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KnowledgeNow Conference 2019 | Berlin At a crossroads
Apax Partners B C KnowledgeNow Conference 2019 | Berlin At a crossroads
Now in its ninth year, the theme of this year’s KnowledgeNow conference was “At a crossroads.” Portfolio company management were joined by external keynote presenters to discuss how companies can flourish in an environment where decisions are being made with ever-increasing speed. It’s a world where data is driving complexity and complexity is compounding risk. How do we empower teams to make the best choices at every juncture?
Given the topic, the venue in Berlin, on the historic junction that once divided Europe, felt appropriate. Over the course of two days, portfolio company leaders were joined by members of the Apax Operational Excellence Practice (OEP) to address the topic from a range of economic, political and commercial perspectives.
The annual flagship event has three main purposes: it enables portfolio company management teams from around the world to share experiences; it provides a platform for networking between the OEP and management teams; and it offers practical insights that help drive growth. Apax Partners Apax Partners KnowledgeNow 2019 D 1 KnowledgeNow Conference 2019 | Berlin Working together At a crossroads to accelerate transformation Mitch Truwit
Executives Portfolio companies Mitch Truwit, co-CEO of Apax Partners, highlighted the pivotal role that operational improvement has played in the Firm’s long history. Founded on both 138 33 sides of the Atlantic close to 50 years ago, Apax is one of the world’s oldest private equity firms. Annual sales Equity invested
$11bn $8bn
Truwit puts this longevity down to the fact The “Operational Excellence Practice” is a that Apax has consistently delivered strong crucial enabler of this through its partnership Contents returns by focusing on improving the intrinsic with management teams, offering specific value of the businesses in which the Apax functional expertise where executives most 1 Working together to accelerate transformation 10 Journeys of transformation – Stories of collaboration, stories of growth Funds invest. In the latest fund, Apax IX, need it. “We don’t tell management what to do 2 12 Growing fast through M&A – Authority Brands The world at a crossroads – Decision-making in an age of chaos c.84% of the value created has been driven – we do provide specific expertise where they 4 13 Working with biases for better results – Dr. Tali Sharot Independence unlocking growth – Duck Creek Technologies by operational impact – top line growth, need it most to accelerate growth. This is the 6 Lessons in leadership – General John F. Kelly 14 Reaping the benefits of AI – Tosca margin expansion and profit improvement. best insurance against the economic cycle and 8 How to strengthen a divided Europe – Anders Rasmussen 15 Ensuring success in transformational tech projects – ThoughtWorks will remain our priority for the next 50 years.” 16 The data-driven approach to hiring – Paycor 17 Who’s who? 19 The Apax Partners Operational Excellence Team
ApaxApax Partners Partners KnowledgeNow 2019 2 3 The world at a crossroads Decision-making in an age of chaos
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Working with biases for better results Dr. Tali Sharot
Tali Sharot splits her time between MIT and University College London, where she conducts research at the intersection of behavioral economics, psychology and neuroscience. She is especially well-known for her work on biases and people’s propensity for optimism.
Human beings are programmed to seek out 1) Start from a position of common ground information that confirms their own positive Find the things you agree on and don’t focus opinions at the expense of bad news. on the things you don’t agree on. If we’re familiar with human These patterns are the product of millennia 2) Frame your news to highlight the opportunity of cognitive evolution and as a result all Focus on measures that can drive progress bias, we can put policy in but impossible to change. Yet they can as a team, rather than the risks when things be recognized and managed to produce go wrong. place to protect ourselves more beneficial outcomes. “Biases are not going to go away but knowing about them 3) Immediate rewards work from negative outcomes. means that you can change your action in Rewards now – even simple praise – influence response,” Sharot said. behavior more than the threat of punishments. Dr. Tali Sharot Factors like stress and age can alter 4) Enable people to make managed choices individuals’ reactions and need to be taken People feel anxious when they don’t have control into account. However, Sharot outlined and are overwhelmed when they have too many approaches that business leaders can options. Give them a degree of choice and they use to address their teams’ in-built will become more secure in their opinions. biases and achieve better results.
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Lessons in leadership General John F. Kelly
General John F. Kelly, a 30-year veteran in the US Marines, was coaxed out of retirement to serve as Head of the Department of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump. Six months later, he became White House Chief of Staff to support the 45th President in his decision-making.
