How to Hire a Chief Information Officer
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire a CIO who can run and modernise the technology the business depends on internally, connect technology decisions to business outcomes, and manage growing security and resilience risks — not just keep the systems running. Define whether the priority is running core systems, digital transformation, […]
Executive Title Levels: VP, SVP, EVP and the C-Suite
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerExecutive titles generally ascend from Vice President (VP) to Senior Vice President (SVP) to Executive Vice President (EVP), with C-suite titles (CxO) typically at the top, leading whole functions on the executive team. But the levels are not standardised — what a title means depends […]
What Is a Position Specification?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA position specification (or ‘spec’) is the detailed document that defines an executive role for a search — the business context, the mandate and challenges, the responsibilities, and the profile and experience sought. More than a job description, it aligns everyone on exactly what the […]
CMO vs Chief Growth Officer: What’s the Difference?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA CMO owns marketing — brand, demand, and how the business is seen and grows through marketing; a Chief Growth Officer owns growth as a broader, cross-functional mission spanning marketing, product, data, and commercial. The CMO leads a function; the Chief Growth Officer integrates several. […]
How to Hire a Chief Experience Officer
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire a Chief Experience Officer to own the end-to-end customer experience as a single, coherent responsibility — and be clear about what they own relative to marketing, product, and service. Look for a cross-functional leader who can align the whole organisation around the customer through […]
What Does a VP of Finance Do?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA VP of Finance leads and runs the finance function operationally — financial planning and analysis, reporting, budgeting, and often the finance team — usually with a hands-on, executional focus. Where a CFO owns financial strategy and sits on the executive team, a VP of […]
What Does a Chief Compliance Officer Do?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA Chief Compliance Officer ensures a business complies with the laws, regulations, and standards that apply to it — building and overseeing the compliance programme, advising on regulatory risk, and fostering a culture of integrity. It matters most in regulated industries and as businesses grow, […]
What Does a Chief Risk Officer Do?
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerA Chief Risk Officer owns how a business identifies, assesses, and manages the risks it faces — financial, operational, strategic, regulatory, and reputational — building the framework to understand risk and helping the business take the right risks well, not simply avoid them. It matters […]
How to Hire a Chief Merchandising Officer
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire a Chief Merchandising Officer who combines genuine product and customer instinct with analytical rigour on planning, pricing, and inventory — and match them to your retail model and challenge. Because merchandising decisions directly drive sales, margin, and inventory, this is a commercially critical hire […]
How to Hire a Chief Growth Officer
By Annabel Norman, Managing Partner · Norman Consultants The short answerHire a Chief Growth Officer where growth depends on integrating functions — marketing, product, data, and commercial — that would otherwise pull separately, and be clear about what the role consolidates and why. Look for a rare leader genuinely fluent across those functions who can […]
