4
core role families covered
Listing-Team Build-out · C-Suite Placement
Listing-Team C-Suite Placement
Complete your executive and capital-markets team around the US listing — international talent throughout.
Complete your executive and capital-markets team around the US listing — international talent throughout.
A US listing is never a one-person job. Investors and regulators read the whole bench: a CEO/COO/CTO who knows the US market, an IRO who speaks to institutions natively, a controller who survives PCAOB, credible independent directors and audit-committee chairs, and a corporate secretary fluent in US compliance.
Combine them to cover the full IPO cycle.
Many companies assume a CFO completes the team. By filing stage the gaps are usually the roles below — and any one of them can stall the timetable on its own.
The CFO sets positions; the controller produces the workpapers. One speaks to the board and investors, the other to the auditor. The common mismatch is hiring a decade of domestic accounting experience into this seat and finding nobody can build the US GAAP adjusting entries the auditor is waiting for.
This role builds processes, control points and testing evidence a year before listing. The common mismatch is adding it to the finance manager's plate — the result is written policies with no evidence, and a failed first-year test.
Owns preparation and timing of 20-F / 10-K / 6-K. It looks non-urgent during filing and becomes essential the day you list, because the first annual report window is tight.
Not a press-release writer. The job is building institutional coverage, running earnings communication and managing expectations. Companies without an IRO discover at the second raise that institutions simply do not return calls.
Board minutes, disclosure calendar, insider trading policy, related-party approval flow. Failures here do not explode immediately, but when they do it is usually a disclosure problem.
Someone on that committee must be able to read financial statements and be willing to say no. It is not an honorary seat — see the next section.
The most common approach among China-based issuers is to put two impressive names on the board. The cost of that approach usually shows up in the first year after listing.
The rules require at least one audit committee member designated as a financial expert, and that designation has to be disclosed in the annual report. The person must be able to read GAAP statements and understand controls and audit process — not "knows finance" in the abstract.
The committee meets the auditor without management present, reviews quarterly and annual financials, and handles whistleblowing and related-party approvals. A member who appears twice a year is not a member.
The direct consequence of a failing audit committee is not a fine. It is a restatement — and the hit to share price and future financing is usually far larger than the director fees saved.
Get the order wrong and you spend the money, fill the seats, and still cannot move. The reason is simple: later roles rest on earlier positions.
Advisory or part-time is acceptable at this stage. The job is settling positions, structure and auditor. Full-time is not required yet, but someone must answer one question clearly: can our books be audited?
Once the CFO is in, the execution layer follows. These two roles determine how fast the audit moves and how fast controls go up.
Board structure must settle before filing; the IRO must be in place before the roadshow, because investor relations work starts the moment you file.
Both look combinable during filing and become full-time workloads immediately after listing. Hiring ahead is far calmer than backfilling afterwards.
Typically a finance director, an internal controls director, an SEC reporting manager and a head of investor relations, plus independent directors and an audit committee chair, a company secretary and a compliance lead. Nasdaq and NYSE impose hard requirements on independent directors and the audit committee, so those seats are not optional.
These seats turn on independence, sector credibility and a working knowledge of SEC rules. Filling them with acquaintances creates a risk point in the listing review and in ongoing disclosure. We match candidates who have already served on listed-company boards and run conflict-of-interest checks against the independence tests.
Yes, and most clients do. Once the CFO is in seat, he judges which finance roles are still missing and we fill them one by one. The advantage is that the role definition comes from someone who actually understands US filings, rather than a headcount decided up front.
Usually around the F-1 or S-1 filing. The IRO owns roadshow materials, investor communication and the post-listing disclosure narrative — a role you cannot do without after the bell. Hiring one only after listing usually costs more in onboarding.
Separate mandates, one standard. CFO placement and C-suite placement are contracted separately and can run in sequence or in parallel. Every candidate needs US listing experience and goes through the same verification.
A 30-minute listing-route diagnosis: we assess which route fits you, the timetable and the gaps on your team, and set out the next steps. Free, and fully confidential.
