Morgan Howard is characterized as a “one firm” firm which means we always place the interests of our clients first.   Accordingly, we are organized as an equal partnership geared strictly to the success of our clients with no partner’s compensation tied directly to his or her own client development. On every engagement, our clients are assured to receive the full attention and competency of our partnership regardless of their location or the direct interface that any client may have with any one of our partners. Thus, every client is not only a client of the partner who leads a specific engagement, but also a highly valued client of our entire firm from which the client receives the benefits of our collective judgment and experience.

This translates to a client-first mentality and eschews the “star” system prevalent in the search profession and thus among our competitors. 

As mentioned above, our singular focus is to bring superior client results to every engagement, nothing less. To do so, we only accept engagements in which we have a high level of confidence for a successful result and truly satisfied client. Most of our clients have worked with us extensively over the years, a testament to our diligence, insights and commitment to each client on each engagement.

In order to continue to achieve success on behalf of the companies/organizations we serve, we have established an extraordinarily rigorous quality process by which we evaluate and monitor each engagement as well as our team and the individuals whom we consider for partnership within our firm. Collaboration, transparency and communication for our clients’ benefit is our hallmark. In doing so, we do not breach confidences shared with us nor the trust which is inherent in our client relationships. At Morgan Howard, this involves the full commitment and depth of our firm on every engagement, which translates into better results achieved in a shorter period of time.

In sum, we are a compact, globally oriented firm that will not compromise quality on behalf of our clients nor on the recruiting for our own team.   We recognize that our reputation is earned every day on every client matter and we are keenly aware that to achieve successful results for our clients we must build and cherish sustained, trust-based client relationships. We will not compromise on this guiding principal.

What We Do

Morgan Howard practices in two distinct but also interrelated areas: Search and Special Matters.

Morgan Howard initially concentrated on executive search in the technology sector which was the nexus of the firm’s activities throughout the 1990’s and remains a core competency of the Morgan Howard
team - - - The search for leaders in software, hardware, telecommunication, technology support, business process outsourcing, et al.

As technology has become the platform for the activities of many of our global clients, we have developed and leveraged our knowledge into a robust practice within the service sector - companies that move goods and people (airlines, global transportation concerns, among others) and serve customers (restaurant, lodging, cruise lines, retailers, etc.) as well as business to business services. We also serve a wide array of manufacturing concerns that operate worldwide. 

As stewards of our communities, we also seek leaders in the not-for-profit sectors.

On a broader scale, Morgan Howard is quite active globally in attracting board members to companies that must add/replace board members and/or to enhance specific competencies on their respective boards. We are knowledgeable about the compliance and operational guidelines of Sarbanes-Oxley, as well as the structure, operations, liability, strategy, risk management and succession that are very much a part of any board’s culture and deliberations in today’s business environment. Our clients include engaging and growth-oriented enterprises as well as the largest globally-oriented public and private concerns.

For many of our clients, we have evolved as the trusted advisor on human capital and have assisted in the following types of engagements:

• Management Evaluations
• Succession
• Board of Director Evaluation
• Board of Director Succession Planning

As each of our clients face unique challenges, each Special Matter engagement requires a tailored approach developed to meet the outcome and objections of each individual client. Thus, as a normal course, we do not have, nor do we promote, “off the shelf” solutions to our unique client challenges.

There are a number of scenarios in which clients have sought our assistance where management evaluations are particularly beneficial.

In particular, direct investors (whether it be buyout/direct investor funds or venture capitalists groups) have engaged us to assess the management during their due diligence, pre-acquisition process. We evaluate the management, using a well-tested process applied uniquely to each client situation to ascertain whether the growth/profit aspiration established by the investing party is achievable given the band-width and depth of the investee’s current senior management team.

For our corporate clients, we use similar objectives and independent methodology to assist boards and CEOs in assessing the depth of talent and bench strength of their respective management teams, and also work through the talent decisions and management development to assure that they, the board, are carrying out their duties in line with corporate governance and investor expectations.

Also, at Morgan Howard we have employed management evaluations as part of our clients’ post acquisition process. Our independent third party evaluative process in this case is used when our client acquires another organization and wishes to quickly get to “know” the individuals in the acquired organization with an eye toward determining the talent level of the acquiree. We also assist our clients in determining the most appropriate roles as well as the professional and development needs of the individuals who have been assessed.

Over the years, in discussions with our clients, it has been determined that succession is often discussed as an important topic but is rarely well executed. The statistics are daunting…about 50% of the companies with revenues above $500 million do not have a succession plan and once appointed, a new CEO has a less than 50% chance of serving more than two years. To that end, in any given year, leading business publications include articles that describe less than stellar results in this area.

At Morgan Howard, we recognize that succession of the CEO and our client’s top team, whether due to performance or personal/health reasons, is not a routine activity. As such, many boards retain us to assess the situation and to implement a methodology that establishes the role of the board, its responsibilities to communicate internally and externally on such matters. We then establish a “tailored to the situation” program and process by which to evaluate internal candidates as well as individuals who may not be with their organization at the present time. 

Our inclusive process, which dramatically improves the odds of success, works with our clients’ boards to assure that the necessary elements and disciplines are in place to provide the best opportunity for our clients to make the most appropriate decisions while side-stepping disruptions and organizational politics to the extent possible.

Under the current guidelines, boards must evaluate themselves. Some boards do this as they look at overall board performance through the use of a survey that is completed by each board member. Often the comments in these surveys are not attributable to any specific board member. The results are in terms of a general consensus - - i.e. we, the board, would like more in-depth strategy discussions or executive sessions at our meetings, et cetera.

Morgan Howard’s approach builds on the “basics” of the general consensus of the board by providing an objective and independent evaluation of the competencies and any improvement required for each board member, consistent with the company’s overall guidelines and strategic direction. We provide the results of our work to the Chairman of the Governance Committee and/or the Chairman of the Board for feedback to each board member evaluated. This process helps the board establish higher performance accountabilities and participation standards around those matters that are critical to achieving enhanced shareholder value. Further, we believe that the boards which undertake such a review generally find it beneficial toward setting benchmarks for themselves, as well as for establishing a firm footing toward stronger board member relations.

Since the advent of Sarbanes-Oxley, given the time required to serve effectively as an independent board member, compliance and independence issues and liability, among other reasons, we are now experiencing a high turnover of board members and a declining pool of individuals qualified and interested in serving. This is especially true for mid-cap and growth oriented companies. We expect this unfortunate trend to continue.

Given that good corporate governance requires sector, company or functionally useful knowledge and continuity, we developed a program which assists clients in limiting disruptions and thereby permitting the board to govern without severe compromise. In some instances this is a stand-alone engagement. Oftentimes though, we utilize this process in conjunction with a board evaluation or board recruitment engagement.

Our Clients

Our clients are public companies, private concerns and not-for-profit organizations located throughout the world.