Executive Search Success Story: Building an Operations and Asset Management Leadership Team for a Private-Equity-Backed Solar O&M Platform

How JRG Partners executed a confidential, multi-role North American executive search strategy that equipped a private-equity-backed solar operations and maintenance and asset management platform with the operating, technical, commercial, financial, and safety leadership required to integrate four acquisitions, improve fleet availability across 9 GW under management, and win long-term contracts with institutional asset owners.

The Challenge

A private equity sponsor had assembled a solar O&M and asset management platform through four acquisitions, creating a 9 GW fleet served by regional companies with different field service models, monitoring systems, and safety cultures. Fleet availability lagged contractual guarantees at several portfolios, exposing the company to performance penalties, and institutional asset owners were consolidating vendors toward providers with proven national capability. The founding executives of the acquired companies had departed or were not suited to lead a national platform. Executive leadership and the sponsor identified several critical vulnerabilities threatening the investment:

• Four acquired companies with no common field service or operating model
• Fleet availability below contractual guarantees, triggering performance penalties
• Fragmented monitoring and performance engineering with limited predictive capability
• Institutional asset owners consolidating toward national providers
• Finance systems unable to report at the portfolio and site level sponsors and customers required
• Inconsistent safety programs across a dispersed field workforce of 900 technicians

Recognizing that the platform required a national operating leadership team, the sponsor and CEO engaged JRG Partners to recruit a Chief Operating Officer, VP of Asset Management & Performance Engineering, Chief Commercial Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and VP of Environmental Health & Safety. The company required an executive search partner with deep renewable operations expertise and the ability to deliver a coordinated team.

Why They Chose JRG Partners

Renewable Energy & Clean Technology Focus

JRG Partners maintains a dedicated practice serving renewable energy and clean technology companies, including O&M providers, asset managers, independent power producers, and developers, with a clear understanding of fleet performance economics, availability guarantees, and institutional asset owner expectations.

Platform Integration Experience

Our firm has extensive experience recruiting executives who have integrated acquired services companies into national platforms, standardizing operating models and field service delivery.

Private Equity Portfolio Expertise

Our team works routinely with sponsors and operating partners on leadership builds for infrastructure services platforms, with a clear understanding of value-creation plans and reporting expectations.

Our Executive Search Strategy

Phase 1 — Platform Integration Review

Our consultants partnered directly with the sponsor, CEO, and board to review fleet performance data, contract exposure, integration status, customer feedback, and safety records, defining five executive profiles aligned with the integration and growth plan.

Phase 2 — Talent Identification & Mapping

Our research team performed an extensive talent mapping initiative targeting operating, asset management, commercial, finance, and safety executives at renewable O&M providers, independent power producers, utilities, and infrastructure services companies who had led documented fleet performance improvements and platform integrations. Over 400 executives were systematically assessed across these sectors.

Phase 3 — Candidate Engagement

Priority during outreach was given to leaders with a documented history of standardizing field service across acquired companies, raising fleet availability above guarantees, building predictive performance engineering, winning institutional asset owner contracts, and driving safety performance across dispersed workforces. Only candidates meeting these strict performance baselines advanced.

Phase 4 — Selection Process

Finalists presented integration and performance plans to the sponsor and board, completed structured leadership assessments, and underwent reference verification focused on quantified availability, safety, and commercial outcomes.

Key Outcomes

• 400+ renewable operations, power, and infrastructure services executive profiles mapped across North America.
• Successfully placed a synchronized leadership tier spanning operations, asset management, commercial, finance, and safety within seven months.
• Raised fleet availability from 96.8% to 99.1% and eliminated performance penalties.
• Won 2.4 GW of institutional master service agreements.
• Reduced recordable incident rate by 45%.
• Improved EBITDA margin by 400 basis points and grew the fleet to 12 GW.