The experience of rising through the ranks of the Kelly established processes that gave structure US armed forces has informed Kelly’s leadership to executive decision-making by ensuring that skills and his deep commitment to absolute the President had all the information and expert It’s critical in any organization honesty. Every President – like any CEO – needs opinion he needed to make informed choices. a good Chief of Staff to fulfil two major functions, He also encouraged teamwork among White that everyone feels as though he explained: “If no one else in the room is doing House staff by making them feel valued and it, the Chief of Staff has to tell truth to power. provided support when things went wrong. they’re on the team and that No matter how unpopular it is.” The second Running a country, a military campaign, or indeed they’re a valued member. responsibility is to ask the critical question: is a a business, requires millions of decisions every policy being pursued for the benefit of America, day. One individual cannot take all of those General John F. Kelly rather than the re-election of the President? decisions personally, but through their leadership can empower trusted staff to make informed decisions based on a culture and direction that is established at the top.
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How to strengthen a divided Europe Anders Rasmussen
Anders Rasmussen has had a long and distinguished career in European and global politics. He served as Denmark’s Prime Minister from 2001 to 2009 and then as Secretary General of NATO for five years.
Europe is weak and divided, Rasmussen said. It lacks strong leadership, as well as a clear vision of what the continent – and its largest bloc, the EU – stands for. The result is that it is at the Mainstream mercy of international and domestic political forces. politicians should be “We have to address people’s legitimate grievances more effectively. And that means much, much better we have to address immigration much more effectively than we have done,” Rasmussen at taking seriously the explained. A stronger external European border, legitimate grievances welfare reforms to prevent abuse of social benefits, better integration of immigrants into of people, and then domestic cultures, and more work overseas in unstable regions are needed. deliver efficient solutions. Anders Rasmussen
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Journeys of transformation Stories of collaboration, stories of growth
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Growing fast Independence through M&A unlocking growth
The Apax Funds acquired Authority Brands in September 2018. The insurance industry may generate 3% of global GDP but it In just a year, the company has tripled revenue having grown still has to adapt to the mobile-first mentality of today’s consumer. from operating two home services franchisors into a leading, Mike Jackowski, CEO of Duck Creek Technologies, told how multi-brand home services franchisor with revenues of the company is helping insurers meet policyholder expectations, $1.2 billion. Today, Authority Brands’ services include cleaning, while building a successful standalone enterprise. home healthcare, swimming pool maintenance, plumbing, electrics, and air-conditioning. CEO Rob Weddle explained how to Duck Creek is a leading provider of software To execute its plan, Duck Creek brought in grow a successful international franchising operation through M&A. to the property and casualty insurance industry new talent to reboot sales, helped partner offering policy, billing, rating, claims, data organizations expand so they could distribute insights, digital engagement, and distribution Duck Creek products beyond Accenture’s own management applications. clients, and acquired services it could cross-sell. Expanding the franchise model meant establishing It also launched Duck Creek “On demand,” the processes and systems that could be The Apax Funds carved out the business its end-to-end SaaS solution, providing services quickly deployed in each new business to allow from Accenture in 2016. It has since focused and support to help insurance carriers move franchisees to focus on the essentials. on four initiatives: investment in sales and marketing; expansion of its partner ecosystem; faster and more efficiently. SaaS bookings now Bringing businesses together under one umbrella M&A as a growth engine; and finally, it account for 95% of new bookings. Maintaining needed a well-defined corporate culture, clear recognized the opportunity from insurers dialogue with customers and staff ensured they communication and a clear understanding of what increasingly migrating their systems to the cloud. were on board throughout the process. franchisees need to succeed. It also required the desire and ability to move fast when implementing change and integrating new systems. “We have learned that the first 90-120 days are very, very important,” said Weddle.
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Reaping the Ensuring success in benefits of AI transformational tech projects
Tosca’s reusable plastic containers are helping food suppliers Big technology projects can transform a business and generate and retailers around the US to reduce cardboard waste. CIO huge rewards, but they are also fraught with pitfalls. Tiffany Lentz, Michael Weinberg explained how the Apax Funds portfolio Managing Director, Office of Social Change Initiatives, and Rachel company is embracing data and analytics to track and Laycock, Head of Technology, North America, at tech consultancy improve the use of its containers. ThoughtWorks outlined the do’s and don’ts that can blight technology projects and explained how to stay on the right path.
