with:
Skill Building
LinkedIn Review
Cover Letters
Resume Review
Networking Strategy
Private Equity Strategy
Behavioral Interview Prep
General Exploration
Brian also coaches for Career Coaching and Talent Acquisition. View all.
About Brian
I’ve spent nearly three decades helping people land the right opportunities and fulfil their career goals, but the truth is I got into this work because I’ve always loved understanding what makes people tick and enjoying the aspect that there is no "one size fits all" around talent/recruiting/coaching...every client and situation is different. I grew up in New Jersey, went to Indiana University, and turned an entry-level recruiting job into a career spent coaching CEOs, CFOs, and rising leaders through big moments and even bigger transitions at some of the world's most respected companies. I’ve worked everywhere—from massive institutions like BlackRock and McKinsey to scrappy PE-backed tech companies—and along the way completed 450+ searches and lived through more twists and turns than I can count. What I’m most proud of, though, is the coaching side: helping talented people progress on their journey, get unstuck, get clarity, and build real confidence in what they bring to the table. Outside of work, I’m a dad of three, a lifelong Indiana Hoosiers fan, and someone who can talk for way too long about sports, food, or movies. I know what it feels like to reinvent yourself mid-career, and I love helping others navigate those same inflection points.
Work Experience

Partner
JM Search
March 2025 - Present
Interviewer
JM Search is the leading retained executive search firm for private equity, and other growth-oriented private and public organizations. With over 40 years of experience, our partners are immersed in your search every step of the way, supported by a passionate, cohesive team of recruiting experts. With deep expertise across a wide range of sectors including technology, retail/consumer, healthcare/life science, industrial and professional services covering every major corporate function, our partners have built expansive professional networks from decades of firsthand experience to ensure the best possible outcomes for our clients and their businesses.
Senior Partner
James Drury Partners
April 2024 - March 2025
Interviewer
JamesDruryPartners provides specialty Board Advisory Services to the world's leading corporations. We fully appreciate the challenge highly accomplished executives have in optimizing and expediting their choice of an outstanding Board. Through our proprietary BoardSelect process, we work in partnership with the executive to create a unique Board Prospect Profile and define an ideal Board specification and leveraging our unparalleled network, target the Boards that best fit their criteria and could most benefit from their expertise, thus optimizing the Director/Board matching process. In our history we have been retained by over 200 major corporations, including 32% of the Fortune 100 and presented our clients to 97% of the Fortune 500 and 96% of the Fortune 1000. Corporate clients have ranged from several hundred million to several hundred billion in revenue.
Partner
Bespoke Partners
September 2020 - April 2024
Interviewer
Bespoke Partners is a retained executive search and leadership advisory firm dedicated to being the leading talent solutions provider for world class private equity firms, including Thoma Bravo, Francisco Partners, Clearlake Capital, WCAS, Insight Partners, GI Partners, General Atlantic, CVC Capital Partners, and TA Associates, among others. We have an extensive track record of recruiting top talent and assessing and evaluating teams at every stage of the investment lifecycle, from growth equity to buyout. Our search expertise includes all C-Level searches, as well as Board of Directors and internal private equity Operating Partner searches. Our leadership advisory expertise includes organizational due diligence as well as executive assessment and coaching. Bespoke Partners has offices in San Diego, Austin and New York City.

Partner
True Search
September 2014 - August 2020
Interviewer
Joined as an early Partner (employee 40) and was a core member of the team as the firm scaled to over 300 employees worldwide. True grew to become the seventh largest retained search firm in the world and provided talent solutions through global retained executive search for the most innovative organizations, from tech-focused brands to established organizations seeking transformational change to the leading Venture, Growth and Private Equity firms that partner with them. Representative clients include Accel, Andreessen Howrowitz, Apollo, Bessemer, Bain, General Catalyst, HIG, L Catterton, McKinsey, Oak HC/FT, Partners Group, Providence, Spark, Summit, TA Associates, and Warburg Pincus among many others. Successfully completed searches across the C-suite at companies ranging from as little as $10MM in revenue to well over $1BN in revenue across a wide range of technology and technology driven sectors.

Head of Recruiting
McKinsey & Company
March 2014 - September 2014
Interviewer
Led global recruiting for the Recovery & Transformation Services Practice. Managed external search providers and re-negotiated all vendor contracts. Successfully closed Partner-level searches across the US, Brazil, UK, Germany, Italy, Australia and Spain, doubling group headcount in seven months from 30 to 60. Set recruiting budget and present that budget to firm Operating Committee. Completely revamped candidate assessment materials in partnership with McKinsey Assessment Center. Developed and presented 2014 and 2015 recruiting plan and headcount projections to firm Operating Committee. Managed 1 Recruiter
Head of Executive Search
BlackRock
April 2011 - April 2014
Interviewer
Led North American Executive Talent Acquisition for world's largest asset manager. Hired and managed a team of 3 recruiters and 1 recruiting coordinator. Responsible for the recruitment of senior executives (i.e. Managing Directors and above) across all of the firm’s business units (Portfolio Management, Institutional/Retail Sales, Corporate and Business Operatons, BlackRock Solutions). Provided direct hands-on research, sourcing and recruitment of candidates for a variety of roles. In partnership with other members of the HR leadership team, defined and implemented a MD-level recruitment process to insure a consistently outstanding client and candidate experience. Built an executive sourcing function to provide market intelligence and identify and track passive candidates in the marketplace for both current and future hiring needs. Led the evaluation and implementation of a new CRM to support Executive Talent Acquisition.
Head of Talent
Patriarch Partners
2009 - 2011
Interviewer
Former head of the Talent Acquisition Group for a $7BN Global Private Equity firm specializing in buying and operationally turning around companies in financial distress. Portfolio consisted of over 50 companies around the globe. Enhanced portfolio company value by completing 100+ searches for both Patriarch itself (credit, legal, quant, HR, finance, admin, IT) and various portfolio companies (CEO, President, COO, CFO, Sales, Bus Dev, Marketing, Controller among others). Saved the firm over $5MM in search fees. Industries covered include aerospace, textiles, automotive, retail/consumer, technology, services and manufacturing. Managed a team of 4. Direct report to CEO.
Associate Principal
Heidrick & Struggles
2005 - 2009
Interviewer
Mermber of the firm's global financial services practice with a focus on alternative investments, specifically private equity and hedge funds. Also worked on numerous functional searches in the CFO/COO space. In total completed over 80 searches resulting in over $20MM in search fees. Clients included, among many others, Artio Global, Apollo, Avenue, Blackstone, Cerberus, Conversus, Dimensional, General Atlantic, KKR, Goldman PIA and Goldman SSG. Second highest producing Associate Principal globally in 2008.
Brian was also given offers to work at
Korn Ferry

Blackstone
Citigroup
Apollo Global Management

JP Morgan Asset Management
Education

Kelley School of Business (Indiana)
BS, Finance
1992 - 1996
Activities and societies: Sigma Alpha Mu
Brian was also personally admitted to

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor