Pendra’s Experienced Advisors Help Investors and Private-Equity-Backed Management Teams Make Data-Driven Talent Decisions Throughout the Investment Lifecycle

Pendra Group (www.pendragroup.com), a leadership advisory firm focused exclusively on private equity, today announced its formal launch. Pendra partners with boards and management teams to build a shared understanding of what a company and its leadership team needs in order to successfully execute on the value creation plan.

The firm’s founding team – Danie Levy, Chris Nichols, Chris Trendler, and Mary Winn Miller – brings deep experience working directly with private equity sponsors and management teams on talent and organizational challenges at every stage of the investment lifecycle. With backgrounds as operating partners, operators, and advisors, they apply a pragmatic, outcomes-oriented lens to help leadership teams succeed.

The founding team said, “We couldn’t be more excited to launch Pendra at a time when the private capital industry has proliferated and matured, and the demand for human capital expertise is at an all-time high. By partnering with sponsors and investors at all stages of the investment lifecycle, we are able to apply our proprietary, data-driven approach to help our clients ‘know the knowable faster’ and strengthen the most important asset at every company – the people.”

Pendra’s work often begins during pre-close due diligence or shortly after an investment, where the firm deploys a structured approach to understanding talent and organizational fit to the investment thesis. In many cases, Pendra continues to support boards and sponsors on management team construction and succession planning.

Pendra’s offerings include:

• Human Capital Due Diligence: Engage with management during due diligence to better understand talent and organizational fit to the investment thesis, partnership expectations, and the executive team.
• Strategic Readiness Assessment: Gather management-led insights immediately post close or at a key inflection point to identify areas for talent and organization investment and ensure the team is set up for success.
• Management Team Construction: Conduct targeted assessments to evaluate executive candidates, develop current leaders, and build succession plans.
• Exit Readiness: Actively partner with management to understand how the company and leadership team are positioned both optically and tactically in the run up to exit.

About the Founding Team

Danie Levy: Danie works closely with private equity CEOs, investors, boards, and executive teams to improve company performance through data-backed talent strategies. She has assessed hundreds of C-Suite executives during pre-close human capital due diligence and partners with investment teams and portfolio companies around the world post-close. Prior to Pendra, Danie was a Principal and founding member of the Portfolio Talent team at The Carlyle Group. Prior to Carlyle, she worked with leadership teams on their most pressing strategic priorities at Boston Consulting Group and Goldman Sachs. She earned her MBA from New York University Stern School of Business and BA from Tufts University.

Chris Nichols: Chris is an experienced leadership consultant, P&L owner, and strategist. He works with private equity firms, portfolio companies, and executives to support value creation through the optimization of talent and organizational health. He has conducted 1,000+ executive assessments and coached numerous leaders working on their own professional development, including CEO-onboarding, CEO coaching, navigating board dynamics, and helping leaders build on their strengths. Prior to co-founding Pendra, Chris was a Partner at ghSMART, where he co-led the firm’s Organizational Effectiveness practice and, previously, the President of Ancos, a PE-owned company in the polymer industry. Earlier in his career, he led strategy efforts at WestRock, a Fortune 500 paper and packaging company, and was a consultant at McKinsey & Company. Chris has a BS in Mathematical Economics from Wake Forest University and an MBA from Northwestern Kellogg School of Management.

Chris Trendler: Chris brings deep expertise in strategy and talent development from years of working for major private equity firms, both in-house and as an advisor. Most recently he served as Head of Portfolio Talent at Madison Dearborn Partners, a leading middle-market PE firm, where Chris continues to serve as an Operating Executive. Prior to MDP, Chris was a partner at ghSMART, advising investors, CEOs, and boards on critical talent issues. He also was Vice President of Operations at Tallwave, a leading venture-backed accelerator, and was a consultant with McKinsey & Company. Earlier in his career, Chris worked in Washington, DC in law and public policy. Chris holds a JD from the University of Chicago Law School and a BA in Political Science from Brigham Young University. He currently serves as an independent director on the boards of MoneyGram and Great Gray Group.

Mary Winn Miller: Mary Winn is an experienced leadership consultant, talent operator, and assessor. Prior to Pendra, Mary Winn was a Senior Principal at ghSMART, where she worked with leaders and investors across North America, Europe, and Asia. Mary Winn also previously led talent operations at a high-growth agricultural company, Indigo, where she implemented large-scale talent growth and development initiatives and helped the business scale from 150 to 1,000+ employees. Earlier in her career, she led strategy efforts for the alternatives business at State Street, was a consultant at McKinsey & Company, and was a product leader at a human capital technology company, where she was a co-inventor of multiple technology patents related to skills assessment. Mary Winn holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Industrial Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. She is based in London.

About Pendra

Pendra partners with private equity firms and PE-backed management teams on talent and organization strategy. We help our clients know the knowable faster by building a shared understanding of what the company and leadership team will need in order to successfully execute on the value creation plan.

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