Core capabilities
Key appointments we deliver include:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Group Financial Controller
- Group FP&A Director
- VP Tax & Treasury
- Head of Investor Relations
- Audit Chair / Finance NED
The Essenta difference
Why Essenta?
Combining functional expertise, live deal intelligence, and deep investor alignment to find finance leaders who make a lasting impact.
Deep functional expertise
Specialized focus across CFO and senior finance leadership for growth equity and PE assets
Global talent networks
Accessing an international network of proven finance leaders mapped continuously across private equity deals, growth, and exit cycles.
Proprietary Discovery Process
Combining evidence-led search, live market mapping, deal intelligence, and early discreet referencing to ensure candidate fit.
Context-led Assessment
Evaluating candidates beyond sector match: assessing operating model fit, corporate scale, and sponsor alignment. Aligning the brief with specific situational candidate experience including pre-deal, buy-and-build, integration, internationalization, organic growth, turnaround and financial transformation.
Case studies
Proven lasting impact
Explore how our evidence-led CFO approach supports portfolio companies from initial investment through to successful exit.
Nick Gribbon
Senior Partner, Financial Officers
Financial Officers
Private Capital Funds
London
Domagoj Landher
Consultant, Financial Officers
Financial Officers
Private Capital Funds
London
Tom Warrack
Senior Associate, Financial Officers and Funds
Financial Officers
Private Capital Funds
London
Laura Streather
Principal, Financial Officers
Financial Officers
Private Capital Funds
London
John O’Donnell
Consultant, Financial Officers
Financial Officers
London
Geoffrey Arner
Associate Partner
B2B
New York
Stephen Menkes
Senior Associate, Financial Officers, Technology and Digital
Financial Officers
Technology and Digital
New York
Hannah Moodie
Project Coordinator, Financial Officers and Funds
Financial Officers
Private Capital Funds
London
Connect with Nick 
Email Nick Professional overview
Over his career, Nick has partnered with more than 50 private equity funds, from lower mid-market to large-cap, to place the finance leaders who make a difference. Nick specializes in private equity CFO search and he leads Essenta’s Financial Officers and Private Capital Funds Practice and is widely recognized as a market-leading Executive Search specialist in his field, with over 25 years of experience.
Nick advises private equity investors and their portfolio companies on critical CFO and senior finance appointments across the UK, EU and US. He supports clients at every stage of the investment cycle, from pre-deal evaluation and talent pipeline building, through post-completion leadership alignment and mid-cycle growth and transformation hiring, to positioning the CFO before an exit for maximum value.
Before joining Essenta in 2022, he developed his expertise at Russell Reynolds and Heidrick & Struggles. He then spent a significant part of his career at Blackwood Group, where he led the CFO practice.
Personal perspective
Senior leadership appointments are business-critical milestones, and when the stakes are high for both the organization and the candidates, treating search as a standard hiring workflow is never enough. My team and I act as trusted, hands-on advisers throughout the process, guided by personal accountability, collaboration and integrity, and we stay deeply engaged at every stage. We are meticulous about the details clients rarely see, because that is where quality is built, long before a shortlist is presented.
Professional overview
Domagoj, who goes by Doma, helps private equity investors, CEOs, and boards find finance leaders who can thrive in demanding private equity environments. His work spans B2B and B2C sectors, with a specialized focus on technology, business services, healthcare, data, and consumer and industrial markets.
Doma partners closely with clients to define the leadership requirement and assess the market before identifying the right candidates. His experience also covers listed and high-growth businesses, giving him a broad perspective on finance leadership across different ownership structures and stages of development.
Before joining Essenta, Doma spent three years at The Up Group, a specialist European Executive Search firm focused on technology and high-growth businesses. There he led senior Financial Officer searches across venture-backed, private-equity owned, and listed companies.
Earlier in his career, Doma spent half a decade in Korn Ferry’s EMEA Financial Officers Practice in Vienna and London, working on Financial Officer appointments for FTSE 100/250 companies and other large international organizations.
Personal perspective
The best senior appointments come from understanding what a business needs from a leader, not just matching a CV to a brief. I bring that same discipline to every search: asking the right questions, being clear and honest with clients and candidates, and looking beyond the obvious profile to see how someone will actually operate in the role. For me, good Executive Search comes down to judgment, trust and giving both sides what they need to make a well-informed decision.
Professional overview
Tom is a Senior Associate in Essenta’s Financial Officers and Private Capital Funds Practice, supporting Executive Search across the private equity and portfolio market. He provides end-to-end delivery support, from in-depth market research and analysis to candidate identification and the execution of senior-level search mandates, identifying and appointing finance executives internationally.
With more than 10 years in Executive Search, Tom has completed assignments across a range of industries and functions, with private equity-backed businesses as the common thread. At Essenta, he focuses on Finance hires, building strong relationships with both candidates and clients.
Prior to Essenta, Tom worked at a specialist search and consulting firm, focused on senior transformation and strategy hires for mid-to-large cap private equity clients. He began his career at a boutique Executive Search firm, providing delivery support on C-suite hires for private equity-backed businesses.
Personal perspective
Good search delivery takes lateral thinking and curiosity. I explore the obvious, analogous routes across the talent landscape, and the less obvious ones too, so that candidates and clients get the best service I can give them.
Professional overview
Laura works with multinational groups when the need for the right financial leader becomes key: preparing for a transaction, a change of ownership, a strategic shift or an operational transformation.
