30 Executive Hot Jobs in 2008 Defined by the Subprime Showdown, Social Community, The New Big Three, BRIC-Based PE, The Uber Rich, Erasing the TMT Lines, Boards Under Duress, Money and the Environment.

CTPartners 2008 Hot Executive Jobs Released Today

NEW YORK -- CTPartners, the performance-driven executive search firm, today released its 13th annual list of hot executive jobs. The 30 hot jobs making the 2008 CTPartners list are categorized according to the driving forces that will change markets, corporate direction and investment strategies in the coming year.

CTPartners CEO Brian Sullivan said, "Next year jobs globally will be driven by good news and bad, from the growing ranks of the super-rich looking for wealth management, to the needs of businesses reeling from turmoil in the credit markets. As always, innovation is the best hedge in an uncertain economy, and we'll see it from new leaders in social community and digital media - and from perennial leaders continuing to reinvent themselves like Google, Apple and Microsoft. Overall, we see a diverse and promising executive jobs market for 2008."

The hot executive jobs for 2008 are listed below under a description of the forces driving hiring in key areas. Full job descriptions are available on request.

DRIVING FORCE: The Subprime Showdown

The credit crunch created by subprime mortgages was the biggest finance story of 2007, and its effects could spread significantly to global markets in 2008. Reorganizations and restructurings will drive demand for turnaround experts worldwide to move in and right floundering ships, not just in financial services and real estate but in retailers and other consumer-related businesses. Layoffs on Wall Street will continue to shake up management.

With Stan O'Neal out at Merrill, Charles Prince out at Citibank and others under pressure, Wall Street could see a new wave of leadership in 2008. John Thain taking over as CEO at Merrill signals a move toward more hands-on, operational CEOs who are proven risk managers. After years of profitable expansion in questionable areas, Wall Street wants chief executives with a deep understanding of risk to be involved in day-to-day business.

Fallout from subprime problems will keep hedge funds - and all financial services firms--on the lookout for other high-level executives to monitor, manage and mitigate exposure to risk. New disclosure rules and SEC probes into tax strategies all add to the pressure. Chief Risk Officers continue to be needed to deal with legislation and rules around money-laundering, patent and privacy issues. New regulations coming out of the mortgage lending crisis may add to the pressure on Chief Risk Officers at banks already laboring under existing compliance requirements.

Demand is also on the rise for alternative investment strategists to help banks pulling back from the mortgage market.

Hot Jobs in Financial Services:

1. CEO, operational and risk management background

2. Chief Risk Officer

3. CFO 

4. Alternative Investment Strategist

DRIVING FORCE: Social Community

When Microsoft and Google locked horns over a 1.6 percent stake that valued a three-year-old social networking startup at $15 billion, the digital media/Internet space moved from hot to blazing. Microsoft won this one, winning ad access to Facebook's 48 million subscribers. This and sites like YouTube and MySpace represent a huge, wide-open market for online advertising, marketing and access to consumer content. All things digital are driving hiring and will reach fever pitch in 2008.

With a phenomenon like social community, the talent is growing up at the same time as the industry. There are few experienced executives who know how to monetize the Internet for businesses trying to carve out real estate on the web. The demand for talent is global and ranges from ad sales and brokering to technology development and safety experts to protect identity and content. Generating revenue from the Internet is the biggest challenge, and executives who can do that are in highest demand.

Hot Jobs in Social Community:

5. VP, Community

6. Chief Revenue Officer

7. Head of Digital Media

8. Head of Internet Advertising Sales

9. Head of Advanced New Media Technology

10. President, International On-Line Initiatives

DRIVING FORCE: The New Big Three -- Google, Microsoft and Apple

By the end of the third quarter of 2007, Microsoft, Google and Apple were in the news every day. Record financials, new markets and new deals were the norm. Whether it was Google charging into ad brokering, social community and telecom, Apple's leadership with iPod and iPhone, or Microsoft's videogame success with Halo and its winning bid for a stake in Facebook, the Big Three continued to reinvent themselves, incenting competitors and partners to create new markets, products and services.

