Follow-up · Oct 19 callSourcing and BD

Two weeks of mapping, done in a day.

A great slate is everything, and building one takes about two weeks of company-by-company mapping. Crustdata does the mapping: the comparable companies, who's in the seat, who's next in line, and how to reach them. We ran a first pass on the healthcare IT CFO search after the call: 38 comparable companies across Chicago and the Midwest, a CFO confirmed in the seat at every one, and 53 finance leaders next in line.

See the two uses ↓ What happens next
Live Crustdata pull · Oct 20, 2026 · each profile re-checked live
38
comparable healthcare IT companies mapped
91
CFOs and next-in-line finance leaders found
49
healthcare orgs posted their own CFO role in the last 30 days
1B+
people in our index, C-suite included
What I heard

The slate is everything. Building it shouldn't take two weeks.

Coming up with a great slate, because that's everything.
We usually take two weeks at least to really map out everything.
It'd be nice to focus more on the conversations versus the sourcing.
They try to do the search themselves, then they come to us, and so they're already behind.

The same search, today and with Crustdata

Today
  1. Find companies of similar size and scale, in the region
  2. Find the CFO at each one
  3. Find who's next in line
  4. Pull phone and email from ZoomInfo
  5. Reach out
About two weeksbefore the real conversations start. Close to 15 people at the firm do this work, and about 30 touch it.
With Crustdata
  1. Drop in whatever you have on the search: kickoff notes, the client brief, a scorecard
  2. Calibrate together for about an hour: the comp set, the must-haves, who's a stretch
  3. The map comes back: companies, who's in the seat, who's next, how to reach them
About a dayA first 20 in about an hour. A full, deep map in about 12 hours, running while you're on calls.
Two ways your team uses it

Sourcing for every search. BD for every partner.

Start with these two. Everything else can wait. This page shows companies and titles only; names, profiles and contact details come back in the pull.

01

A great slate, built in a day

SourcingRun it on your next search

Every search starts the same way: map the comparable companies, find who's in the seat, find who's next. We ran that first pass on the healthcare IT CFO search: 38 comparable companies, 15 around Chicago and 23 more across the Midwest, a CFO in the seat at every one, 53 more finance leaders one step down, and a work email on file for 78 of the 91. It works the same way for a health system CEO, a provost or a PE-backed CFO.

How it runs
  1. Drop in whatever exists on the role: the kickoff call, your notes, the client brief, a scorecard, a job description if there is one.
  2. Calibrate together for about an hour. Tighten the comp set, the must-haves and who's a stretch.
  3. Get the slate back with a reason on every name, plus work email and phone where we have them, and a talent map you can share with the client.

The slate gets built while you're on calls. The two weeks go back to the conversations.

→ Slate + talent mapEvery searchEvery practice
CFO search · a sample of the 91Oct 20, 2026
CompanyTitleIn seat sinceWork email
Strata Decision TechnologyChicagoChief Financial OfficerApr 2024On file
RLDatix North AmericaChicagoChief Financial OfficerJul 2020On file
RLDatix North AmericaChicagoSVP FinanceJan 2023On file
IMO HealthDes Plaines, ILChief Financial OfficerAug 2022On file
IMO HealthDes Plaines, ILDirector of FP&AFeb 2025On file
HealthJoyChicagoChief Financial OfficerApr 2021On file
ExperityMachesney Park, ILSVP of FinanceJan 2024On file
RedoxMadison, WIChief Financial OfficerJul 2026On file
ProvationMinneapolisChief Financial OfficerMay 2018On file
Vatica HealthMinneapolisChief Financial OfficerOct 2025Look up
A first pass from the description on the call, before we know the client. Name the client and its closest competitor, and the comp set tightens.
02

Know who needs a search before they call you

BDFor every partner

Clients often try the search on their own first, then call you already behind. Those moves show up in public before the call comes. In the last 30 days, 49 US healthcare organizations posted their own CFO role. In the last 90 days, 57 saw their CFO leave, and 26 of those CFOs have already started a CFO job somewhere else. The seat they left is a search. The CFO who left is a candidate.

How it runs
  1. Each partner picks the sectors and seats they cover: healthcare CFOs, health system CEOs, higher ed presidents, PE-backed leadership teams.
  2. Crustdata watches for the moments a search starts: an executive leaves, the company posts the role itself, or new funding comes in.
  3. A short list arrives by email or Slack each week: the company, what happened, and who to call.

You call while they're still deciding how to run the search. Not after they've fallen behind.

→ Email or SlackWeeklyA seat opens
Healthcare · seats opening now · a sampleOct 20, 2026
OrganizationWhat happenedWhen
La Rabida Children's HospitalPosted its own CFO roleSep 23
Colorado AccessPosted its own CFO roleOct 8
Orthopedic Associates (Dayton)Posted its own CFO roleOct 13
San Juan Regional Medical CenterPosted its own CFO roleOct 13
BAMSIPosted its own CFO roleOct 16
YesCare (Brentwood, TN)CFO leftAug 2026
Caravel Autism HealthCFO leftSep 2026
U.S. Renal CareCFO leftSep 2026
Some of these may already be Buffkin / Baker clients. For those, it's a heads-up that a new search is coming.
One more

Add the leaders you've placed to the same watch. When one moves, you hear about it first: their old seat is a backfill search, and the leader is someone you already know well.

Straight answers

The questions from the call.

Q1Does it cover C-suite and senior executives?

Yes. The index covers 1B+ people and 60M+ companies, built from public profiles, company sites, news and conference pages. Senior executives usually leave the biggest public footprint, so their records are among the richest. The CFO search above is a live example.

Q2Does it work with Crelate?

Yes. Crelate has an open API, so once it's connected, a slate can go straight into Crelate. Before that, you can export a slate and import it on day one.

Q3How long does a search take?

About an hour of back and forth to calibrate. Then a first 20 in about an hour, or a full, deep map in about 12 hours. It runs in the background while you do other things.

Q4What does it look like day to day?

A chat. Start a new session, type what you need in plain words, and drop in what you have on the search. You get back the slate, and a talent map to share with the client if you want one.

Q5Do we have to set up a new system?

No. We can have you running in about 10 minutes. Start by searching and exporting, and connect Crelate after that.

What happens next

Run it on a real search. Then decide.

Everything below came out of the call. No dates we didn't agree to.

The short version

Two weeks of mapping, done in a day. The time goes back to the conversations.

Sourcing for every search, and a heads-up for every partner when a seat opens in their market.

Grab time with Doug Reply to Doug