[Private Equity Series] Building Success and Diverse Leadership With Vivian Gonzalez

Vivian Gonzalez is the President of Park Capital Search, a global finance and accounting executive search firm that helps organizations — from private equity-backed companies to public corporations — build senior leadership teams in areas like finance, accounting, data science, and business analytics. With a focus on retained, C-suite and functional leadership assignments, Vivian spearheads senior-level placements that shape the operational health and strategic direction of client organizations. Vivian is a recognized member of CHIEF and contributes thought leadership on efficient and transformative hiring practices for today’s rapidly evolving economy.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [04:51] What private equity sponsors ask before hiring an executive search firm
• [06:45] Why Vivian Gonzalez’ hands-on approach reduces search timelines and improves outcomes
• [07:58] How Park Capital’s dual search model supports both C-suite and mid-level hires
• [09:51] Vivian’s decision to launch her own firm after two decades without ownership
• [11:18] How gymnastics and a childhood hearing impairment shaped Vivian’s resilience
• [13:42] The impact of growing up in an immigrant household on Vivian’s drive
• [16:11] How Vivian instills grit and humility in her children
• [22:25] How a VP of finance landed a CFO role and seven-figure exit
• [34:45] The top traits Vivian looks for in candidates: grit, humility, and fire

In this episode…

Executives stepping into private equity roles often face overwhelming expectations, vague performance goals, and high-pressure environments. Many leaders don’t receive clear guidance on negotiating equity or navigating the cultural shift that comes with PE-backed companies. At the same time, firms risk costly mis-hires by failing to define tactical needs during the hiring process. How can both sides align to build strong leadership teams that scale effectively?

According to Vivian Gonzalez, a seasoned executive recruiter, success begins with clarity, communication, and advocacy on both ends of the hiring table. Firms must set expectations early and look beyond credentials to assess mindset, humility, and grit. Candidates, meanwhile, benefit from partners who help them package their experience, position their value, and negotiate for long-term upside, including equity. With the right match and support, executives can step into transformative roles that accelerate both personal and business growth.

In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz interviews Vivian Gonzalez, President of Park Capital Search, to explore how executive search drives successful outcomes in private equity-backed companies. They discuss what sponsors really want in C-suite talent, how candidates can break through career ceilings, and why humility and grit are often stronger indicators of success than titles. Vivian also shares stories of executives who turned career stagnation into seven-figure exits — and how her immigrant upbringing and background as a competitive gymnast shaped her leadership journey.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Vivian Gonzalez on LinkedIn
• Park Capital Search
• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
• The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren
• The Path Made Clear: Discovering Your Life’s Direction and Purpose by Oprah Winfrey

Special mention:

• Keith Burns on LinkedIn

Related episodes:

• “[Private Equity Series] Building Enduring Businesses With Keith Burns” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[Top Giver & PE Series] Mastering M&A Networking and Deal-Making With Lou Sokolovskiy” on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• “The Engine Behind Growing From 9 To 60 Healthcare Clinics With Peter Cunningham, Founder and CEO of Evolve Healthcare Marketing” on the Inspired Insider Podcast

Quotable moments:

• “It’s good to be uncomfortable. I got uncomfortable, and now I ask myself every day, ‘why didn’t I bet on myself sooner’?”
• “I make sure I remember every day it doesn’t matter how successful I am, I’m still that girl with a twin mattress on the floor.”
• “Having this career for 25 years and the grind does not compare to being a parent. It’s the hardest job anyone will ever have.”
• “You’re going to end up with quite a few more gray hairs at the end of it, and you should be compensated for it.”
• “The humbleness and the fire always ends up with success.”

Action steps:

1. Build grit through challenging experiences: Activities that demand perseverance, like sports or tough projects, help build mental toughness and strengthen commitment to long-term goals.
2. Focus on humility and gratitude: A humble attitude and appreciation for opportunities lay the foundation for growth, inspiring sincere leadership and a positive work culture.
3. Seek mentorship and networking opportunities: Building relationships with experienced professionals offers guidance and support while opening doors to opportunities aligned with one’s goals.
4. Embrace flexibility and adaptability: Embracing change and adapting plans fosters resilience and enables individuals to navigate challenges and seize new opportunities.
5. Define personal success and set tailored goals: Creating a personalized plan that aligns with strengths, commitments, and aspirations supports meaningful achievements and a sustainable work-life balance.

Episode Transcript

Intro: 00:15

You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr. Jeremy Weisz.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 00:22

Dr. Jeremy Weisz here, founder of InspiredInsider.com where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders. Today is no different. I have Vivian Gonzalez. You can check them out at ParkCapital.com. And Vivian, before I formally introduce you, I always like to point out other episodes of the podcast people should check out, since it’s part of the top private equity series.

