REASON FOR THE SEARCH

The Private Equity firm, MiddleGround Capital, had an underperforming portfolio company due to them not being able to meet their Revenue or EBITDA targets in the last 12 months.

The portfolio company, Atalla Steel, needed a change of CEO as they wanted an individual who would take a more hands-on approach, was operational-focused and had financial awareness.

THE PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM

MiddleGround Capital is a fast-growing private equity firm, founded in 2018. They invest primarily in the middle market and have offices located in New York and Kentucky. The firm is continuously advancing and has plans to further expand into Europe. The team members in the firm are all very passionate, and they have a work hard, play harder mentality. Currently, they have 11 acquisitions and take a hands-on approach when working with their portfolio companies.

THE PORTFOLIO COMPANY

Atalla Steel Industries is a manufacturer of steel foundation beams and has been established for more than 12 years. They specialize in high-volume, high-quality, and low-cost posts for PV solar projects. They believe that it is the quality of the foundations for a project that determines its success.

The company is headquartered in Mississippi and they have a subsequent site in Texas. Attala Steel's customers are primarily EPCs and construction companies and they pride themselves on meeting budgets and providing high-quality products quickly and efficiently.

THE SEARCH REQUIREMENTS 

• Experienced and proven CEO
• Private equity-backed experience
• Experienced in building out and developing a strong management team
• Steel Building products experience
• Steel mill experience
• Strong operational background
• Contacts at Steel mill and relationships
• Based in Mississippi
• Revenue $200M+
• 500+ employee experience
• Multi-site experience

WHY RAW SELECTION?

The company was struggling to find the right candidate for their role due to the location of the business being undesirable and the chairman of the business having high expectations. Therefore, they turned to Raw Selection, who are proven in completing difficult searches across Europe and North America.

The main challenge of this search, aside from the location, was the small talent pool. This was due to the niche requirements for the search as the individual needed to have Private Equity-backed experience and a steel manufacturing background.

THE PROCESS

Raw Selection commences every search by discussing and understanding the full search requirement and brief. Raw Selection’s Managing Partner, Alex Rawlings, led the search and worked with Principal, Jack Burns, who with the cooperation of Rick Brawn, Operating Partner at Atalla Steel, built out a full picture of the company, the employees, the culture, and exactly the type of profile that was needed to succeed in this position.

After conducting over 70 screening calls and interviews, Raw Selection identified an exceptional individual, John Higgins, who was subsequently hired for the role.

Raw Selection followed their extensive 15-step search process, identifying 21 potential profiles, which were fully evaluated and then cut down to a shortlist of 6, all of whom had been fully interviewed and measured for culture fit.

We had the firm's two most experienced recruiters executing the search, including the managing partner, to deliver an exceptional shortlist. We also created a Talent Engagement pack with information on the area to sell the location as well as the role.

THE RESULTS

To secure the candidate, Raw Selection followed their extensive 15-step process to ensure a great match was found for this vacancy.

Raw Selection went above and beyond for this search for a CEO by going through wider competitors and similar company searches on LinkedIn and Google maps.

During the search, the most surprising aspect was that Raw Selection was able to find an outstanding candidate from a Google maps search.

Overall, Raw Selection completed a very successful search within 97 days.

Atalla Steel now has a CEO to drive the business forward and bring it to new heights.

 

THOUGHTS ON THE CANDIDATE

"John Higgins is a seasoned CEO with a wealth of experience in steel fabrication, specifically within a direct competitor of Atalla Steel. He possesses a keen attention to detail and a robust operational background. In addition to his expertise in the product and industry, Mr. Higgins has held senior leadership roles in multiple private equity-backed companies, including those backed by The Carlyle Group and Peak Rock Capital. Throughout his career, he has successfully overseen multiple private equity-backed exits. Furthermore, Mr. Higgins' familiarity with the Mississippi region, as a current resident, serves as an added benefit to his candidacy."

Alex Rawlings, Founder & Managing Partner, Raw Selection

OUR THOUGHTS ON THE SEARCH

"The search for a suitable candidate for the CEO position at Atalla Steel presented a unique set of challenges, which our research and interview team relished in overcoming. The utilization of unconventional methods, such as searching through historical press releases for steel exits in private equity, ultimately led to the identification of John's profile as a suitable candidate."

"John was able to begin work at Atalla Steel promptly and within three days, he was already participating in the first board meeting and actively seeking opportunities to drive positive changes within the company."

Alex Rawlings, Founder & Managing Partner, Raw Selection

GET IN TOUCH

Raw Selection favors a meticulous approach to talent research. Our process for selecting the right talent means we can boast a 100% success rate for all our retained and engaged clients, with 96% of placed candidates still in their roles after 12 months.

If you are looking for new talent, please get in contact with Jack today, at jack.burns@raw-selection.com

WATCH THE PROCESS OVER ON OUR CHANNEL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5VdEIS7F84