Traditionally, Tosca relied on estimates by model. In testing, the result consistently beat DO DON’T service center managers to predict the number human prediction, prompting the company of packaging containers they would need each and its service center managers to make the 1 Prioritize and be firm about what is Let project scope creep with unnecessary week to meet customer demand. But with jump. Tosca expects the data model to deliver: not essential “gold-plate” details 14 service centers, customers like Walmart with retail outlets across the US, and partner Lower labor cost 2 Concentrate on what is right for customers Let parties within your business and have the courage to refocus projects obsess about must-have features organizations involved in cleaning, keeping Lower shipping costs track of the company’s 25 million containers back on their needs could be a challenge. Higher revenue per container 3 Update your strategy, communicate and Mistake your plan for a strategy Higher company EBITDA Tosca asked Apax’s OEP and their preferred ensure everyone understands challenges and don’t underplay potential problems vendor network to help build a data-based 4 Follow a gradual replacement strategy, Try to do everything at once update and switch off old systems as you go
5 Take responsibility and make leadership Let people think issues are not their decisions based on the facts not politics department’s problem
6 Focus on what your customers want Focus on what your competitors are doing
7 Have the honesty to change course Throw good money after bad when a project isn’t working
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The data-driven Who’s who? approach to hiring Conference speakers Conference attendees
Dr. Tali Sharot Connie Adair Dave Burgess Ben Friedland Paycor, a leading US provider of SaaS Payroll and MIT and University College London Managing Partner, Focus Search Vice President, Search Engine Vice Chairman, CBRE Partners Technologies, Apax Partners General John F. Kelly Jayme Fuller Human Capital Management software to small and Former Head of the Department of Pekka Ahola Velina Butti Vice President, Sales and Homeland Security and former SVP, Data & Cloud, Solita Oy Vice President, Portfolio Go-To-Market, Apax Partners White House Chief of Staff Efficiency, Apax Partners medium-sized businesses, had to focus on its own human Nico Alfin Sam Fulton Anders Rasmussen GM Boats Group Barcelona, Julie Canfield Chief Executive Officer, Boats resources when its founder and long-time CEO stepped Former Prime Minister of Denmark Boats Group Operating Advisor, Program Group Delivery, Apax Partners Rob Weddle Tom Athron Javi Gagliardo down. Karen Crone, Chief HR Officer, talked about how the CEO, Authority Brands Chief Operating Officer Rohit Chande Chief Business Officer, Wizeline & Interim CEO, Chief Transformation Officer, Mike Jackowski MATCHESFASHION.COM Authority Brands Christopher Garrand company brought data into its leadership selection process CEO, Duck Creek Technologies Chief Financial Officer, Quality Harjott Atrii Vincent Chippari Distribution and created blueprints that could help staff develop. Michael Weinberg Executive Vice President, Zensar Chief Financial Officer, Duck CIO, Tosca Creek Technologies Marcelo Gigliani Anish Bafna Managing Partner, Apax Digital Tiffany Lentz Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Conte Managing Director, Healthium Medtech Private Chief Financial Officer, Wizeline Andrew Griffith Having grown for three decades under an Office of Social Change Initiatives, Limited Group Finance Director, ThoughtWorks Martyn Curragh Safetykleen entrepreneurial CEO, it was essential to get the Mark Beith Chief Financial Officer, PwC Rachel Laycock Managing Partner, Apax Digital Trevor Gruenewald right leader in place to drive growth at Paycor Head of Technology, North America, Ellen de Kreij President & Chief Operating ThoughtWorks Mark Binney Operating Advisor, ESG, Officer, ECi Software Solutions after the Apax Funds acquired the business in Partner, PwC Apax Partners Karen Crone Marty Guinoo 2018. The selection