While technology and digitisation have been buzzwords for quite some time, the global pandemic has highlighted the absolute criticality of having robust technology capabilities and leadership that can ensure the continuity of a workforce. We have further strengthened our CTO Practice with the addition of a new partner, Annemarie Depue and our own CTO, Matthew Finnie.
Annemarie comes from a combined background of eight years in a leading management and strategy consultancy, where she advised government agencies on international policy, counterterrorism, anti-money laundering and illicit activities operations, followed by six years in technology and private equity executive search and advisory services at top tier firms. She works between both Drax and drxDATA, a unique set of businesses with a shared goal to provide the most effective insight and leadership recommendations to private capital backed institutions.
Matthew provides his 30 years of operational and executive experience in the use of technology to transform industries with a broad range of in-depth expertise across different sectors from hardware, software and service provider industries. Their combined ability to leverage the insights provided by drxDATA and a deep understanding of technology leadership in private equity help to round out our team and ability to deliver excellent work to our clients.
How We Think
The key to long-term business success is the relationship between the technology function and the most senior members of the leadership team. Companies founded in a digital age have always viewed technology as a leadership function – a view that is becoming increasingly replicated in more mature businesses.
When there is strong support for the technology function, it sends a positive message to the business, its customers and the wider industry and in turn helps to attract elite tech talent.
Leadership in Technology
Being a technology leader in a private capital backed business is significantly different than technology functions in large, established, globally listed companies. The pace, expectations and general culture are different, and for an individual to succeed, they need to do more than just accept this type of culture; they must thrive in it.
An entrepreneurial spirit is necessary but not enough. A successful technology leader must seek out cost-saving measures while, in parallel, think of longer-term investments and opportunities that can be leveraged and scaled for future financial success.
A successful technology leader must have the ability to galvanise troops and inspire a wide range of stakeholders, both internal and external, to commit to and support the technology vision of the business.
Drax & drxDATA
The combination of the well-established Drax search business with the drxDATA predictive analytics platform, provides a unique approach to identifying and securing the best technology leadership for private equity. Drax has a strong track record of CTO and technology leadership placements and is supported by the proprietary drxDATA analytics platform. Furthermore, we have created a bespoke tool to measure what the best type of CTO would be for your business based on the current and future technology needs of the company matched with industry precedent.
The Innovation Curve is based on the proven belief that the best CTO's create a sustainable competitive advantage for their organisations using technology. Created by our own in-house CTO and used as a tool when interviewing our CTO candidates, the innovation curve evaluates both the method of innovation and value creation experience of candidates, to ensure that candidates possess relevant experience to achieve the organisations value creation proposition.
drxDATA & Technology Officers
drxDATA is changing the way business is done. We firmly believe that it is the leaders that distinguish successful businesses, and we recognise the paramount importance of having the right team in place to support them throughout the investment life-cycle.
Our model for understanding success propensity evidences the shape and aerodynamism of the complete Leadership Team. Building a well-rounded team, with complimentary experiences and behaviours, is crucial to developing an efficient business that can accelerate to success. Drax and drxDATA are uniquely positioned to ensure you find the absolute best technology professionals to deliver your value creation proposition, investment thesis, and industry best practice.
Matthew Finnie
Chief Technology Officer
matthew.finnie@draxexecutive.com
