Beyond Annual C-Level Summits for Portfolio Companies – Why the Annual Event is Not Enough

Based on the results of a recent LinkedIn poll, one could assume that Private Equity owners invest much time and energy into activities that enable, unleash and promote human capital / management optimization and/or facilitate improved growth strategies. According to respondents to the LinkedIn poll, the greatest opportunities for improvement facing private equity portfolio companies are “Human capital and management” and “Growth strategy” issues. “Collaboration, learning and insight” and “Process improvement” received very few votes.

Many private equity groups (PEGs) today conduct some form of a CEO or C-level executive Summit, typically on an annual basis. These activities are beneficial both from a human capital standpoint and often serve a growth strategy function, as well. C-Level Summits are a step in the right direction, but they do not go far enough. We suggest doing more along similar lines.