The Fashion Industry's Partner in Executive Search Fashions change-not only in the clothes we wear, but also in the management skills needed to operate today's fashion and retail companies. "We don't have as many family businesses today, where sons and daughters started on the ground foot, learned the business, and worked up to senior management," comments Barbara Marchetti, president of C-suite, an innovative executive search firm for fashion and retail. "Further," she adds, "family businesses are being scooped up by private equity firms, hedge funds and corporations. Those executives have different expectations, calling for new management styles, new skills, the best in world-class practices." Finding precisely that right executive talent is C-suite's mission. C-Suite differs markedly from other search firms. C-Suite and its sister company, 24 Seven-itself a leader in providing freelance talent for the fashion industry-together form the only organization of its size to serve the fashion and retail fields exclusively. In addition, C-Suite provides only retained searches, for a fiat fee. "For that fee, clients get everything on our menu," says Ernie Buffalino, senior director of C-Suite. "Often, when a firm needs a search, it's socked with extra expenses, such as travel, faxes, phone calls, copying services, and research time. They all maybe completely necessary, but they can mount up to substantial additional cost. All of those costs are part of our own quality process, and we don't believe in carrying them over to our clients. At C-Suite, there are no surprises. Our clients know what they're going to pay and what they're going to get." What they get is a comprehensive package of specialized services, including an in-depth due-diligence process. "Before we even take on a search, we spend a lot of time understanding the client organization," says Jo Norton, one of C-Suite's senior search consultants, and whose background includes 20 years recruiting experience in several fields. "We work to understand the company-its operating procedures, its values, what expectations its existing management may have for someone coming on board in an executive role. How can you make the right march if you don't understand the client company's culture? Management has to participate and create a dialogue with us." We interview the client several times," adds Teresa Padro, senior search consultant, whose own experience includes 25 years in retail and fashion. "Sometimes, at the outset, a client company may feel it wants 'A' in a candidate. When we interview them, we may discover, together, that they really want, not even 'B,' but 'C' and 'D.' Sometimes they are looking for someone to fill a title that the Fluman Resource people have provided, but those responsibilities may be different from what's really needed. One of our roles at (C-Suite is to guide the client on finding the right skills." Among C-Suite's guides: Ernie Buffalino himself, who brings more that) 25 years in corporate Human Resources experience, including senior recruiting and staffing roles at Calvin Klein and Ann Taylor. C-Suite's team approach marks another difference from other search firms. "Ours is a proprietary methodology that Barbara Marchetti created," notes Ernie. "It's unique in our industry. An officer of C-Suite is assigned to each search, with at least three other members of the firm: a researcher and rwo senior search consultants." Notes Elizabeth Cushing, senior search consultant, "One 0f us will d0 a first-tier interview with a candidate, then another member of the team will do a second-tier interview. This way, we remove any of our personal biases, so we can concentrate on what the client is looking for." Adds Barbara: "We have a fiduciary responsibility to our client companies and our executive candidates to provide them the greatest return on their investment in both dollars and time. Investing in the resources of a team rather than the knowledge of one recruiter yields a far greater return. That is the essence of our model." Once a position's proper requirements are determined, only then does C-Suite explore potential candidates. "We apply a three-prong process.," says Barbara: "rapping our extensive network, which includes that 0f 24 Seven; mining our talent database, and launching fresh research to ensure that competitive intelligence and transferable intelligence are not being overlooked." "There are many criteria that come into play in zeroing in on the right candidate," she notes. "We look, 0f course, at the candidate's skills and experience, and how those will transfer to another company. We look at the client company's management team as a whole, as an organism, and see if the candidate brings the right balance, the right cultural fit. We look at the candidate's ability to manage through chaos and crisis-and if any company says it doesn't have occasional chaos or crisis, you'd better look twice at them!" C-Suites commitment to a client continues even after a placement. Part of C-Suite's innovative approach to a search is its customized 90day on-boarding transition plan for each new hire. "We're talking about senior-level executives, whose success will affect the bottom line, a company's profit and loss," says Barbara. "These are people who set strategy. If someone makes too many mistakes on that level. it's extremely costly to the company. I do exhaustive due diligence with the client. Assume that it is about to launch a line in the next six months that could ultimately drive top-line sales by 32 percent and the bottom-line net by 8 percent. Once C-Suite has completed a successful outcome with this company, we'll track it and see i€ with the person we've brought to the table, those initiatives are being met. It's great to have a marriage between a client and a candidate, but what's even more exciting is the one-year, mo-year picture down the road to see if they are doing what was expected." Barbara Marchetti brings an extensive history in the field 0f human capital development and recruiting, first with stalling firms, then, in 1991, launching her own consulting practice, Preferred Resource Group, providing executive mentoring, strategic consulting, customized training, and retained executive search. One of her clients, over the past six years, has been 24 Seven. "Its president, Celeste Guda's, and I saw that the fashion industry needed a resource at the retained level, someone who understood both fashion and business," says Barbara. "1 had the model and I had the team, so my colleagues arid I dropped parachute together and became part 0f 24 Severs. There's been excellent synergy between our businesses. They're the experts in free-lance placement, and we're the experts in senior level executive search." C-Suite, with offices in New York and Boston plus three satellite offices in California, fills a growing need in the fashion industry. "There is a balance that's needed between someone who understands the fashion business and someone who can bring world-class perspective and management skills to the table," comments Barbara. 'The leader of a fashion company doesn't have to grow up in the fashion industry. In fact, a number of fashion houses-think of Prada, Gucci, Liz Claiborne-have been revolutionized by the acquisition 0f executive talent from other fields. The old 'tribal days' 0f the fashion industry are fading fast. What distinguishes us-C-Suite together with 24 Seven-is that our driving force is serving fashion and retail. Further, where fashion and business intersect, that's where you'll find us."