Fran Helms is a member of the firm’s Technology, Communications and Media Practice. She focuses on addressing top talent needs at the crossroads of technology and entertainment, with an emphasis on recruiting executives to deliver consumer-oriented offerings that range from traditional consumer entertainment to new digital media platforms.
Fran has successfully completed searches for CEOs in addition to top functional leadership positions across the finance, sales, product, marketing, information technology, and other functions. Recent search experience includes assignments for a span of increasingly connected businesses that include consumer electronics; consumer Internet and mobile content; video games publishers; e-commerce; broadcast and cable TV networks; filmed entertainment; and suppliers of technology infrastructure to the industry. Fran also does significant work for private equity firms and their portfolio companies spanning media and technology.
Before joining Spencer Stuart in 2005, Fran worked for more than a decade at the intersection of entertainment and technology. Following an early career in product management for Apple, she played a key role in growing two leading-edge interactive television infrastructure and content businesses during a significant growth period for the emerging market segment. Fran was vice president of deployment services for one business prior to its sale to Tandberg, and separately played leadership roles across corporate development and marketing for Liberate Technologies, now owned by Comcast. As a key member of Liberate’s corporate development team, she helped take the company through a successful initial public offering that resulted in the highest growth from point of IPO for any company that year. Fran also chaired the first industry wide technology alliance focused on defining common Linux platforms for use on TV-enabled consumer devices.
Fran has lived and worked in the Northeast, the San Francisco Bay Area, and in Southern California, where she currently resides. Fran earned a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and her M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.