Member Article

New CEO for global business group Shirlaws

The international Shirlaws Group, a portfolio of companies that works with private enterprises across the globe, has announced Jack Cohen as its new Group CEO.

Jack Cohen (59) joined Shirlaws as a global partner in 2015, and in the new role will lead the next phase in the evolution of Shirlaws Group, expanding its vision to be the trusted, contemporary adviser to existing and future clients, accelerating their progress and helping them on their ‘Grow, Fund, Exit’ journey so that they realise their life’s work.

He takes over as Group CEO from the organisation’s co-founder Darren Shirlaw, who launched the business in Australia in 2009 and has spearheaded its international growth strategy.

Today, Shirlaws has operations in eleven territories globally, including North America, Australasia and the UK, with a network of over 200 professionals. Through a combination of training, consulting, coaching, mentoring, facilitation, and a transaction execution arm (Assay Advisory), the combined Group provides senior executives and business owners with the funding and foundations for sustainable growth and eventual sale of their business.

Commenting on his appointment as CEO, Cohen says he will take an inclusive ‘one company’ approach for Shirlaws’ three inter-dependent business units – corporate finance, growth capital, and consulting:

“Shirlaws’ focus will be on successful outcomes for our clients through the ‘one company’ approach across our consulting, growth capital and corporate finance teams, which will drive our performance, and in turn, substantially grow our shareholder value.

“The Group’s abundant resources, skills and knowledge are clear, particularly in terms of our IP, culture and capabilities, and I intend to deploy these effectively and efficiently to the benefit of all the individuals and businesses we work with.”

As Shirlaws Group CEO, Cohen will work closely with Shirlaws’ senior team - Andrea Dean (Chief Operating Officer), Brian Kemp (Chief Financial Officer), Phil Ives (Group Head of Sales), Stuart Wilson (Group Head of Marketing), Tracy Gravesande (Head of Product/Learning), Darren Chidgey (Group Corporate Risk Manager), Mike Simson (Group Head of Corporate Finance), Richard England (Group Head of Capital), Darryl Bates-Brownsword (Group Head of Consulting) and Dani Saveker (CEO, Families in Business).

US-born Jack Cohen began his career at Cohen Financial in 1981 as a loan originator. He went on to lead the firm as CEO for 25 years, and during his 34 years at the business, spearheaded a highly effective expansion strategy that included recapitalising the firm six times between 1998 and 2013. He holds both a M.S. in Construction Management and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University, and a B.A. from Claremont Men’s College. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Pitzer College; has taught classes at the Claremont Colleges and Northwestern; and is an active leader and member of several industry trade associations where he is also often a speaker, moderator, trainer, and keynote.

Shirlaws’ founder, Darren Shirlaw, remains involved as a world class coach, public speaker and trainer, and now heads the Shirlaws Foundation that is focused on supporting individuals and their families in private enterprise, especially businesses with revenues under £1 million.

The Shirlaws Group is a portfolio of companies that advise private enterprise on how to grow, fund and exit their business in order to enjoy their life’s work, and its specialist division Families in Business (FiB) is focused on aligning relationships and helping family enterprises to progress. For more information, visit: www.shirlawsgroup.com, and follow @shirlawsgroup on Twitter.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Families in Business (FiB) .