Gannett.Partners Launches Independent Founder & CEO Diligence, Bringing Deal-level Rigor to Leadership Decisions

Dallas-Based Firm Provides Boards, Investors & Family Offices Independent Evidence on the Leader, from Selection to Succession to Sale

DALLAS, TX, UNITED STATES, November 12, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Gannett.Partners, a Dallas-based independent leadership advisory firm, today launched Founder & CEO Diligence, an independent review that helps boards, private equity sponsors, family offices and other investors decide whether a company’s current or prospective CEO is the right leader for what the business needs over the next 12 to 18 months. Boards receive a recommendation in six weeks; investors get the same method on their deal calendar.

The service addresses a gap in many high-stakes leadership decisions. In a transaction, financial, market and legal risks are independently tested. Counsel reads the documents, quality of earnings rebuilds the numbers and commercial diligence tests the market. Decisions about the leader still rely largely on reputation, references and the judgment of people who have a stake in the outcome. Misjudging those decisions can extend hold periods, add transition costs and reduce returns.

The launch comes as owners of every kind revisit leadership more often. CEO turnover hit a record for the second straight year in 2025, according to Russell Reynolds Associates. Meanwhile, in AlixPartners’ 2026 survey of 427 PE leaders and portfolio company executives, 65% of PE firms reported replacing a portfolio company CEO during the hold. Additionally, family offices are increasingly investing directly in operating companies, taking on leadership decisions once left to fund managers.

“Every leader has seasons, and most are vetted once,” said Chris Gannett, founder and CEO of Gannett.Partners. “Owners are making more decisions about their leaders, more often, and too many of those decisions rest on references from people who have a stake in the answer. Most deals hold the assets to a standard of proof and the leader to a standard of impression. We hold the leader to the same standard as the assets.”

Alongside the launch, Gannett.Partners released The Standard of Impression, a white paper that introduces its CEO lifecycle model. The model maps four checkpoints when the job changes and owners are, in effect, making a fresh bet on the same person: a new bet or a new leader, a new team, a new plan or a longer hold, and a new owner. For the middle of a hold, the firm also offers a Mid-hold Review, and a Business Health Check that reviews the company and its plan without judging the CEO.

Founder & CEO Diligence is designed to work alongside, not replace, the advisors already involved in leadership decisions. It complements executive search, leadership assessment and background investigations, which surface legal and conduct issues but are not designed to determine fit for the job ahead. The firm’s independence rules are written into every engagement letter: it takes no equity, debt or other economic interest in companies it reviews, accepts no placement fees, and does not evaluate a leader it is coaching or has coached in the past year. Its fee does not depend on what it finds.

Gannett, who was named to D CEO’s Dallas 500 for the second consecutive year and featured on the cover of its 2027 edition, has spent more than 20 years in senior operating and investing roles, making high-stakes leadership decisions. He was CMO of CKX, the public company behind American Idol, through its $509 million sale to Apollo Global Management, later led a $40 million business at MediaMath, and has invested in more than 20 startups. He also writes Leadership, Underwritten, a newsletter on leadership decisions in the news, whose Mattel issue was featured by LinkedIn News.

The Standard of Impression is available at gannett.partners/standard-of-impression.

About Gannett.Partners
Gannett.Partners is an independent leadership advisory firm. It helps investors and boards back the right leaders, and helps those leaders grow. The firm provides Founder & CEO Diligence for private equity sponsors, family offices and boards and, separately, coaches founders and CEOs. Its diligence and coaching are kept apart: the firm does not evaluate a leader it is coaching or has coached in the past year. Based in Dallas, it works with leaders globally. Founder and CEO Chris Gannett has been named to D CEO’s Dallas 500 two years running. Learn more at gannett.partners.

Jacob Klein
Jake Ryan Consulting
+1 5163850959
jake@jakeryanconsulting.com

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