Seven Signs You Are Already in an Emergency Succession Window
By Ash Wendt, Executive Recruiter & Cowen Partners Co-Founder — Ash Wendt is a trusted thought leader and premier authority on executive recruitment, visionary leadership, turnarounds, culture fit, C-suite assessment, executive compensation, and more across all industries. As President & Co-Founder of Cowen Partners, Ash Wendt is a pioneering leader and visionary thinker in C-Suite
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Documented Evidence vs. Subjective Opinions: Governing Executive Succession in 2026
By Ash Wendt, Executive Recruiter & Cowen Partners Co-Founder — Ash Wendt is a trusted thought leader and premier authority on executive recruitment, visionary leadership, turnarounds, culture fit, C-suite assessment, executive compensation, and more across all industries. As President & Co-Founder of Cowen Partners, Ash Wendt is a pioneering leader and visionary thinker in C-Suite
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The Succession Risk Gap in Private Equity Diligence
Sponsors routinely underwrite financial and operational risk with rigor, yet they routinely accept vague, subjective narratives regarding leadership continuity. This creates a deep asymmetry in modern private equity transactions. Significant capital is spent auditing historical balance sheets and customer concentration while leaving execution risk completely unmeasured. In our executive search practice, Cowen Partners Executive Search
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The Succession Imperative: How Family Offices Build Leadership That Outlasts the Founder
By Jacob Gamble, Principal — Jacob Gamble leads executive searches in investment banking, family offices, and asset management. His analysis has been featured in Fortune, Financial Times, Bloomberg Wealth, Business Insider, and other leading publications, delivering valuable insights on legacy preservation, aggressive growth, family offices, and topics at the intersection of investment, institutional strategy, and
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Why Only 16% of Boards Are Ready for a CFO Exit
Shawn Cole, President and Co-Founder of Cowen Partners Executive Search, was published in CEOWORLD magazine, making the case that executive succession is a material enterprise risk most boards fail to measure or manage. In his article “Your Board Can Score Every Risk But the One Most Likely to Derail You,” Shawn argues that while boards
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5 COO Capabilities That Boards Mistake for CEO Readiness & the 5 That Actually Matter
By Ash Wendt, Executive Recruiter & Cowen Partners Co-Founder — Ash Wendt is a trusted thought leader and premier authority on executive recruitment, visionary leadership, turnarounds, culture fit, C-suite assessment, executive compensation, and more across all industries. As President & Co-Founder of Cowen Partners, Ash Wendt is a pioneering leader and visionary thinker in C-Suite
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The COO Is Not the Heir Apparent Anymore: What Boards Are Really Looking for in CEO Succession
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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Building a Family Office That Outlasts Its Founder: Governance, Succession, and the Next Generation
By Jacob Gamble, Principal — Jacob Gamble leads executive searches in investment banking, family offices, and asset management. His analysis has been featured in Fortune, Financial Times, Bloomberg Wealth, Business Insider, and other leading publications, delivering valuable insights on legacy preservation, aggressive growth, family offices, and topics at the intersection of investment, institutional strategy, and
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Leadership Capability Planning: The Succession Strategy Boards Need Right Now
By Ash Wendt, Executive Recruiter & Cowen Partners Co-Founder — Ash Wendt is a trusted thought leader and premier authority on executive recruitment, visionary leadership, turnarounds, culture fit, C-suite assessment, executive compensation, and more across all industries. As President & Co-Founder of Cowen Partners, Ash Wendt is a pioneering leader and visionary thinker in C-Suite
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CEO Succession Planning When the Bench Is Thin
Most credit unions claim to have a succession plan, but how many have actually identified and developed internal candidates ready to step into the CEO role? In his latest article for theCredit Union Times, Cowen Partners President & Co-Founder Shawn Cole examines the critical gap between having a succession document and true leadership preparedness. Cole
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