Within PE, it has become widely accepted that talent is a critical leading indicator of the future performance of a portfolio company investment. As a result, Operating Partners focused exclusively on talent strategy and management have become more commonplace across the industry.

In the first installment of Maestro’s Fireside Chat series, we sat down with two Human Capital Operating Partners – Ashley Day of FFL Partners and Emily Azevedo of Mainsail Partners – to discuss the state of talent in PE and ruminate as to how technology is transforming talent management, particularly in the wake of the pandemic.

Learn more about our Fireside Chat participants:

Amy Newlan is a Senior Vice President, Head of Client Development, with over 15 years of experience helping private equity professionals optimize the performance of their investments by leveraging technology solutions.

Amy spent the early part of her career at Portfolio Advisors, a private equity fund of funds, where she gained a deep foundation in private equity operations. She then moved to Sydney, Australia where she led the launch of J.P. Morgan’s Private Equity & Real Estate Services division in Asia. Amy returned to New York and joined iLEVEL in 2013, heading up the Americas Sales Team following Ipreo’s acquisition of the company.

As a versatile leader in the Fintech industry, Amy’s expertise spans relationship management, product management, operations, sales, and client service.

Emily is an Operating Partner and the Head of Talent. She joined Mainsail in 2016 and works predominantly on portfolio talent needs, including executive recruiting, leadership development, compensation and assessment. Prior to Mainsail, Emily spent 8 years in executive search, most recently at Heidrick & Struggles as an Engagement Manager in the Global Technology & Services Practice focused on executive level placements for Venture Capital and Private Equity backed portfolio companies.

Emily began her career in management consulting, where she engaged on several US-based cross-continental projects in India, China, Hong Kong and Brazil. She moved to São Paulo, Brazil and lived in South America for 5 years working in executive search across a variety of industries. Prior to repatriating back to the US in 2013, Emily served as the Managing Director for the Brazil subsidiary of Altimetrik, an IT multinational consultancy focused on ERP, cloud, and mobile app development. Emily holds a BA in Sociology from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from Ibmec São Paulo in Brazil.

Ashley Day, PhD, joined FFL in 2021. Ashley works closely with FFL’s portfolio companies advising them on all aspects of talent management including recruiting, compensation, succession planning, retention, team building, and performance management. Prior to joining FFL, Ashley was Chief Talent Officer for an NYC-based mid-market private equity firm. In this role, Ashley was responsible for the overall strategy for human capital development and talent assessment across the portfolio and at the fund level. Earlier in her career, Ashley was a member of the leadership and succession practice at Russell Reynolds Associates in New York. At Russell Reynolds, Ashley worked on a range of leadership assessment, development, team effectiveness and succession planning assignments for senior executives. Ashley received her Ph.D. / Master of Psychology from the University of Adelaide, Australia.