Carried-Interest Talent-Governance Board Adviser

The mandate

A private-infrastructure manager must reallocate unvested carry after partner departures while establishing incentives for the next investment generation. Senior partners describe contribution through proprietary origination and realised deals, but portfolio stewardship, team development and risk intervention are less visible. Leaver treatment and vehicle-specific economics make headline percentages misleading. Independent directors need a repeatable talent-governance process before negotiations dominate allocation.

The adviser will help directors frame contribution evidence, future responsibility, retention need, succession and team consequences without calculating official waterfalls or negotiating awards. Advice must separate recognition for historic value from incentive for future work and avoid using personal influence as evidence. The board also needs transparent treatment of associates and operating professionals whose contribution enters partner narratives unevenly.

Three days monthly include contribution-case challenge, private chair counsel and written observations, plus six partner-remuneration or succession meetings over nine months. The adviser will respond within three working days to a departure or competing-offer case once management supplies verified terms. Partner submissions must use a common evidence format and declared relationships.

The adviser has no line or executive authority, cannot allocate carry, interpret partnership documents, value interests, negotiate leaver terms, appoint partners, solicit investors or vote. Directors, management, counsel and plan administrators retain those mandates. The adviser may question unsupported contribution and model talent consequences using counsel-confirmed rules.

The appointment lasts nine months and ends after allocation and succession decisions for the current cycle. One two-month renewal may be authorised for a delayed departure resolution after refreshed conflicts. Holdings, carry interests, fund investments, partner relationships, administrator mandates, placement work and prospective employment must all be declared; the chair will determine whether screened materials, abstention or appointment termination is required.

Why the board wants this voice

Carry creates long-duration retention and ownership but also magnifies hierarchy and bargaining power. Investment outcomes are team and market products, making individual attribution contestable. Independent talent governance helps the board compare evidence and succession impact without stepping into legal interpretation or official economic calculation.

What you will own

• Press directors to define contribution across origination, execution, stewardship, risk intervention, fundraising support and team development.
• Test historic recognition separately from future role, responsibility, retention need and succession value.
• Challenge attribution where market movement, team work, inherited assets or operating partners drove reported outcomes.
• Examine allocation effects across generations, functions, demographic groups, joiners, leavers and vehicle participation.
• Shape common evidence cases, declared conflicts, comparator discipline, dissent records and decision chronology.
• Probe leaver, vesting, dilution, reallocation and future-fund scenarios using rules confirmed by appointed counsel.
• Maintain a board talent ledger linking allocations, role expectations, succession commitments and later observed contribution.

Candidate qualifications

• Advised private-capital boards on partner talent, carried-interest allocation and succession across investment generations.
• Distinguished individual contribution from team, market, inherited portfolio and institutional platform effects.
• Evaluated partner retention and succession needs without allowing influence, hierarchy or competing offers to replace evidence.
• Worked with counsel and plan administrators while avoiding official calculation or document interpretation.
• Challenged powerful investment partners and protected less-visible operating, stewardship, risk-intervention and team-building contribution.
• Maintained independence from carry plans, partner groups, placement agents, fund investors and prospective roles.

Non-negotiables

• Can attend six Luxembourg, London, Paris or New York governance sessions during nine months.
• Will disclose carry, holdings, investments, partner, administrator, placement and prospective-employment interests.
• Brings board-level private-capital talent governance; fund economics advice without people depth is insufficient.
• Accepts no authority over allocation, calculation, legal interpretation, partner appointment, negotiation or fundraising.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe a carry allocation where realised deal attribution understated another leader’s contribution.
2. 49 words maximum. Which fund, partner or carry interest could require your recusal here?
3. 49 words maximum. How would you separate reward for historic value from incentive for future responsibility?