PHILADELPHIA, PA — Executive search firm True has established a dedicated private credit practice to help lenders and investment managers replace corporate leadership during restructurings and ownership transitions, as rising default risks and competition increase pressure on the $1 trillion-plus lending sector.
The Philadelphia-based firm said the practice will be led by Rick Bank, managing director and head of its Private Credit and Private Equity Practices, formalizing existing work with credit-focused asset managers facing urgent executive hiring decisions.
The expansion comes as private credit investors confront a more challenging lending environment. According to PwC’s 2026 Global Private Credit Survey, 67% of portfolio managers identified increased competition as a factor affecting performance, while 64% cited defaults and credit losses.
Those pressures can create immediate management challenges when lenders assume control of financially distressed businesses.
Credit-focused asset managers may oversee portfolios exceeding 100 companies, each with different ownership structures, financial conditions and operational requirements. In some ownership transitions, investors may face legal requirements to change company leadership within 60 days.
True’s new practice combines permanent executive recruitment through True Search with interim and fractional leadership placements through TrueBridge, allowing investors to install temporary management while evaluating longer-term appointments.
“Private credit creates a very different talent question from traditional private equity,” Bank said. “That can mean solving for immediate stability while also identifying someone who can take the company through its next phase.”
The practice will recruit chief executives, chief financial officers, chief operating officers, chief human resources officers and board directors. It will also support investment and operational hiring within private credit funds.
True cited a recent restructuring assignment in which its interim executive platform identified a chief executive candidate within 15 days.
By the 35th day, the company’s board had offered the interim executive the permanent CEO position. True subsequently redirected its permanent executive search toward an independent board director appointment and later placed a chief technology officer.
The firm did not identify the portfolio company involved in that assignment.
Michael Bevacqua, head of restructuring at Bain Capital Special Situations, described the firm’s ability to assess candidates under compressed timelines as a central consideration in its work with True.
“Every candidate that came to us was fully assessed, vetted, and back-channeled,” Bevacqua said.
The private credit practice will also use market mapping, executive assessments and reference diligence to evaluate candidates against the financial and operational conditions of individual portfolio companies.
Sam McGrath, global general manager of True Search, said combining interim appointments with permanent recruitment gives investors more flexibility when immediate management changes are necessary.
The new practice extends True’s executive recruitment operations into a segment of alternative asset management where distressed investments and lender-led ownership transitions can require rapid changes in corporate leadership.
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