Microsoft's Q3 financials proved that big, established companies can surprise the markets with new growth. Google's $700 share price didn't spark cries of another Internet bust, and Apple followed the iPod with its next breakthrough, the iPhone. All three propelled themselves into new markets, making these billion-dollar entities hot companies to watch in 2008. They prove every day that innovation rules, and that billion dollar companies can be as quick and forward-thinking as startups. Where they walk, jobs will follow.

In technology generally, some well-entrenched titles - Data Security Manager, EVP Engineering and CTOs--are evergreen positions still in demand. CTOs particularly are strong as the alignment of tech goals to overall business goals calls for leaders who cross over from tech into finance.

Demand for tech leaders will be wide ranging in 2008, even if the sector is under pressure, because innovation is the only real hedge in the uncertain economy projected for 2008.

Hot Jobs in Technology:

11. Chief of Safety and Data Security Manager

12. Open Source Development Managers

13. EVP, Software Engineering

14. Chief Technology Officer

15. CEO, Life Sciences

DRIVING FORCE: BRIC-Based Private Equity

The private equity market is on the rise as Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) lead the battle for executives and entrepreneurs to build new markets and M&A opportunities. Globalization is a fact, not just a trend. Emerging markets all over the world will scramble for leaders of technology startups, and many will come from the U.S.

European private equity funds (with a strong sterling and very strong Euro versus the diminished dollar) are expected to go on a big buying spree in the US, especially in two industry sectors in deep pain right now: retail financial services and housing/home building. Overall, this will represent an opportunity for C-level executives in these sectors to lead roll-ups or newly created spin-outs.

Private equity firms, and possibly hedge funds, will hire executives who have been in operating roles with Fortune 500 companies to join their firms as Heads of Special Situations or Operating partners to work on turning around companies they take private through leveraged buyouts.

The private equity landscape changed in 2007 when Blackstone Group and Fortress went public and PE deals moved to new levels -- Blackstone's $20 billion purchase of Hilton Hotels and the $45 billion takeover of Texas utility TXU Energy led by KKK. By summer, uncertainty in capital markets over subprime mortgages dried up once-plentiful cheap debt, and analysts expressed concern about PE markets in 2008. Some major law firms have added bankruptcy attorneys over fears that expensive deals done in 2007 might not pan out.

One bright spot to watch for is alternative energy if U.S. oil prices hit $100 per barrel as projected. This space could become very attractive to private equity.

Hot Jobs in Private Equity:

16. Head of Consumer Direct

17. Head of Special Situations or Operations Partner

18. Bankruptcy Attorney

19. CEO, tech startup in emerging economy

DRIVING FORCE: The Uber Rich

Today in the U.S. there are 1.5 million millionaires and 363 billionaires. The percentage of millionaires is expected to grow from 3 percent of the population now to 10 percent in a decade and 20% by 2050. Worldwide in 2006 there were 9.6 millionaires worth $33.2 trillion, with the greatest increases occurring in China, Britain, Europe and the UAE, which on its own has nine times the global average for million-dollar households.

High-performing if volatile stock markets, the second coming of the Internet and Boomers with millions for retirement are driving the increase in private bankers and Heads of Family Office to customize wealth management services for this segment of the population least affected by the credit crunch. Financial services firms are building internal personal finance advisories to deal with the biggest financial services shift in history--Boomers moving from accumulation to de-accumulation of their wealth.

Hot Jobs in Wealth Management:

20. Head of Family Office

21. Private Banking Director

22. Financial Advisor, Financial Services Firm

DRIVING FORCE: Erasing the TMT Lines -- Tech, Media, Telecom

Consumers everywhere turn to their handhelds for email, the Internet, TV, video, music, pictures and phone, complete with advertising, all on one device. Mobile advertising could reach $12.8 billion worldwide by 2011, with Yahoo leading the pack in providing mobile Internet services to mobile operators in Asia. WiFi, especially for public safety, is proliferating. WiMax is next. The lines between media, telecom and the Internet have been erased, not just blurred. New business models have been created for carriers like AT&T from its relationship with Apple, and potentially for Verizon or Sprint when Google does a deal to tailor handsets to its new operating system. Media, telecom and tech companies will be hiring talent from each other for cross-discipline expertise. Demand is also growing for strategists and visionaries to see the next steps before Google leaps over them.

