Artemis Executive Partners - May 2026 Newsletter

The Artemis Spotlight · June 2026

From Johanna

Leadership requirements have changed faster than job descriptions have. That gap is where good hires go wrong.

For a decade, the résumé that won the room was a track record: who had done this before, at what scale. That still matters. But on its own it no longer predicts success.

Equity-driven investors are no longer asking "who has done this before." They are asking "who can deliver the thesis now," in this environment, on this timeline. In this issue: how that scorecard quietly changed, and the three ways we search to it.

"Experience tells you the problem they have solved. It does not tell you the problem you have."

Our Standard

Every candidate, Actually Interviewed.

Vetted in conversation by a senior team member, to a standard set by our CEO. No résumé reaches you unscreened.

The Shift

Leadership Is Being Re-Scored

Boards used to evaluate executives by experience: have you done this before? That question now shares the table with a sharper one, can you do what this moment requires? In a recent IBM study, 77% of CEOs said talent and technology leadership roles are converging as AI compresses decision cycles and dissolves the old lines between functions.

The effect is a re-scoring of "qualified." AI fluency is now a baseline, not the ability to write code, but the judgment to know what it can and cannot do, like a CFO who can design an AI-enabled reporting cadence rather than just close the books faster. Add a working read of geopolitical and trade volatility, which lands directly on supply chains and capital costs, and the profile has shifted. Experience still signals judgment. It just no longer guarantees fit, the leaders who stand out are the ones whose experience maps to the problem in front of them, not only the one behind them.

How We Help

Three Ways We Search to That Standard

Pillar One

Hire for the Exit

When the goal is a clean, well-valued exit, leadership quality is part of the valuation. We recruit operators with real M&A and integration experience who make the business exit-ready.

For PE firms →

Pillar Two

Hire to Scale

When the thesis is growth, the lever is rarely another finance hire. It is commercial leadership, CROs, CCOs, and CGOs who build a repeatable go-to-market engine, not just manage a sales team.

Executive search →

Pillar Three

Strategic Impact Hiring

Sometimes the need is not a title; it is a specific outcome. We define the few results the role must deliver, then evaluate for the leader who can deliver them in your environment.

How we work →

When you call us, the first thing we will ask is which of these you are truly solving for. Naming it is what keeps a search pointed at the outcome that matters.

The Math Has Changed

Why Talent Is Now a Deal Lever

With purchase-price multiples expected to stay flat for most funds this year, financial engineering no longer carries returns. Value increasingly has to be built, not bought, and over a five-to-six-year hold, the management team largely determines the outcome.

79%

of GPs expect flat purchase multiples

68%

of portfolio companies hire a leader every year

77%

of CEOs: talent & tech roles converging

Sources: Bain Global Private Equity Report 2026; Altrata Portfolio Company Talent 2026; IBM CEO Study 2026.

Taken together, these point to one conclusion: leadership quality is now a primary driver of returns, not a support function. The executive is not a line item, they are the person responsible for delivering the thesis, and getting that hire right early in the hold is among the highest-leverage decisions in the deal.

How We Evaluate

Here is the catch: AI fluency, geopolitical judgment, and investor-readiness rarely show up cleanly on a résumé. They surface in how a person thinks and decides under pressure. We use AI as a tool, but our bar for candidates is set in conversation.

A.I. = Actually Interviewed

Every candidate we present has been Actually Interviewed by a seasoned member of our team, to a standard set by our CEO and held across the firm. It is how we surface what a document cannot, how a leader navigated a failed integration or a broken thesis, and reduce the uncertainty around them before they ever sit across from you.

The Most Useful Conversation Is Not Always About Hiring.

Sometimes it is simply about clarifying what your next leader actually needs to deliver. We are glad to think that through with you. No pitch. No pressure.

Talk Through a Leadership Search

Or just reply with the role or challenge you are working through. I read every one.

Looking Ahead to Fall

Fall Roles Are Won in Summer

The strongest fall placements are not started in September. They are scoped now, while calendars are quieter, so the right leader is seated and ramping before Q4 pressure arrives. If a key seat needs to be filled by fall, the clarifying conversation is a summer one.

Where to find us · for your HR leaders

Johanna presents twice at the Gulf Coast HR Symposium (NRG Center, Houston) on how HR can champion this re-scoring of leadership.

AUG 5-6

Houston, TX

Explore Artemis

How We Work

Our retained, six-step search process, built to get it right once.

See the process →

Pre-Vetted Executives

Browse Actually Interviewed leaders, anonymized until you engage.

View the showcase →

Why Artemis

The people-first philosophy behind leaders who fit, perform, and stay.

Our approach →

Find Leaders Who Fit, Perform and Stay.

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