perspectives

Top Finance, Legal, and Talent Portfolio Company Executives Gather for Spectrum Equity Leadership Summit

At Spectrum Equity, we believe that talent, teams, and culture separate good companies from great companies, which is why we bring our heads of finance, legal and talent teams together for our Leadership Summit. These executives are some of the most gifted leaders in their fields; they are the tone-setters and culture-bearers within their companies; and they have powerful insights to share about navigating growth and building great organizations. They are also our close colleagues and partners – the people we work with, day-in and day-out, to build category defining companies. After a nearly three-year hiatus – with many Zoom meetings and topical webinars in-between – it was especially meaningful to reconnect in person.


Heads of finance, legal and talent gather for Spectrum's annual Leadership Summit

We hosted several plenary sessions, including:

  • The Evolving Software Market with Brittany Skoda, Global Head of Software Banking at Morgan Stanley

  • Growth through M&A and International Expansion at The Knot Worldwide with Andy Ivanovich, Chief Financial Officer; Emily Markmann, Chief Human Resources Officer; and Felicity Chaban, General Counsel

  • Leading People During a Pandemic Hangover with Coley Florance, Head of Talent at Spectrum Equity, and Sean Brecker, Chief Financial Officer of Headspace Health

  • Cybersecurity in a Zero Trust World with John Sileo, Cybersecurity Expert

  • From Investor to CFO to CEO, a conversation with Ahad Khan, Chief Executive Officer of Kajabi, and John Connolly, Managing Director at Spectrum Equity

  • Best Practices: Board Reporting, Risk Elevation & Mitigation with Colleen Smith and Kristin Murphy of Latham & Watkins LLP; Molly Josh, Chief Financial Officer of Datassential; and Suzanne Bonotto, Chief Legal & People Officer of Litmus

Breakout sessions for the individual functional leaders in finance, legal and talent included:

  • The Legal Org with Maggie Drucker, Chief Legal Officer of GrubHub

  • The Shifting Sands of Privacy: Existing and Emerging Legal Requirements in the US and Beyond with Aaron Simpson and Adam Solomon, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLC

  • State of the Private Equity Sponsor-CFO Relationship with Hal Polley, Accordion Partners

  • Scaling Your Business Through Technology with Markham Bennett and Melinda Soto, Connor Group, and Josh Steinfeld and Reed McBride, Carta

  • The Road to Retention: Boosting Your Employee Value Proposition in a Post Pandemic World with Sarah Larson, Larson & Associates Consulting

  • Compensation and Benefits Benchmarking with David Knopping, Alpine Rewards, and Greg Mix, Dan Burton, and Zibby Everett, Marsh McLennan Agency

A sincere “thank you” to all of the executives who joined us this year. We are already looking forward to the next one!

Content contained in this blog post is not intended to and does not constitute investment advice. Your use of the information in this blog post and materials linked is at your own risk. Spectrum Equity does not make any guarantee or other promise as to any results that may be obtained from using this content. No one should make any investment decision without first consulting his or her own financial advisor and conducting his or her own research and due diligence. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and there is a possibility of loss in connection with an investment in any Spectrum Fund. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Spectrum Equity disclaims any and all liability in the event any information, commentary, analysis, and/or opinions prove to be inaccurate, incomplete or unreliable, or result in any investment or other losses. The specific companies identified above does not represent all of Spectrum’s investments, and no assumptions should be made that any investments identified were or will be profitable. View the complete list of our portfolio companies.