process led to the creation Chief HR Officer, Paycor Ron Books Gero Decker Operating Executive, Chief Executive Officer, ECi Chief Executive Officer, Signavio Head of EMEA, Apax Partners of a new protocol for vetting senior staff based Software Solutions Jörg Thomas Dierks Mark Habner on four key pillars: Blake Booysen Chief Executive Officer, Chief Executive Officer, BeckWay Chief Financial Officer, Wehkamp Neuraxpharm Group Psychometric testing Ilya Borisov Steven Dyson Sarah Hagan Operating Advisor, Cloud Partner, Apax Partners Chief Financial Officer, ECi Specialist, Apax Partners Software Solutions 360-degree assessments Frank Ehmer Arnaud Bosquet Partner, Apax Partners Tom Hall Principal, Apax Partners Partner, Apax Partners Feedback from staff about how they were Jesús Encinar Enda Breslin Chief Executive Officer, idealista Nicole Hantman being led Chief Commercial Officer, Radial Global Head of HR, Apax Partners Sean Epstein Deep dive interviews into personal and work Seth Brody SVP & Head of Private Equity, Will Harman Partner, Global Head of OEP, SAP Operating Executive, history, motivations and values Apax Partners Global Supply Chain, Apax David Evans Partners Arthur Brothag Principal, Apax Partners Partner, Apax Partners Nick Hartman Paul Frankenberg Principal, Apax Partners The protocol created a candidate profile that Caroline Buck Managing Partner, Focus Search Director of Marketing & Partners Rami Hazan could guide hiring decisions, as well as a heatmap Partnerships, Wizeline Chief Executive Officer, Zap Paulo Freitas Group showing the attributes needed at company level. Burghard Burczyk Chief Financial Officer, TIVIT Together, these elements are shaping plans to help Adelsberger Tamas Hevizi Chief Technology Officer, Global Head Private Equity, Paycor hire and form the people it needs to deliver Neuraxpharm Automation Anywhere its strategy.
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Who’s who? (continued) The Operational Excellence Team Apax Partners Conference attendees (continued)
Charles Honnywill Sanjeev Malik Silvio Petriello Will Throp Partner, Ernst & Young Senior Vice President, Zensar Vice Chairman, CBRE President International, Vyaire Medical Seth Brody Jonathan Marty Guinoo Nick Iozzo Luiz Mattar Joel Portice Charly Toni Partner, Simmons Operating Operating Advisor, Chief Executive Officer, TIVIT Chief Executive Officer, KEPRO Chief Technology Officer, Wehkamp Product Development, Apax Partners Global Operating Executive, Philippe Mauguy Boaz Raviv Rosanna Trasatti Executive, Head of EMEA Petra Jenner Chief Executive Officer, Safetykleen Chief Executive Officer, Attenti Managing Director, YSC Consulting Head of OEP Senior Vice President EMEA, Electronic Monitoring Digital Practice Salesforce Richard McIntosh Betsy Travis Managing Partner, Procura Consulting Jon Reeves Director, Head of Private Equity, YSC Ross Johnson Head of Americas, APJ, SAP Consulting Managing Director, Donnelley Heather McLeod OEP Areas: Digital Acceleration, OEP Areas: Digital Acceleration OEP Areas: Margin Expansion, Financial Solutions Chief Marketing Officer, Authority Liesbeth Rigter Willi Tscheschner Brands Chief Executive Officer, Lacent Co-Chief Technology Officer, Signavio Human Capital, ESG, KnowledgeNow Joined Apax 2012. Based in New York. Carve-Outs & Integration, Operational Andrew Kenny (Wehkamp) Finance Head of Communications, Apax Brendan McVeigh Mikko Varhe Joined Apax 2008. Based in New York. Partners Partner, Procura Consulting Daniel Rosenthal Chief Financial Officer, Solita Oy ✔ Joined Apax 2016. Based in London. Chief Financial Officer, Signavio David Kim Michaela Merlin-Jones Raul Villar Partner, Apax Partners Senior Associate, Vendor Jessica Ross Chief Executive Officer, Paycor Optimization, Apax Partners Vice President, Digital, Apax Partners Tim Klasson Mark Vorbach Will Harman Markus Nagel Jessica Ross Anders Meyerhoff Maisie Sather Senior Managing Director, Macquarie Chief Revenue Officer, MetaMetrics, Operating Operating Vice President, Inc. Principal, Apax Partners Operating Advisor, Human Capital, Apax Partners Sarah Walker