Stephen Dierks, Director, Head of Talent, fintech, joined the firm in 2021 and works closely with our fintech portfolio companies on talent initiatives.
Prior to joining Oak HC/FT, Stephen was a Senior Associate at Daversa Partners, a top executive search firm, where he built high performance executive management teams across some of the most successful technology companies in the world. Stephen partnered with leading organizations, such as Instacart, Plaid, and Talkspace, to provide strategic talent guidance.
Stephen received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing, Sports Management, and Leadership from Fairfield University, cum laude.
Growing up, I watched my father run our family business: a 100-year-old commercial HVAC company. In addition to other jobs, I spent my summers learning how to load a truck with a forklift, painting A/C units, and sweeping (lots and lots of sweeping). Most importantly, my dad taught me that strong businesses are built on strong relationships. And strong relationships are formed through trust, fairness, and respect.
This principle defines my work. Many recruiters see searches as a transaction and, as a result, forget to treat the “candidate” as a human. This has never made sense to me. I don’t see myself as a recruiter who needs to close someone and move on. My goal is to serve as a long-term advisor and a confidante, both to the companies and the executives with whom I work.
All CEOs make a bad hire at some point. You'll feel burned, but don't let that create indecisiveness or undue complexity for future hiring. Top talent can sense indecision and it can turn them off.
Before great hiring comes thoughtful org design. This is the most commonly neglected area. All the time and money spent landing the best candidates will have a much higher return if you set them up for success, by placing them in a team structure that makes sense for your scale of business.