Ian Brenner
Senior Managing Director | Executive Search & Interim Management
Ian Brenner is a Senior Managing Director with the Executive Search & Interim Management practice at B. Riley Farber. With a human capital lens, Ian is focused on helping companies manage through the volatility and uncertainty inherent in both growth and distressed situations.
Ian’s calm and confident demeanor make him an ideal choice as a trusted advisor for businesses facing change and adversity. He supports his clients in many functional areas, including:
- interim management, for clients with short-term leadership gaps, or where supplementary resources are required, at short notice
- executive search services, for organizations seeking high-impact talent supporting and advising clients with respect to their Human Capital strategies
- strategic and operational, planning to help businesses grow in the near and long-term
- crisis and change management, for companies facing unexpected volatility
Ian has a deep network and a desire to connect the unconnected, adding sustainable value to companies and creating career opportunities for executives. He has personally managed numerous interim and permanent CFO, CEO, executive, and senior management searches; his focus on interim management and executive search emanates from his deep-seated passion to help talented executives find a role in which they can meaningfully contribute to a business’ long-term success.
Select client experience
- acted as Interim Manager for a highly profitable professional services firm undergoing an irreparable and acrimonious separation of shareholder management. Preserved millions of dollars of value and numerous jobs by maintaining the relationships with stakeholders through a transitional period
- retained by a law firm partnership to manage the orderly wind-down of the firm and work with partners on the exit strategy and practical go-forward business plan for the partners
- sourced an interim CFO for a municipality; supported the resource to deliver a go-forward business plan, worked with the CEO to build consensus around the long-term plan. Oversaw the hiring of the permanent CFO, facilitated the transition, enabling an efficient transfer of knowledge and responsibilities
Of interest...
- Ian joined B. Riley Farber in 2011, and was accepted into the partnership in 2014
- Ian has a passion for cycling that he also applies to his professional life. Learn more about it in his Faces of Farber profile
Additional experience
- developed and deployed a comprehensive compensation plan that more closely aligned the management team and key shareholders to the strategy of the business, leveraging the expertise of compensation specialists brought in by B. Riley Farber to expedite the process
- acted as interim leader for an automotive parts manufacturer on behalf of secured lender, to manage the exit of key executives and source a more experienced management team