Executive Search Success Story: Rebuilding Global Trade Compliance Leadership After an Export Controls Voluntary Disclosure at an Aerospace and Industrial Manufacturer

How JRG Partners executed a confidential, multi-role North American executive search strategy that equipped a publicly traded aerospace and industrial manufacturer with the global trade compliance, export controls, and customs leadership required to remediate ITAR and EAR violations, satisfy a consent agreement, and rebuild a compliance program across 28 countries.

The Challenge

An aerospace and industrial manufacturer discovered through an internal review that technical data for ITAR-controlled components had been shared with foreign-national engineers at overseas sites and that several EAR-controlled shipments had been exported without required licenses. The company filed voluntary disclosures with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls and the Bureau of Industry and Security, entered a consent agreement requiring a complete program rebuild, independent audits, and a special compliance officer, and accepted the resignation of its trade compliance director. Executive leadership identified several critical vulnerabilities threatening the company:

• A consent agreement with mandated remediation milestones and independent audits
• Vacant trade compliance leadership during the most scrutinized period in the company’s history
• A decentralized program with inconsistent jurisdiction and classification practices across 28 countries
• Deemed export exposure from foreign-national access to controlled technical data
• Customs and import compliance gaps surfaced during the review, including valuation and country-of-origin errors
• No trade compliance technology or data governance to support screening, licensing, and recordkeeping at scale

Recognizing that satisfying the consent agreement and protecting defense contracts required proven compliance leadership immediately, the General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and board engaged JRG Partners to recruit a Vice President of Global Trade Compliance, Director of Export Controls, Director of Customs & Import Compliance, and Director of Trade Compliance Technology & Data. The company required an executive search partner with deep trade compliance expertise and access to leaders who had led consent agreement remediations.

Why They Chose JRG Partners

Global Trade Compliance Practice Focus

JRG Partners maintains a dedicated practice recruiting global trade compliance, export controls, customs, and sanctions leadership for manufacturers, technology companies, distributors, and life sciences firms. This focus ensured an immediate understanding of ITAR and EAR requirements, consent agreement obligations, and the leadership profiles that rebuild programs under government scrutiny.

Remediation Leadership Experience

Our firm has extensive experience recruiting executives who have led voluntary disclosure remediations and consent agreement programs, with a clear understanding of what regulators, special compliance officers, and independent auditors expect.

Multi-Role Compliance Execution

Our team specializes in running coordinated trade compliance leadership searches in parallel, ensuring the vice president and directors are selected as a complementary unit aligned to a single remediation plan.

Our Executive Search Strategy

Phase 1 — Remediation Plan Alignment

Our consultants partnered directly with the General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, outside counsel, and the special compliance officer to review the disclosures, consent agreement milestones, audit findings, and program gaps, defining four leadership profiles sequenced to the remediation timeline.

Phase 2 — Talent Identification & Mapping

Our research team performed an extensive talent mapping initiative targeting trade compliance, export controls, customs, and compliance technology leaders at aerospace, defense, industrial, and technology companies and advisory firms who had led documented program rebuilds. Over 340 executives were systematically assessed across these sectors.

Phase 3 — Confidential Candidate Engagement

Priority during outreach was given to leaders with a documented history of remediating ITAR and EAR violations, satisfying consent agreement requirements, centralizing classification and licensing across global operations, correcting customs valuation and origin practices, and implementing global trade management technology. Outreach was conducted under strict confidentiality. Only candidates meeting these strict performance baselines advanced.

Phase 4 — Selection Process

Finalists presented remediation plans to the General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and board audit committee, completed structured leadership assessments, and underwent reference verification focused on quantified remediation and regulatory outcomes.

Key Outcomes

• 340+ global trade compliance, export controls, and customs executive profiles mapped across North America.
• Successfully placed a synchronized leadership tier spanning trade compliance, export controls, customs, and compliance technology within five months.
• Cleared deemed export exposure within six months.
• Implemented a global trade management platform across 28 countries within twelve months.
• Passed both independent consent agreement audits with no significant findings.
• Preserved defense contract eligibility and closed the consent agreement early.