Leadership Advisory for Private Equity & Portfolio Companies

Leadership Risk Doesn’t Show Up on a Balance Sheet — Until It Does

Deal value is created and destroyed by the leaders running the company. We help operating partners and portfolio company executives close that gap before it costs you a return.

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Where We Help

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A young man with styled brown hair and light skin is sitting at a desk in a modern office, looking directly at the camera. He is wearing a dark blazer over a white shirt. There are black office chairs and large windows in the background, and the image is slightly tilted.

Pre- and Post-Close Leadership Assessment

Get a clear, candid read on the leadership team you’re inheriting or evaluating — strengths, gaps, and flight risk — before it’s a surprise.

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New Executive Acceleration

A newly placed CEO or functional leader has a narrow window to build credibility and traction. We compress the learning curve.

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Team Stabilization Through Transition

Ownership changes, restructuring, and aggressive growth targets put enormous pressure on leadership teams. We help keep your best people — and your culture — intact through it.

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HR Infrastructure For Portfolio Companies

Many portfolio companies are scaling faster than their HR function. We build the people-strategy backbone — from org design to leadership development — that supports the growth thesis.

Why This Matters To Your Return

Leadership and culture issues are consistently cited as a top driver of value erosion post-acquisition — and they’re the hardest thing to diagnose from a data room. We give deal teams and operating partners the kind of candid, on-the-ground leadership intelligence that doesn’t show up in due diligence decks.

How We Work With Deal Teams

  • Confidential by design — engagements are structured to protect sensitive conversations during diligence, integration, or restructuring

  • Flexible scope — from a single leadership assessment to an embedded advisory role across a portfolio

  • Direct communication with operating partners, not just HR — we speak the language of value creation, not just talent development

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FAQS

  • This work supports portfolio company leadership through the specific pressures of a PE ownership model — compressed timelines, aggressive performance targets, leadership transitions, and the need to professionalize operations quickly. It's typically engaged by the PE firm's operating partners or directly by portfolio company CEOs and executive teams.

  • The stakes, pace, and stakeholders are different. PE-backed leaders are often being evaluated against a value-creation thesis and timeline, sometimes by a board with less patience for a slow ramp. Coaching in this context is tightly tied to business outcomes — leadership effectiveness during an integration, executive assessment and readiness for scale, and building the management bench a firm needs before an exit.

  • New CEO or executive placement post-acquisition, leadership team integration after a merger or add-on acquisition, performance concerns with an existing leader the firm wants to develop rather than replace, and preparation of the leadership team ahead of a sale process.

  • Yes. Many engagements start with a leadership or team assessment to give the PE firm and portfolio company clarity on strengths, gaps, and readiness before committing to a coaching plan — ensuring the investment in coaching is targeted at what will actually move the business.

  • Karen Hilton holds a PCC (Professional Certified Coach) credential through the International Coaching Federation and is a SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP), backed by 30+ years of HR leadership experience across healthcare, technology, finance, higher education, and entertainment.

  • Most engagements start with a short discovery conversation to understand your goals, context, and constraints. From there, we recommend the right scope — whether that's 1:1 coaching, team work, career coaching, or an advisory engagement — rather than defaulting to a one-size-fits-all package.

  • Yes. While T.A.P. is based in Woodstock, Georgia, engagements are conducted virtually as well as in person, and clients span multiple industries and regions.

  • Pricing depends on scope — coaching engagements are typically structured as monthly retainers over a defined term, while advisory work can be scoped as monthly retainers or project-based fees depending on the complexity of the engagement. Specifics are discussed during the discovery conversation.

  • Healthcare (including physician and anesthesiology practice leadership), higher education, government and municipal agencies, and enterprise organizations across technology, logistics, and entertainment.

  • Reach out to schedule an introductory conversation. We'll talk through your goals, answer any questions, and map out the engagement structure that fits your needs.

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