Is Your CEO Built for the Next Credit Cycle?
Cowen Partners Executive Search President and Founding Partner Shawn Cole published his latest article in Credit Union Times, offering credit union boards a pointed framework for evaluating whether their CEO is equipped for what’s coming next in the credit cycle. The article cuts through the noise of recent performance metrics to ask a more revealing
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C-Suite Org Chart
What Roles Make Up the C-Suite? Leadership roles in any organization can include positions from the board of directors and the chief executive officer (CEO) down. While companies may not need to fill every C-suite role from day one, leadership at the top will generally need to expand as organizations grow and their goals become more complex.
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Regional Risk Intelligence: The Overlooked C-Suite Capability That Drives Capital Allocation
By Ash Wendt, President & Founder — As a founding partner of Cowen Partners, Ash Wendt has drawn on his career experience in sales and executive recruiting to build a vibrant, dynamic firm. His results-driven approach is rooted in discipline and strength of purpose and the belief that Cowen Partners fulfills a need across industries.
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The CEO’s Practical Strategy for Managing Modern Risk and Compliance in 2026
Shawn Cole, President and Co-Founder of Cowen Partners Executive Search, was featured in CEOWORLD magazine with a sharp, practical framework for how CEOs should rethink risk management and compliance heading into 2026. In the article, Cole argues that most organizations are failing not because of a lack of effort, but because they continue to manage
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Beyond Year One: How Top CEOs Turn Mid-Tenure Slumps into Launchpads for Lasting Impact
By Shawn Cole, President & Founder — Shawn Cole is a nationally recognized authority on CEO recruiting. His insights regularly appear in Forbes, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, and other leading publications, delivering nuanced and critical analysis on executive recruitment, succession planning, enterprise transformation, and the evolving demands of
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When Boards Get It Wrong: The True Cost of CEO Mishires
Executive leadership shapes a company’s strategy and long-term success, but what happens when a CEO scandal shakes the very foundation of the boardroom? In his latest CEOWorld article, Shawn Cole examines the fallout from Nestlé’s abrupt dismissal of CEO Laurent Freixe, the accelerated exit of Chairman Paul Bulcke, and what this leadership upheaval means for
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The Revolving Door: Why Even Top CEOs Aren’t Safe
Executive roles are becoming less about vision and more about quickly delivered results. Here’s how you can build a team that rises to the challenge. If you’re a CEO right now, your position depends less on the vision you’ve outlined and more on the results you’ve produced in the last ninety days. In 2024, over 200 chief
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A Record Number of CEOs Stepped Down Last Year. Here’s Why & How the Rules of Leadership Are Shifting.
An unprecedented wave of CEO departures in 2024 has highlighted a critical shift: Vision alone no longer suffices. Execution is now paramount. In 2024, U.S. companies witnessed an unprecedented wave of CEO departures, with 327 executives exiting by November — a level of turnover unseen since 2010. This wave of CEO departures reflects a bigger shift in
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The Leadership Required to Propel Investment Banks Into the Future
By Executive Recruiter Jacob Gamble — Jacob Gamble is a leading executive recruiter placing top-tier talent to align leadership with the long-term vision, values, and legacies of organizations. His expertise spans recruitment for CEOs, CFOs, Chief Investment Officers, and other key roles that bring technical expertise to manage complex portfolios and operations with interpersonal skills
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Shaping the Future of Investment Advisory Through Executive Leadership
By Executive Recruiter Jacob Gamble — Jacob Gamble is a leading executive recruiter placing top-tier talent to align leadership with the long-term vision, values, and legacy of family offices. His expertise spans recruitment for CEOs, CFOs, Chief Investment Officers, and other key roles that bring technical expertise to manage complex portfolios and operations with interpersonal
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