Situation:
Experian is the world’s leading information service company specialising in data analytics and consumer credit reporting. With a customer base of over 100 million, Experian is the world’s most trusted credit score provider.
Challenge:
In May 2020, Experian acquired a 60% stake in Arvato Financial Solutions Risk Management Division (AFS RM) and absorbed Germany’s second-largest credit bureau to expand its presence in the DACH region. In December 2022, the remaining 40% was acquired; the next step was for Experian to achieve market dominance within the DACH region.
Solution:
Experian decided to hire a CEO – DACH, to achieve this growth and have a leader who could execute structural integration within the Experian group whilst understanding the organisation’s existing global sector expertise and implementing these industry-leading solutions locally.
Experian’s new CEO – DACH, was needed for Experian to transform the German market. The CEO – DACH would be responsible overall for the strategic and operational leadership of the German business.
Outcome:
Innovex’s 97.2%+ client return rate and 98.8% success rate meant Experian knew they could rely on Innovex to deliver their CEO – DACH search.
Jake Parish, Innovex’s CEO and Founder, met with each stakeholder involved in the hiring process to ensure all were aligned with the role’s expectations.
He then partnered with Collette Morey, Innovex’s Director – SaaS, to run this search and provide Experian with candidates that met the specific requirements of the brief, including expertise within transformation and growth in the DACH region and experience in similar organisations and high growth environments.
Collette and Jake achieved this and identified 110 candidates, receiving a market-leading 62% engagement rate.
Collette introduced herself to each engaged candidate and undertook a call to assess if they met the agreed candidate brief. From this, the candidate longlist was created.
To transform this candidate longlist into a shortlist, Jake and Collette interviewed each candidate for at least an hour to ensure their skills, capabilities, and experience made them the right fit for the CEO role. Just as importantly, Jake and Collette spent 50% of the interview giving more context on the opportunities Experian had to offer to ensure the engagement of candidates was maximised.
Only four weeks after beginning the search, a shortlist of 7 candidates was presented. Jake and Collette had exceeded Experian’s expectations; therefore, after being presented with such high-quality candidates, Experian wanted to meet each prospect.
Due to the CEO – DACH role being a critical hire for Experian’s growth, Jake advised Experian not to rush the process and take their time. As a result, Experian undertook 11 interview rounds to ensure the fit was right.
During this time, Jake and Collette provided feedback throughout the process. They continued to be transparent with each candidate regarding the overall interview structure, leading to each candidate staying engaged until Experian made their final decision.
Once all interview rounds were completed, Jochen Werne accepted the role of CEO – DACH for Experian. We are excited to follow Jochen’s journey at Experian and help him build his C-Suite and Leadership team.
