Establishing Central Financial Leadership Across a Private Equity-Backed Architecture Studio Network

A private equity-backed architectural platform based in Lafayette, Louisiana, that acquires and operates design studios across the eastern US. Each studio kept its design leadership and local identity; the creative culture and founder relationships that made it valuable were protected by the acquisition. The platform’s role was to build the operational and financial infrastructure that would enable an expanding network of independent studios to work as a coherent business. At the time of this engagement, the organization was expecting to double in size over the next year through continued acquisitions and organic growth.  

The Director of Accounting was a brand new position. There was no one in the role, no defined function, and no existing processes to build on. The incoming director would report to the COO with a dotted line to the CFO and have functional accountability for the bookkeeping teams in every studio in the network.

The instruction was clear. Standard accounting policies and reporting formats across all studios. A monthly close executed by the tenth of each month. Eight weeks of forward cash flow visibility maintained at all times. And for each studio acquired, the accounting function needed to be embedded within two weeks of the close of the transaction. The executive team was very clear about what success looked like: no compliance issues, on-time closes without fail, seamless acquisition integration, and real-time, decision-ready financial reporting delivered to the CFO’s desk. 

The candidate profile needed equal accuracy. The incoming director needed real multi-entity accounting leadership experience, close discipline in decentralized team environments, and the systems thinking to migrate disparate entities onto standardized frameworks without impacting the studio cultures and founder relationships that the acquisition model relied on. The search was conducted in confidence and the identity of the client was only revealed at the time of formal candidate submission.     

Keller Executive Search focused the search on finance professionals with proven experience leading accounting functions at multi-entity or multi-location organizations, with particular emphasis on PE-backed professional services firms, architecture and engineering platforms, and other service-sector businesses that have decentralized financial teams requiring centralized oversight. The sourcing filter was the structural complexity of the role: candidates were tested for close discipline, reporting rigor, experience of integration, and the relational capacity to hold studio bookkeeping teams to account whilst operating credibly in an entrepreneurial, design-led culture.      

Keller Executive Search delivered a Director of Accounting with experience that matched both the operational scope and cultural fit for the position. The chosen Director had a background in leading multi-entity accounting, strong management discipline, and a history of building financial reporting infrastructure in decentralized teams. This proved to be a good fit, as the technical rigor and interpersonal range to work effectively across studios with distinct identities and founding relationships was a strong combination.