Executive search · C-suite & VP leadership
The searches that can’t afford a miss.
Confidential, founder-run executive search for CFOs, controllers, and investment leaders, managed personally from the first call to the signed offer.
Founder-run
One specialist, start to finish.
At most executive search firms, a partner sells the engagement and a junior team works it. Green Lion is one specialist with 14+ years placing finance and operating leadership: the same person maps the market, makes every call, manages every interview, and negotiates the offer. For sensitive mandates like confidential replacements, first-time CFO hires, and PE-backed transitions, that discretion isn’t a nicety. It’s the point.
One point of contact, zero hand-offs, and nothing about your search shared more widely than it has to be.
Scope
Who we place.
Roles
Chief Financial Officer · Chief Accounting Officer · Chief Operations Officer · Chief Marketing Officer · Chief of Procurement · VP of Finance · Controller · VP of Human Resources · VP of Strategy / Development · VP of Comp & Benefits · Director of Operations · Investment Director · Investment Partner / Principal · VP of Supply Chain
Industries
Private Equity & Venture Capital · Private Credit · Financial Services · Manufacturing · Healthcare · Supply Chain & Distribution · Legal · Consumer Products · Construction · Transportation · Energy & Renewables · Infrastructure · Real Estate · Professional Services · Retail & Entertainment · Software & Technology
Why Green Lion
What you get that the big firms can’t give you.
Speed without shortcuts
Recruiting starts the day the search lands: market mapping and direct outreach in week one, not after a kickoff committee.
We find the unfindable
Modern sourcing plus old-fashioned networking reaches the candidates who aren’t on LinkedIn, the ones every other agency misses.
Relocation is a specialty
We routinely move top finance talent into Texas, and we know how to sell the market, the math, and the move to a candidate’s family.
Clients come back
The scoreboard that matters: firms that hire through us once return with their next search. One recent CFO placement turned into eight more.
The process
From open seat to first day.
Scope the search
Deep industry dive
Direct outreach
Calibrated shortlist
Interviews to offer
After the start
Case studies
Searches we’ve closed.
CFO · Venture capital
CFO for a top-20 US venture capital firm
The searchA high-growth VC firm relocated its headquarters to Austin and needed a new CFO at the same time. Firms of that size are rare in Austin, so local candidates were scarce, and the funds were complex, with processes that had to be rebuilt for growth.
How it closedWe sourced five strong candidates from other markets, all ready to relocate. Two reached final interviews, and the firm hired a standout from New York with deep, directly relevant experience.
Hired from NYC. The firm has since come back to us for eight more searches.
CFO · PE portfolio company
First CFO for a PE-backed technology manufacturer
The searchA high-growth technology manufacturer needed its first CFO: industry experience, PE relationships, international entities and foreign currency, and hands-on leadership, all in one person.
How it closedWe mapped direct competitors and recruited from inside the industry. Three finalists were strong enough to hire, each with different strengths; the client chose an exceptional operator.
First CFO hired from inside the industry, out of a three-finalist field.
VP of Finance · Transportation
VP of Finance for a national transportation firm
The searchA national transportation and logistics firm needed a VP of Finance with specific industry experience to lead a 50+ person organization. Eight staffing agencies had worked the search for over ten months.
How it closedWe networked through the target market and reached a spot-on candidate who wasn’t on LinkedIn or any other platform the other agencies were searching.
Closed six weeks after we took the assignment.
Next step
Have a leadership seat to fill?
It starts with a free, confidential consultation.