Administrative procedures

What's the advantage of having a CAO aboard as opposed to having the chief financial officer handle administrative responsibilities?
Traditionally, the position has been handling a lot of the general management, the human resources and information technology facilities, investor relations, and a couple of different things, including communications and marketing and portfolio management and analysis. In the last year and a half, I have taken on responsibility for all of the fundraising. And within the last several months, I've given up the HR function to make time for more fundraising and other activities, in addition to working more closely with our European officers.

Before I arrived, the CFO had some of the responsibilities that I took on four years ago. But as the firm was growing, there was a need not only to separate and grow some of those functions, but also to add specific capabilities and functionalities because as we grew, we needed to develop.

As you look at more mature firms and larger firms, that's typically where you would see a CAO function. It allows more focus on the administrative side, but that being said, the CFO and I work really closely as a team on any number of areas, particularly when it comes to fundraising and fund administration.

How do you work with the firm's European branches?
Finance has always worked closely with the European offices, in terms of fund reporting and valuation issues and things of that nature. My areas are working very closely with them as well on reporting, fundraising and portfolio analysis. We are starting to do more on strategic sourcing and also applying the best practices that have been used in the US.

There is also an administration director in Europe as well as one in the US. The one here is more HR/IT focused. The one in Europe has that same focus as well as getting involved in reporting and tracking deal sourcing. Her job is the jack of all trades since they don't have a large administrative function on the ground. We now support them for marketing, strategic sourcing, portfolio analysis, reporting, and are helping them make sure it's all uniform.

To what extent do you work on the investment side?
I don't work on deals. But I do part of the portfolio analysis function. My team works with the companies, we visit the companies, and we do strategic sourcing that happens while a number of the deals are going on so we can assess what money can be saved. And we work on projects across the portfolio. Because we work closely with the companies on a number of things, we are also working closely with the transactors.

What is the role of technology at your firm?
I have worked closely on IT with our administration director for the last few months. The two founders have always viewed technology as a tremendous productivity tool. And they are always interested in seeing how technology can be used for people in our different offices to work together more efficiently. It's been a terrific management tool, particularly given thatwe do have eightoffices around the globe, to make sure people are constantly in touch. And thatspans from our weekly morning meetings where the whole firm is tied together by videoconference, to everybody having their blackberries and being very e-mail focused. That has been critical to the firm in terms of efficiency and development. We also work with an outside consulting firm who has staff on our sites 24 hours a day.

How important is a strong administration function to attaining good investment returns?
Good administration allows the transactors to focus on whatthey need to focus on. Itprovides timely and accurate and thorough communication with our investors. In fundraising, it's timely analysis and communications, and thorough discussions of the business. In terms of direct returns, with strategic sourcing and portfolio management, our real help to the companies is to save costs, and particularly given that we focus on small companies, we can have a fairly significant impact, making them more profitable.