A Principal in Essenta’s Financial Officers and Private Capital Funds Practice, she supports international organizations with finance leadership appointments, across both private equity and public environments.
Executives and investors trust her to use her market expertise to appoint leaders equipped to handle the specific challenges their business faces.
Laura began her career in Executive Search at a private equity specialist firm, focusing on C-level appointments. Her route into search was an unusual one, as she spent several years as a translator in the pharmaceutical world. It fits someone whose academic and professional life has always centred on understanding people and cultures. This cultural fluency shapes how Laura works with C-suite leaders, and time spent in agile organizations that challenge industry norms has shaped her approach to search.
Personal perspective
Search is not, and should not be, a ‘one size fits all’ or ‘tick the boxes’ exercise. I believe the best outcomes come when there is room, and trust, for diversity of thought and approach, which delivers balance rather than homogeneity. That trust is built on curiosity, a willingness to listen and a desire to deliver for everyone we support. True partnerships give us space for creativity, informed by our own experience, and that leads to better-than-expected outcomes.
Professional overview
John is a Consultant in Essenta’s Financial Officers and Private Capital Funds Practice, specializing in Financial Officer leadership searches across Europe and North America. His clients are private equity firms, portfolio companies and corporates, often at a moment of growth, transformation or change, whether that means an ambitious value creation plan, international expansion, buy-and-build, operational improvement or preparing for exit.
He works closely with investors, boards and management teams to understand what an appointment needs now, and the wider context an executive will have to succeed in. John pairs detailed market knowledge and research with a close focus on the person behind the CV: their motivations, leadership style, track record and fit with the business.
Before joining Essenta, John built his Executive Search career around senior finance appointments, identifying and engaging finance leadership talent across APAC. Having lived and worked in several countries, he brings an international perspective and an understanding of how business gets done in different cultures. He has worked on global mandates and speaks Spanish, which helps him build relationships across markets.
Personal perspective
What someone has achieved matters, but so does how they achieved it, what really motivates them and whether their leadership style fits the business and the people around them.
I bring that thinking to both sides of a search. For clients, that means being straightforward about the market and challenging assumptions where it helps. For candidates, it means taking the time to understand what they want from their next move, not just matching their experience to a job description. The aim is an appointment that makes sense for both sides, and keeps making sense long after the search ends.
Professional overview
As an Associate Partner at Essenta who places senior executives into C-Suite and board roles across B2B services and industrials, Geoff is as interested in the why, as the who. He works with a wide range of financial sponsors, from founders and family offices to global PE firms and corporations, developing talent-centric deal Advisory and due diligence solutions.
A New Yorker by birth, Geoff has lived in Japan and the UK. He studied Philosophy and English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, and spent the first two years of his career on political campaigns before moving into Executive Search, where he has built over 15 years’ experience delivering talent solutions for businesses centred on private capital, and business services.
Personal perspective
I think of myself as more of a matchmaker than a recruiter. Qualifications matter, but it ultimately comes down to fit. In any search, you’re asking a successful executive to take a risk and make a change, and it’s easy to forget that people (not CVs) show up to work each day.
Every hiring process is a two-way street, and the best placements are completely aligned with their new companies. To run search well, you can’t just know the candidates, the market, and the business. You have to understand the full context behind “why this role?” and “why now?”
Stephen Menkes
Senior Associate, Financial Officers, Technology and Digital
Professional overview
Stephen helps companies find the leaders who drive sustainable growth and long-term value. A Senior Associate at Essenta, he leads Executive Search delivery across the North American market, advising on critical leadership appointments for private equity-backed and global public companies, across a variety of sectors and functions.
Before joining Essenta, Stephen was a recruitment consultant at a global firm, specializing in senior technology and product leadership appointments for high-growth businesses.
He partnered with companies at critical stages of growth to identify and build the teams they needed to scale and keep expanding.
Personal perspective
I’ve spent much of my life playing competitive sport, including at collegiate level, and it taught me that success starts with the right team. I approach Executive Search as a way of solving complex leadership challenges: identifying the missing pieces, bringing the right people together and building teams ready for sustained growth.
Hannah Moodie
Project Coordinator, Financial Officers and Funds
Professional overview
Hannah is the Project Coordinator for Essenta’s Financial Officers and Private Capital Funds team, and the person who keeps its Executive Search assignments moving from first brief to final hire. She works closely with colleagues to schedule candidate interviews and manage communications, arrange client meetings and track progress, so that clients and candidates experience a process that feels smooth and professional.
Hannah also has a hand in winning new work. She prepares proposals, pitch decks and contracts, and organizes events. Clear communication, close attention to detail and an easy way with people keep the team organized and assignments on track.
Hannah’s career has been a varied one. It began in Executive Search in New Zealand, where she was an Executive Assistant, and moved on to project coordination in local government and then to an Executive Assistant role at the University of Law in London. Each step built her skills in stakeholder communication, project coordination and executive support.
She also holds a Master of Science in psychology, focused on social psychology, group behaviour and belonging. It gives her a real understanding of people and team dynamics, which shapes how she supports clients and candidates.
Personal perspective
My interest in psychology has left me convinced that making people feel heard matters just as much as managing the practical details. I bring a warm, approachable and organized style to my work, building trust through clear communication, reliable follow-through and care in every interaction. Ultimately, I want clients and candidates to feel comfortable, informed, and supported throughout their time with Essenta.
Let’s build your next leadership team
Tell us what the business needs to achieve. We will give you an honest read on the leadership challenge in front of you, and how you should approach it.