Ed Bagdasarian, CEO of Intrepid, recently participated in the CFO & CEO Leadership panel alongside other leading CEOs who discussed how companies could remain resilient and plan for growth in uncertain times.
Ed shared his thoughts on some pressing questions facing companies today. Topics included talent recruitment and retention, organizational structure and business model changes business owners need to make, and how some companies have been impacted and the solutions they found for growth post-pandemic.
Ed explained the ways Intrepid ensures connectivity retention and culture within the firm over the past year. “Retention and morale are something that you do every day. It is how you treat people, how you care about them. Every day it is about the culture you create,” said Bagdasarian. “When my partners and I started our business, we were not professional managers, we did not know much about HR, but we wanted to create a situation and environment that we would be happy to work in. So, we built a culture that fosters bonds throughout the entire firm.”
“One of the ways we create cohesion in the firm is we give our bankers a lot of buy-in as to who we bring on. Before we hire senior bankers, we have our junior bankers interview them and, if they don’t like them, we don’t hire them. We hold regular meetings where we listen to employee concerns,” remarked Bagdasarian.
Further commenting: “We have Fridays with a teammate, where one senior banker does a fireside chat with whoever wants to show up online. Really, it is the older tribesmen teaching the younger tribesmen through storytelling. We offer a family environment that cares. It is really easy to leave a company, but it is much harder to leave a family.”
Currently, Ed is responsible for setting and executing the firm’s vision. His priorities include creating a winning culture and recruiting top talent who embraces the firm’s values. In addition to leading the firm, Ed manages client relationships and oversees the execution of key advisory mandates.
“We saw some companies go on the offense, acquire smaller competitors. We helped many clients team up with institutional capital to embark on a buy and build strategy. Why is that important? Everything equal, larger companies are valued at a higher exit multiple than a smaller company. Scale does matter in M&A. We also saw many companies build their digital delivery capabilities and adapt their models to compete in the digital economy,” said Bagdasarian.
Ed’s professional career spans more than three decades and his accomplishments include helping build two preeminent middle-market M&A advisory firms, overseeing their sale to two of the largest financial institutions in the world, and advising some of the leading entrepreneurs and middle-market companies in defining M&A and capital transactions.
Intrepid congratulates Ed for his leadership and commitment to our clients!
To watch the panel discussion, click here.