San Diego, CA-headquartered executive search firm Bespoke Partners has opened a Philadelphia-area office driven by the firm’s rapid growth in its executive recruiting and leadership advisory services for private equity-backed software companies. The new office joins the Bespoke Partners headquarters in San Diego and its regional office in Austin. Bespoke also named Maria Scharper as vice president in the new Philadelphia location. “We are devoted to delivering exceptional service to our clients and the new office in Philadelphia will let us be even more responsive and engaged with clients in the eastern part of the country,” said Kristie Nova, CEO. “Our expansion will boost our services to a new level of efficiency and success for our clients.”

Ms. Scharper joins Bespoke Partners vice president Ned Lanphier in Philadelphia. “We are delighted to have such top caliber executives as Maria and Ned driving our client engagements across the Eastern seaboard,” said firm president Eric Walczykowski. “With this investment we are ramping up our capacity to meet the growing need for services that transform and enhance portfolio company leadership in any part of the market.”

Ms. Scharper brings more than six years of experience in recruiting leaders for dozens of private equity portfolio companies across a range of markets. She joins the firm from LLR Partners – which recently invested in rival True in the Philadelphia area – where she grew the executive teams and boards for over 45 portfolio companies in sectors including edtech, fintech, healthcare technology and security.

Serving the PE Sector

Bespoke Partners is an executive search and leadership advisory firm dedicated to partnering with top private equity firms, including Francisco Partners, Clearlake Capital, WCAS, Insight Partners, GI Partners, General Atlantic, CVC Capital Partners and TA Associates, among scores of others, to recruit software talent and assess and evaluate teams at every stage of the investment lifecycle, from growth equity to buyout.

The search firm has completed over 600 searches since its inception a decade ago. Its expertise includes all C-level searches across multiple functional domains, including financial officers, HR & people, marketing, and technology, as well as board of directors and internal private equity operating partner searches. The firm’s expanding leadership advisory platform includes organizational due diligence as well as executive assessment and coaching.

Bespoke recently added Tess Fischer as a partner. “Tess is a proven search leader with an outstanding track record and exceptional industry knowledge that will be a major benefit to our clients as they enhance their leadership teams,” said Ms. Nova. “Her expertise will boost our ongoing evolution to become a comprehensive human capital advisory firm serving the private equity market.” Ms. Fischer is the firm’s sixth named partner this year.

Ms. Fischer is based in the firm’s Austin office and brings more than 16 years of experience in building executive teams for private equity portfolio companies in the software and software-as-a-service sector. She joins Bespoke Partners from Morgan Samuels where she was a partner leading the firm’s software and tech-enabled services practice.

Bespoke also recently added Katelyn Quaresma as partner. “Katelyn has established herself as an exceptional leader throughout her time at Bespoke,” said Ms. Nova. “Not only has she been an outstanding team player and a true champion of our values and culture, but she has also been instrumental in Bespoke’s growth as we have transitioned into a full-service human capital advisory firm.”

Most recently serving as vice president, Ms. Quaresma has been pivotal to driving Bespoke Partners’ rapid growth and advancing its industry-leading executive recruiting process for private equity-backed software companies. She leads Bespoke’s CFO practice and has recently placed executives for Thoma Bravo, Clearlake Capital, TA Associates, and other top private equity firms.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

San Diego, CA-headquartered executive search firm Bespoke Partners has expanded with the addition of Tess Fischer as a partner. “Tess is a proven search leader with an outstanding track record and exceptional industry knowledge that will be a major benefit to our clients as they enhance their leadership teams,” said Kristie Nova, CEO of Bespoke Partners. “Her expertise will boost our ongoing evolution to become a comprehensive human capital advisory firm serving the private equity market.”

Ms. Fischer is based in the firm’s Austin, TX, office and brings more than 16 years of experience in building executive teams for private equity portfolio companies in the software and software-as-a-service sector. She joins Bespoke Partners from Morgan Samuels where she was a partner leading the firm’s software and tech-enabled services practice. She worked closely with private equity funds and their portfolio companies to hire executive talent. Previously, Ms. Fischer was a senior executive recruiter at Vista Consulting Group where she placed over 30 executives across Vista Equity Partners’ portfolio of SaaS companies every year. In her early career, she helped grow Gerson Lehrman Group’s Austin office and was vice president of network development where she and her team recruited experts to assist the research strategies of leading hedge funds and private equity funds.

“I’m excited to join Bespoke Partners as it continues its impressive growth specializing in private equity human capital advisory services,” Ms. Fischer said. “Talent is the top driver enabling a portfolio company to achieve the investment thesis for a private equity investor. Bespoke is leading the industry in services that maximize the impact of talent for producing outsized returns for private equity clients.”

