About Exec Capital
Exec Capital is a specialist executive search practice founded by Adrian Lawrence FCA in 2018. We place CEOs, CFOs, COOs, CTOs, CMOs, Chairmen, and the full range of C-suite and director-level executives with UK businesses across every sector — on a permanent, interim, and fractional basis. Every search mandate is conducted on a retained basis and overseen personally by Adrian Lawrence, with a team of five experienced executive recruiters delivering the research, candidate identification, and assessment process that produces shortlists clients can act on with confidence.
About the Founder — Adrian Lawrence FCA
Adrian Lawrence FCA
Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) | Founder, Exec Capital | Founder, FD Capital | Good Business Charter accredited
Adrian Lawrence is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales — one of the most rigorous professional qualifications in UK business. He founded Exec Capital in 2018 and manages the practice’s executive search operations, overseeing every client mandate and setting the candidate assessment standards that the team applies across all searches. His background as a qualified finance professional gives Exec Capital a rigour in evaluating senior executives — particularly at CFO, CEO, and C-suite level — that generalist recruiters cannot match. He also founded FD Capital, the UK’s leading specialist in fractional and interim Finance Director and CFO placements.
Our Executive Search Team
Exec Capital’s five-strong team of executive recruiters brings experience across technology, financial services, professional services, private equity, and the broader C-suite and director-level executive market. Each recruiter specialises in specific functions and sectors, enabling Exec Capital to conduct focused, research-based searches that produce shortlists of genuine quality rather than high volumes of loosely matched candidates.
Explore the Practice
Senior Recruitment Across the Group
Browse the principal Exec Capital practice areas, specialist search services and the wider recruitment, sector and resource pages across the site.
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Practice Areas
Our four core practice areas spanning the senior recruitment market.
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Specialist Searches
Niche search where sector or situational specialism is the primary requirement.
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Browse the Site
Hub pages indexing the full recruitment services, sectors and senior search offering.
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Resources
Senior leadership reference content, locations of operation and the candidate-side route in.
Looking for something specific? Adrian Lawrence FCA leads every senior mandate personally.
Every search mandate is overseen by Adrian Lawrence, who reviews the brief, approves the candidate assessment approach, and signs off the shortlist before it is presented to clients. This governance model combines the breadth of a team-based search capability with the quality standards of a founder-managed practice. Clients deal with their lead recruiter throughout the search process, with Adrian available for briefing conversations, candidate assessment review, and any point in the process where his specific expertise adds value. Find out more about our team.
Why Exec Capital Was Founded
Exec Capital was built on a specific observation: the executive search market served large businesses well but left mid-market and growth-stage UK businesses — those between £5m and £100m revenue — underserved. The largest search firms assigned junior teams to mandates outside their priority tier. Contingency recruiters sent CVs rather than conducting genuine retained searches. And generalist firms lacked the sector depth to assess C-suite candidates credibly against the specific requirements of each mandate.
Exec Capital was founded to close this gap — delivering retained executive search quality for the businesses that most need strong CEO, CFO, COO, and C-suite appointments: PE-backed companies, growth-stage businesses, and founder-led companies making their first professional executive appointments.
Our Approach to Executive Search
Every Exec Capital mandate is conducted on a retained basis. Retained executive search — where the firm is engaged to conduct a specific, research-based search — produces materially better appointments than contingency recruitment, where firms present available candidates and charge only on placement. The retained model aligns the search firm’s accountability with the client’s outcome.
The Exec Capital process begins with a structured briefing conversation — typically same-day or next working day — that establishes the business context, the mandate scope, the candidate requirements, and what a successful appointment looks like at twelve and twenty-four months. From that brief, the team conducts research-based candidate identification — approaching specific executives whose track records match the mandate requirements, assessing them against the brief, and presenting a shortlist typically within three to seven working days.
This is not a posting-and-screening exercise. Candidate assessment covers verified track record in comparable businesses, commercial outcomes delivered, leadership capability, cultural fit, and the specific requirements of the mandate — not generic executive competency frameworks.
Specialist Practice Areas
Where We Recruit Most Often
Four specialist practice areas where Exec Capital runs the most senior search activity — each with role-specific service pages and a paired set of Knowledge Centre guides covering the substantive thinking behind each appointment.
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Family Office
Senior appointments at single family offices, multi-family offices and private wealth structures.
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Private Equity
Senior appointments at PE firms and portfolio companies across the deal cycle.