Hot Jobs in Telecom (Tech jobs listed above under Tech Trifecta, Media under Social Community)

23. City CIO/CTO

24. CEO, Wireless

DRIVING FORCE: BOARDS UNDER DURESS

The hottest seat on the board is on the Compensation Committee. Boards from Home Depot to Pfizer to Merrill have been under attack for high CEO pay packages. Faced on one side with the high market value of executives who have the talent and fortitude to take on the high-risk role of CEO, and on the other side with shareholders demanding a say on pay, the role of the compensation committee has never been more complex--or members harder to find.

In general, Director positions are in demand because CEOs are sitting on fewer boards than in the past, making it harder to find willing and qualified members. The job is more difficult, requiring more time and raising board members' concerns about liability. For Directors of mutual fund companies, the pressure is particularly great: in a recent survey by PNC Financial Services Group Inc., two-thirds of fund Directors said the role was tougher than it was a few years ago; 44 percent said the burden of board responsibility outweighed the compensation. To fill empty seats, boards in 2008 will look for highly-credentialed non-CEOs, especially CFOs and those with expertise in operations, external audit and marketing.

Hot Board Jobs:

25. Director, Compensation Committee

26. Director, Audit Committee

27. Non-CEO Director

28. Director, Mutual Fund Company

DRIVING FORCE: MONEY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

The economics of Green, or the newer term Sustainability, gave some needed heft to the environmental argument, the right push for corporations wanting to do the right thing but looking for the financial incentive. In 2007 GE, DuPont and Duke Energy led the Business Roundtable to lobby in favor of a cap on greenhouse gas emissions. Dow Chemicals pushed the U.S. Climate Action Partnership. GE continued its ecoimagination projects. The Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore added momentum.

The auto industry rolled out hybrids to limit carbon emissions. The hotel industry aggressively made changes all the way down to green carpet fibers and furniture to heating/cooling systems and energy to run equipment. Big Box retailers adopted solar energy. Ethanol had a brief boost then cooled, although alternative energy remains an attractive place for investment. Sustainability is the new buzzword as business and the environment are no longer opposing forces.

Hot Jobs in Sustainability

29. Corporate VP, Environmental Affairs

30. EVP, Government Relations.

Research Note:

In 2007, CTPartners' placement of senior-level executives increased nearly 100 percent from 2006. During the course of recruiting, we interviewed over 2,000 senior executives at Fortune 1000 companies; top-ranked and emerging multinational corporations; and high-profile, private and venture-backed companies on top-tier hiring needs. From those interviews, a list of top jobs in demand was compiled and reviewed by senior CTPartners' consultants. This list is not scientific and is meant only to be a leading indicator of jobs in demand.

CTPartners

CTPartners is the performance-driven executive search firm serving clients across the globe. Committed to a philosophy of true partnership with clients, the firm offers a proven record in C-Suite, top executive, and board searches, as well as private equity and venture capital services.

With origins dating back to 1980, CTPartners serves clients with a global network of more than 300 professionals offering unparalleled expertise in technology, media and telecom, financial services, life sciences, professional services, retail, and manufacturing.

CTPartners' focus is simple: Place the right executive in the chair. With a commitment to delivering exceptional performance, quality and results, its audited successful placement rate during 2006 was 80%. In 2006, the firm was the first in its industry to measure its candidate stick rate of 94%. CTPartners had an average days to placement in 2006 of 125 days, and 90% of their placements took an average of 101 days. These statistics are believed to be the highest in the executive search industry.

Methodologies used include state-of-the-art technology, such as ClientNet([TM]), a password-protected extranet service that renders a search transparent and facilitates client communications. Other tools include Candidate Central[TM], which shortens the recruitment cycle by efficiently engaging candidates, and a 40-day Audit[TM] process.

Headquartered in New York, CTPartners has offices in Bogota, Boston, Caracas, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbia, Geneva, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, Lima, London, Menlo Park, Paris, Singapore, and Washington, DC.