Mason Kummer is a Talent Associate at Oak HC/FT, working closely with our portfolio companies on all their talent initiatives.
Prior to joining Oak HC/FT in 2022, Mason was an Associate at Daversa Partners, a top executive search firm, where he built out executive management teams for disruptive B2B and consumer companies in the tech industry. He helped establish go-to-market teams for companies like Apollo GraphQL, Salt Security, Splitwise, Shippo and Sigma Computing.
Mason received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Supply Chain Management & Information Systems from Penn State University.
I found my first job in talent at a leading executive search firm. I loved close-out calls with founders, where we celebrated landing a candidate. But the best searches were with repeat founders, because we started with a real understanding of their business and what mattered most to them.
I joined Oak to build those deeper relationships with founders. The trust I saw between the firm and their CEOs was unmatched. I wanted to contribute to the long-term story of our companies, rather than just one paragraph of one chapter. It’s incredibly fulfilling that our relationships don’t end with one search and that, instead, we can move on to the next one together.
The best CEOs understand the importance of communication: up, down, and sideways. At a scaling company, bad communication is the default scenario. It is hard and exhausting to create and then constantly improve channels for your teams to communicate clearly with each other, across business lines and across functions. The best CEOs do it anyway.
When communicating with your team, stay transparent. Share both the good and the bad. Hold others accountable, but most importantly, hold yourself accountable. People will respect you for it.