Placed a Chief Investment Officer into a mid-cap GCC private equity firm ahead of Fund III deployment, in 9 weeks.

The mandate

A mid-cap GCC private equity firm engaged us in 2025 ahead of the deployment cycle for Fund III, a $1.2B vehicle with three sector verticals: industrials, healthcare and consumer. The firm's existing CIO had moved into a Managing Partner role, and the institution required a new Chief Investment Officer to anchor portfolio-level investment strategy across the three verticals while the founding partners focused on capital raising and external relationships.

The brief required a candidate combining direct deal-doing track record at mid-market scale, the ability to set portfolio-level investment thesis across three distinct verticals, and the institutional fluency to operate inside a partner-led GCC environment with strong founder personalities. The candidate also needed to be sufficiently senior to act as the firm's external face on portfolio strategy with LPs.

JOH Partners ran the search on an exclusive retained basis. The thesis was simple: the GCC mid-cap PE talent layer with Fund III deployment scars and three-vertical operating fluency is small but well-known. The work was concentrated diligence, not wide-net market mapping.

Our approach

The mandate ran across four phases.

01. Calibration

One week. Joint calibration with the three founding partners and the firm's existing Investment Committee chair. Output: a single-page mandate brief defining decision rights, off-limits, and the explicit interface with the existing Managing Partner whose seat the CIO would inherit.

02. Market mapping

Two weeks. The map ran across GCC-resident PE professionals, GCC-origin professionals based outside the region with credible repatriation intent, and selective international PE leaders with credible GCC operating exposure.

03. Longlist research

Three weeks. Primary research conversations against role-specific calibration criteria, weighted toward direct GCC mid-cap deployment track record. Three of the qualified longlist were known to the founding partners personally; six were not.

04. Shortlist and assessment

Three weeks. Five candidates presented with full assessment dossiers including portfolio strategy interview output. Final-round selection ran in two batches over the final ten days. Offer signed at week nine.

The outcome

The Chief Investment Officer took the seat in late 2025 and remains in seat. Fund III deployment commenced inside the first quarter of the appointment, ahead of the institution's internal schedule. The hire has consolidated portfolio-level investment leadership and freed the founding partners to focus on Fund IV positioning and LP development.

The team

The mandate was led by the partner heading our Investments and Private Equity practice, supported by a research director (full-time across nine weeks) and a delivery PM (60% allocation). Total partner hours: approximately 240. Quarterly retention check-ins continue as part of our 24-month standing commitment.

We had a CIO seat to fill ahead of a deployment cycle that was already running. Nine weeks from engagement to signed, with three of the final five candidates we hadn't met before. JOH widened the set without lowering the bar.