Spotlight: Ryan Krumroy on building his CFO recruiting practice at Charles Aris

Ryan Krumroy joined Charles Aris as an executive recruiter in 2006 and watched the company grow from 15 to 100 employees, while also helping usher in the firm’s private equity client base and building its CFO recruiting capabilities.

Krumroy served as a recruiter for 18 years before moving into his current role as senior associate practice leader, where he’s focused more specifically on expanding the firm’s CFO market presence for private equity-backed industrial products companies.

During his recruiting tenure, Krumroy carved out his niche as the go-to recruiter for challenging C-suite roles in unique (and overwhelmingly private equity-backed) businesses.

“Ryan is one of the most accomplished executive recruiters in his space and is part of the fabric of Charles Aris,” said Managing Director TJ Deal. “For him to step up and continue building our CFO vertical is a milestone moment for the firm.”

Looking back on how much the company and marketplace has changed since 2006, Ryan often draws on lessons from his early days as a generalist to continue serving as an effective recruiter and project manager.

Life as a recruiter at Charles Aris in 2006

Associates at Charles Aris functioned as generalists before the mid-to-late 2010s, at least until they developed enough expertise in one area to become more specialized in their search work.

Around 2008, Ryan began working with Jim Etling, a vice president and former CFO presiding over the private equity portfolio company recruiting team. The two quickly found a synergy that allowed them to develop and expand this vertical together.

In his 18 years as a recruiter, Krumroy played a key role in scaling the firm’s private equity clientele to encompass over half of the Charles Aris client base, where it remains today.

Download: Private Equity Compensation Report

The firm now serves private equity clients up and down the stack, from portfolio operations roles at the fund level to C-suite leaders, vice presidents and directors at their portfolio companies.

Read: Six things every CFO should know about private equity

Ryan stayed in his recruiting role as a right hand to Jim Etling until early in 2024, when the finance and corporate development recruiting teams decided to integrate their practices in a move that would redefine how Charles Aris serves clients.

Ryan Krumroy promoted to senior associate practice leader

Krumroy accepted his promotion after the finance, accounting and corporate development recruiting teams joined to form the Finance & Corporate Development Practice.

This move came after several years of increased alignment between these teams and their respective client bases, especially in the private equity world. In 2024, the firm determined there was a strong enough overlap to justify acting as one unified practice focused on recruiting CFOs and their direct reports.

Read: Charles Aris integrates finance and corporate development practices

After the integration, Ryan found it simpler to identify the exact market he would serve as a senior associate practice leader and leverage the team needed to do so. Today, he spends 100% of his time recruiting CFOs for private equity-backed industrial products companies.

“With his 18 years of executive search experience as an associate at our firm, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who is more knowledgeable and prepared to move into a practice leader role,” said Senior Practice Leader Josh Kotelnicki.

This move is possible because of Ryan’s near two decades of commitment to working on the most challenging roles at Charles Aris and because of the time he spent cutting his teeth on nearly 50 CFO positions, which are also notoriously difficult to fill.

“Placing CFOs for as long as he has for his private equity clients has resulted in Ryan knowing more about the private equity CFO position than most private equity CFOs,” said Jim Etling. “This promotion is earned and deserved, and in this new role his value to his private equity clients will continue to grow.”

The most important lessons from 18 years of CFO recruiting

Ryan has seen a heightened focus on companies utilizing CFOs to drive the operating direction, value creation and financial success of the business in recent years, which has proven a significant difference in the way that CFOs were utilized when he joined the firm in 2006.

Today, CFOs often serve as partners to the CEO and as the most critical growth advisors for the business, especially in private equity.

Read: Finance and accounting leaders – A strategic force

“These roles not only help business leaders see what cards they have on the table, they advise on how to best play the game,” Krumroy explained.

Also critical to his success, Ryan strives to learn his clients’ businesses from top to bottom so he can advise on which candidates are best positioned to deliver the needed results the client is seeking.

“The challenges are always different,” Ryan said. “It’s about understanding how the candidates are relevant to what’s happening in the client’s business.”

As he moves ahead in his new role, Krumroy will take his 18 years of tenure and create the number one private equity-backed industrial products CFO practice in the country.

To learn more, contact Ryan Krumroy directly at (336) 217-9129 or ryan.krumroy@charlesaris.com.