Executive, Executive, Digital Dan Klenkar Sam Miller MD, Private Equity Partnerships, Vice President, Radial Chief Revenue Officer, ECi Software Abhinav Saxena Salesforce Global Supply Finance Practice Solutions Senior Business Development Chain Steven Kooyers Manager – Private Equity, Amazon Tom Ward Principal, Apax Partners Roxana Mirica Web Services Managing Director Private Equity Principal, Apax Partners EMEA APAC Latin America, Neil Kuschel Vincent Schuller tot Peursum Donnelley Financial Solutions Chief Executive Officer – Europe, Artu¯ras Mizeras Managing Director, Blue Ridge OEP Areas: Margin Expansion OEP Areas: Carve-Outs & Integration, OEP Areas: Digital Acceleration, Global-e Head of Autoplius.lt, Baltic Classifieds Partners Susan Weaver, MD, FACP Operational Finance Human Capital Group President, KEPRO Joined Apax 2014. Based in London. Jeffrey Laborde Kyle Seiter Joined Apax 2019. Based in London. Joined Apax 2014. Based in New York. Chief Financial Officer, Aptos Konstanze Nardi Chief Information Officer, Acelity/KCI Rob Weddle Partner, Ernst & Young Chief Executive Officer, Authority ✔ ✔ Jos Lamers Jon Simmons Brands Chief Executive Officer, Unilabs Group Dan O’Keefe Operating Executive, Services Managing Partner, Apax Digital Digital Practice, Apax Partners Michael Weinberg Chief Information Officer, Tosca Jayme Fuller Angelique David Burgess Danyell Lance Laef Olson Shashank Singh Augereau Chief People Officer, BeckWay Group Operating Advisor, Tech Practice, Partner, Apax Partners David Whalley Vice President, Vice President, Apax Partners Chief Information Officer, Amit Laud Melanie Stack ThoughtWorks Sales and Operating Search Engine Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal Simonas Orkinas Chief Executive Officer, Ideal Protein Go-To-Market Executive, Head Technologies Chief Operating Officer, Baltic Nicholas Wilski Bismarck Lepe Classifieds Group Viktorija Steponaviˇciˉut˙e Associate Director, Macquarie of Data Science Chief Executive Officer, Wizeline Portal Manager, Baltic Classifieds César Oteiza Group Jason Wright Mike Lynch Chief Operating Officer, idealista Partner, Apax Partners Principal, Apax Partners Donald Swartz OEP Areas: Sales and Go-To-Market OEP Areas: Data Science, OEP Areas: Digital Acceleration Nedu Ottih Managing Director, CTBR Tony Young Lina Maciene Principal, Apax Partners Chief Information Officer, Sophos Joined Apax 2018. Based in New York. AI & Machine Learning Joined Apax 2015. Based in New York. Chief Financial Officer, Baltic Steve Tagtmeier Classifieds Group Neil Patel Managing Director, Blue Ridge Joined Apax 2020. Based in New York. IT Director, Apax Partners Partners ✔ ✔ Pavithra Mahesh Vice President, Apax Partners Alex Pellegrini Eric Thelen Partner, Apax Partners Private Equity Strategist, Amazon ✔ Practice Area Lead Vishal Maheshwari Web Services Chief Financial Officer, Healthium Nicolas Peters Medtech Private Limited Co-Chief Technology Officer, Signavio
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The Operational Excellence Team (continued)
Velina Butti Michaela Laef Olson Vice President, Merlin-Jones Operating Advisor, Portfolio Efficiency Senior Tech Practice Associate, Vendor Optimization
OEP Areas: Margin Expansion, OEP Areas: Margin Expansion OEP Areas: Technology & Operations Carve-Outs & Integration Joined Apax 2019. Based in London. Joined Apax 2017. Based in US. Joined Apax 2015. Based in New York. ✔
Nick Iozzo Ellen de Kreij Julie Canfield Operating Advisor, Operating Advisor, Operating Advisor, Product ESG Program Delivery Development
OEP Areas: Technology & Operations OEP Areas: ESG OEP Areas: Technology & Operations, Joined Apax 2013. Based in US. Joined Apax 2002. Based in NL. Carve-Outs & Integration Joined Apax 2019. Based in US. ✔
Maisie Sather Ilya Borisov ✔ Practice Area Lead Operating Advisor, Operating Advisor, Human Capital Cloud Specialist
OEP Areas: Human Capital OEP Areas: Technology & Operations Joined Apax 2019. Based in London. Joined Apax 2019. Based in US. Designed and produced by Gower Consulting.
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