Serving the PE Sector

Bespoke Partners is an executive search and leadership advisory firm dedicated to partnering with top private equity firms, including Francisco Partners, Clearlake Capital, WCAS, Insight Partners, GI Partners, General Atlantic, CVC Capital Partners and TA Associates, to recruit software talent and assess and evaluate teams at every stage of the investment lifecycle, from growth equity to buyout.

The search firm has completed over 600 searches since its inception in 2011. Its expertise includes all C-level searches, as well as board of directors and internal private equity operating partner searches. The firm’s leadership advisory expertise includes organizational due diligence as well as executive assessment and coaching.

Bespoke recently added Katelyn Quaresma as partner. “Katelyn has established herself as an exceptional leader throughout her time at Bespoke,” said Ms. Nova. “Not only has she been an outstanding team player and a true champion of our values and culture, but she has also been instrumental in Bespoke’s growth as we have transitioned into a full-service human capital advisory firm.”

Most recently serving as vice president, Ms. Quaresma has been pivotal to driving Bespoke Partners’ rapid growth and advancing its industry-leading executive recruiting process for private equity-backed software companies. She leads Bespoke’s CFO practice and has recently placed executives for Thoma Bravo, Clearlake Capital, TA Associates, and other top private equity firms.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

SAN DIEGO — Bespoke Partners, a leading provider of accelerated executive search services for the private equity (PE) market, today announced that Tess Fischer is joining the firm as Partner.

San Diego, CA-headquartered executive search firm Bespoke Partners has placed Dayna Perry as the new chief people officer of Conga, a global leader in commercial operations transformation.  Her appointment is effective immediately. She will be based out of Conga’s Broomfield, CO office. Alex Bossetta led the assignment.

“As Conga continues to grow and evolve as a global organization, we are very excited to welcome Dayna to the team,” said Noel Goggin, CEO of Conga. “Her extensive experience building healthy and sustainable organizations—complemented by her deep-rooted passion for open and collaborative cultures—makes her the ideal fit for the CPO role.

“Dayna exudes positive energy, and her commitment to achieving together aligns perfectly with the Conga Way,” said Mr. Goggin. “We couldn’t be happier to have her lead our global people team and, with this gap now filled, we have an executive leadership team primed for the next phase of Conga’s journey.”

Ms. Perry has spent her more than 25-year career working with a variety of notable companies in E-commerce, mobile, software, financial and manufacturing sectors. She has a wide range of experience partnering with the business and creating and delivering a positive employee experience. Over the past seven years she has served in various senior leadership roles at Amazon, supporting its international consumer business, Amazon operations, and worldwide customer service.

In her role at Conga, Ms. Perry will lead all colleague-related functions, including corporate social responsibility, HR business partnering, engagement, internal communications, leadership development, and total rewards and HRIS.

“Conga’s commitment to build a truly people-focused culture drew me to this unique opportunity,” said Ms. Perry. “I look forward to working with the talented team at Conga to scale the people processes and capabilities in readiness for the next chapter of business growth.”

Conga is a global leader in commercial operations transformation, helps businesses simplify and automate their approach to the essential quotes, contracts and documents that drive commerce.

Serving the PE Sector

Bespoke Partners is an executive search and leadership advisory firm dedicated to partnering with top private equity firms, including Francisco Partners, Clearlake Capital, WCAS, Insight Partners, GI Partners, General Atlantic, CVC Capital Partners and TA Associates, to recruit software talent and assess and evaluate teams at every stage of the investment lifecycle, from growth equity to buyout.

The search firm has completed over 600 searches since its inception in 2011. Its expertise includes all C-level searches, as well as board of directors and internal private equity operating partner searches. The firm’s leadership advisory expertise includes organizational due diligence as well as executive assessment and coaching. Bespoke Partners also has offices in Austin, TX and New York City.

With a focus on CEO, CPO and CHRO searches for private equity-backed software companies, Ms. Bossetta has helped build out executive teams at Sphera, Nearpod, Appriss, Aternity, Cority, Care Brands and others. Prior to Bespoke, she worked at GLG, where she supported private equity and venture capital firms in deal origination and due diligence efforts.

Bespoke Partners also recently placed Kerry Unflat as chief people officer of Zipari, a modern consumer experience solution. Ms. Bossetta also led that assignment. “In this moment of continued growth and expansion, it’s more important than ever that we ensure our employees have what they need to succeed, inside and outside the office,” said Mark Nathan, CEO of Zipari. “With over 20 years of human resources and talent management experience – much of it with a fast-growing software company – Kerry is the perfect person for the job. We’re delighted to welcome her to the team.”

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media