PE-CXO’s Success Stories cast a spotlight on private equity-backed operators and the tools and tactics they leverage to create real value. In each entry, a world-class executive details a practical solution to a critical business issue. To be featured, contact mallory.stokker@pe-cxo.com with the subject line “Success Story.”


Executive: CFO at a PE-backed financial technology company. 

Challenge: Lack of trust between employees and the executive team undermining efforts to fully modernize an aging software platform.

Solution: Increased executive participation in employee-driven events and a new bonus program that both met employee expectations and aligned with key organizational objectives.

I joined the company a couple of years into the hold period. The business was struggling with high turnover and low employee engagement scores.

Those stats, coupled with multiple real-time resignations the executive team was trying to mitigate and the general negative vibe in the breakroom, made the challenge hard to miss. There was a clear lack of trust between the employee base and prior executive team. The new executive team was fighting to regain trust and change our retention momentum.

The company enjoyed a rich local history and a vibrant grassroots culture, yet in the preceding years, many of the executives lived out of state. The physical divide further exacerbated the issue.

At the time I joined, a new CEO had recently come aboard and moved his family close to our headquarters. He immediately began the pr...