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Technology & AI
Senior technology, AI and digital leadership appointments across the C-suite and senior director tier.
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Turnaround & Restructuring
Senior leadership for turnaround, restructuring and transformation situations where pace and commercial confidence matter.
Every senior mandate is led personally by Adrian Lawrence FCA.
Browse all recruitment services → · Tell us about your hire →
The Exec Capital Group
Exec Capital operates alongside three specialist sister practices, each led by Adrian Lawrence and focused on a specific area of executive leadership:
FD Capital — The UK’s leading specialist in fractional and interim Finance Director and CFO placements. FD Capital has placed senior finance leaders with hundreds of UK businesses on a fractional, interim, and permanent basis since 2018.
NED Capital — Specialist Non-Executive Director and Chairman recruitment for UK boards across all sectors and ownership types.
Acc Capital — Specialist accounting and finance recruitment, placing qualified accountants, financial controllers, and senior finance professionals across the UK.
Published Research
Published Research
Adrian Lawrence has published academic research on fractional financial leadership and its role in UK business growth, available on ResearchGate:
- The Evolution of Fractional CFO Leadership in Modern UK Businesses — March 2026
- The Strategice Role of Interim Executives — co-authored with academic collaborators
- Independent Oversight and Strategic Value: An Empirical and Conceptual Analysis of Non-Executive Directors Jan 2026
These publications reflect Adrian’s commitment to advancing understanding of senior finance leadership models in the UK market.
Knowledge Centre
Senior Manager Function (SMF) Hiring Guides for FCA-Regulated Firms
The Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) places personal accountability on designated Senior Manager Function holders at FCA-regulated firms. Every SMF appointment — CEO, Chair, CRO, Head of Internal Audit, and the committee chair functions — requires FCA individual approval before the role is taken up. The guides below cover each SMF role in depth: the regulatory requirements, the candidate profile, the search process, and the specific fit-and-proper assessment considerations that regulated firm boards and nomination committees must work through.
Executive SMF Roles
- SMF Roles: A Complete Guide
SMCR overview, firm classification, all SMF designations - SMF1 — Chief Executive
Form A approval, Statement of Responsibility, fit-and-proper assessment - SMF3 — Executive Director
Board-level executive director under SMCR; stacking with SMF24 and SMF4 - SMF4 — Chief Risk Officer
Second-line independence, FCA approval, regulator engagement - SMF5 — Head of Internal Audit
Third-line at FCA-regulated firms; ICAEW/ACCA/CIA/CMIIA qualifications - SMF24 — Chief Operations
COO/Chief Operations holder; operational resilience, third-party risk
Non-Executive & Chair SMF Roles
- SMF9 — Chair
Personal accountability, possible FCA interview, candidate pool and tenure - SMF14 — Senior Independent Director
Four core SID responsibilities, when activated, the chair-SID dynamic - SMF10 — Chair of Risk Committee
Chair-CRO dynamic, FCA pre-approval, candidate pool and fit assessment - SMF11 — Chair of Audit Committee
ICAEW chartered accountancy credentials, audit committee chair scope - SMF12 — Chair of Remuneration Committee
FCA Remuneration Code governance, exec comp oversight, candidate profile - SMF13 — Chair of Nominations Committee
Board diversity, succession planning, nominations committee scope
Accreditations and Standards
Exec Capital is accredited by the Good Business Charter — a recognised standard for responsible business practice covering fair pay, employee wellbeing, environmental responsibility, and ethical conduct. Exec Capital adheres to the UK government’s executive search code of conduct, which promotes transparency, fairness, diversity, and professionalism in senior executive appointments. Exec Capital is also a supporter of Tree Nation‘s reforestation programme.
What Our Clients Say
“Adrian worked with us as our Fractional CFO for six months and we are genuinely grateful for the contribution he made. His financial expertise and calm, professional approach gave us confidence in our numbers and supported better decision-making across the business. I would recommend Adrian and Exec Capital without hesitation.”
Josh Haugh — MAS Technicae Group (International) Ltd, West Sussex
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Exec Capital conducts retained executive search for UK businesses across all sectors. Permanent, interim, and fractional C-suite and director-level appointments. Shortlist typically within 3–7 working days.
Our Executive Search Services
C-Suite Recruitment
Director Recruitment
Interim Executives
Fractional Executives
Specialist Search
Sister Practices
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