Switching Between Corporate and Consulting Careers

Consulting Roundtable

September 28, 2006, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM

Come hear from Jim Coffou and Mark Foster what the critical elements that spell success when transitioning from corporate to consulting careers or from consulting to corporate careers. Learn more.

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Where

Gleacher Center
Room 600
450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive
Chicago, Illinois

Who

Jim Coffou
Principal
Coffou Partners

Mark Foster
Senior Vice President
Coffou Partners

Program

6:30 PM - 7:00 PM: Networking
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM: Main Presentation
8:30 PM: Cash Bar Reception

Registration

Register Online
Register via Email
Register by Phone: 312.795.7033

Questions

Ashish Kothari
312.795.7033

Event Details

What are the critical elements that spell success when recruiting candidates or engaging outside experts? This presentation will give an overview of the recruiting process, including valuable resources that would be helpful in career searches.

Presenters Jim Coffou and Mark Foster will walk attendees through a three phase process that focuses on ensuring excellence in candidate selection and performance. They will offer their perspective on successful selection, assessment and assimilation methodologies in the context of consultants and the consulting industry.

From this presentation, attendees will learn:

• How the search process works, and the art of being recruited.
• How does a consultant break into a company, including ways to identify apropriate companies and appropriate contact levels and tips for doing so.
• Key characteristics (quantitative and qualitative) that will make a candidate attractive to a company; and key characteristics (quantitative and qualitative) that make a company attractive to consultants.
• How not to get caught in the 'vulnerability trap' during the initial transition phase with new hires and consultants that happens in all organizations.

Speaker Profiles

Jim Coffou
Principal, Coffou Partners

Jim Coffou's experience over the past 20 years has included assisting clients develop strong leadership teams in areas of finance, marketing, information systems, research and development, and general management. For the last ten years Jim has provided leadership to Coffou Partners and its clients for senior level leadership positions. This includes experience with President and GM level positions.

Jim also has representation in the Information Technology Executive Search arena. This representation includes in-depth experience executing executive searches in most areas of information technology, including application development, e-commerce, infrastructure/architecture and operations. Additionally, Jim has performed senior management searches for companies providing products and services in the Information Technology industry. His clients have ranged from Fortune 20 companies to start up initiatives throughout the United States.

Prior to Coffou Partners, Jim led the National Technology practice for a Chicago based executive search firm. Previously, Jim managed the information systems executive search practice in Ernst & Young Executive Search Group in Chicago. He also was a member of Ernst & Young's Management Consulting Group, providing clients with assistance in software/hardware selection, network design, application design, and project management. Jim started his career at IBM, moving through a number of sales positions.

Mark Foster
Senior Vice President, Coffou Partners

Mark has committed his career to creating organizations that have passion and purpose with driven, like minded individuals that are able to leverage each other's strengths to achieve mutually beneficial goals. He brings an extensive corporate background, holding leadership roles in general management, engineering and human resources and has deep expertise in talent management, organizational development, and succession planning. Mark has also been a strong advocate for the development and implementation of key diversity initiatives. This background adds tremendous value to Mark's clients and his ability to identify, select and assimilate quality candidates for them. Mark has worked in a wide variety of industries including healthcare, consumer products, manufacturing, hospitality, entertainment and media.

Prior to joining Coffou Partners, Mark held Vice President level positions at both Dade Behring, a global medical device company, and Hilton Hotels Corporation, leading Organization Development and Training for those organizations worldwide. He was responsible for the development and succession for the top executives and played an instrumental role in merger & acquisition activity. He first gained his HR experience at Warner Bros. and PepsiCo. Prior to his HR roles, Mark held leadership positions in process engineering, product engineering and manufacturing for PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble.

Mark graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.