Interim Executive Trends for 2024

January 26, 2024
Interim Executive Trends for 2024

As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus is famously quoted as saying: “Change is the only constant in life.” And 2024 will bring a torrent of change!

As we deployed InterimExecs RED Team members throughout 2023 and talked with interim executives, company owners, and private equity investors, we saw five common themes emerge.

Based on that research, these are the interim executive trends for 2024:

  1. Companies Will Contract with a Team of Interim Executives
  2. More Owners Are Preparing to Exit
  3. Interim and Fractional Executive Demand Will Continue to Grow
  4. Spinoffs, Turnaround, and Recaps are Ramping Up
  5. More Seasoned Executives Are Bringing Their Expertise to Interim Positions

Companies Will Contract with a Team of Interim Executives

Bringing in a SWAT team of interims – a CEO, CFO, COO, CHRO and more – is the way to quickly solve critical problems facing your organization.

For example, Ahima, the nonprofit American Health Information Management Association, was going through due diligence to acquire a for-profit company. CEO Amy Mosser reached out to us for help. Within a week, she had a team of three interim executives – a CFO, a CHRO, and a head of content licensing — engaged and working on due diligence, post-acquisition integration, and future planning.

“It’s something I have not done before,” she says. “But I can tell you that if I went through this again, I would get people during the due diligence and have them stay afterward because they know so much more and you don’t have to catch anybody up.”

More Business Owners Are Preparing to Exit

The simple demographic realities of an aging US population coupled with the pandemic-related pressures of the last few years mean that as many as 3 in 4 business owners plan to exit their business over the next decade.

This is a trend we’ve noticed in recent years, but we expect the rate of exit to trend significantly upward in 2024.

To serve those of you who are considering an exit, we created this 6-part Business Exit Strategy Guide for Owners:

Demand for Interim and Fractional Executives Will Continue to Grow

Driven by the rate of business owner exits, the corporate trend toward spinoffs, the need to turn around struggling businesses, and the rise in private equity purchases, the need for experienced high-level leadership will continue to ratchet up in 2024.

We have sent in RED Team interim executives to prep companies for sale, to help family businesses manage succession, and to quickly ramp up performance at companies acquired by private equity investors. We expect all of those areas of business to grow in 2024.

Spinoffs, Turnaround and Recaps are Ramping Up

Increasingly, our RED Team members desire to become owners themselves. That led us to create RED Ventures. We assembled leadership teams and capital sources from like-minded PE funds and investors to identify opportunities to lead recap, spinoffs, and carve-outs.

In 2024, we expect to work with more executives with the desire to own their own business. We also expect to identify more troubled or discarded assets that have the potential to flourish under new ownership.

More Seasoned Executives Are Bringing Their Expertise to Interim Positions

Every day, we hear from experienced leaders who want to leverage their executive expertise in a different way. Unlike leaders looking for the security of a full-time contract, our RED Team leaders are motivated by the challenge of interim and fractional leadership. They want to take action, make change, solve problems. Once that’s done, they want to move on to the next challenge.

If you’re an executive who loves a challenge, apply to join our RED Team.

If you’re a company leader in need of additional expertise, contact InterimExecs today for a confidential consultation about how a RED Team interim executive or fractional executive can help your organization.