I have to mention Keith Burns, Keith Burns big shout out to Keith Burns and what he does. That’s how we met. You’ll talk a little bit about how you met Keith, but he talked about building enduring businesses and Keith discusses how he grew one of the largest medical physics companies in the US, shares lessons from teaching entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago and much more. There’s another one ​Lou Sokolovskiy mastering M&A, networking and deal making. Actually, he may be a good person for you to know, Vivian. That was an interesting episode. And then Pete Cunningham, he’s more the engine behind growing healthcare clinics. He grew one healthcare kind of conglomerate from 9 to 60 healthcare clinics with his marketing, and they’re usually PE backed, and they want to put some marketing dollars behind it and specifically in healthcare. So that was a great interview as well. Check out more on InspiredInsider.com. 

And this episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25, we help businesses give to and connect to their dream relationships and partnerships. We do it in two ways. One, we’re an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. We do the strategy, accountability and the full execution and production. 

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So we kind of call ourselves the magic elves that run in the background to make it stress free and easy for a company to build amazing relationships. And I’ve found no better way over the past decade to, one, profile the relationships I have and share with the world that they’re working on the podcast and send them sweet treats in the mail. So check everything out Rise25.com or email [email protected].

I am super excited to introduce Vivian Gonzalez, the president and founder of Park Capital Search. Park Capital Search is a nationally recognized executive search firm serving private equity backed and Fortune 100 companies. 

You know, she’s a leader known for delivering high impact executive placements and championing diverse leadership across industries. She’s also a facilitator member of Chief, which is a private membership network focused on supporting women leaders. I want to talk about her mission success cycle as well. Vivian, thanks for joining me.

Vivian Gonzalez: 03:14

Jeremy, thank you for having me. And additional shout out to Keith Burns, fantastic human, present dad, and successful CEO. So I can’t say enough great things about him.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 03:28

You worked with Keith professionally.

Vivian Gonzalez: 03:32

I did. You know that’s part of what we do and why my job is so much fun. He was my client. He was the CEO, had recently gone through partnering with private equity. It was his first experience and we got to know each other just from, you know, educating on why private equity is a great partner and you know how to manage that partnership and leverage it. And that’s really part of what makes this so different here is we’re not just representing the private equity sponsors. We really care about collaborating with the founders and making sure that they feel heard and they’re a part of that long term goal.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 04:25

I know one thing you do, I mean, you come in private equity. You know, they want to build out a broader team. They want to grow. So I feel like you may get a set of questions from private equity. And then you come on and you get a whole set of questions from the maybe founder CEOs. Okay. So maybe let’s start with private equity, before they bring you on, what kind of questions are they asking you to see if it’s a fit?

Vivian Gonzalez: 04:51

Sure. So, you know, private equity sponsors, they’re all different. They have a different approach. Some really have minority investments in their portfolio companies. Some own them 100%.

So it’s really important for them on what that approach lines up ,right ,with what their investment positioning is. So we talk through that. We talk through what industries in particular Park Capital tends to lean into. And frankly, while we’re agnostic, it tends to really follow the market trends similar to Keith’s success and professional services and healthcare that has been a big piece of our model is the healthcare industry. There’s a lot going on there, and it’s a lot of fun to see these PE sponsors and founder scale. 

But going back to the question, you know, the sponsors. They want to know that we understand what it is to partner with them. We know what the expectations are with the deliverables, which certainly are high, and we enjoy meeting them. It’s not a Monday through Friday 9 to 5 job. You know, right now we’re working on a big transformation. And I have a standing call Tuesday evenings at 6:30. I’ve got calls that happen to be on the West Coast or Europe. So we work around what the client’s needs are.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 06:35

What are the reasons, I mean, they bring you on? What are they looking for? I mean, there’s probably a slew of reasons, but what are some of the ones why they are calling you?

Vivian Gonzalez: 06:45

There’s a lot of competition. There’s no doubt in what I do. I think why they call me is I’ve done this 20, 25 years. So that shows my age right there. They like the timeline.

There are a lot of competitors that tend to have 3 to 5 different people involved in a process. Most of them have their front facing person being someone like me, and then the rest of them are these young new grads. And I believe in really leading the whole cycle of the process. There’s a value there. And not only value in making sure that we’re ticking all the boxes, but really the timeline many times is cut in half because who’s executing the whole process is me.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 07:42

I know you mentioned niches and you serve a variety of niches from, you know, professional service to healthcare and more. What types of positions are people wanting you to fill within the kind of private equity sphere?

Vivian Gonzalez: 07:58

So we have a unique model here at Park Capital. We have a retained search practice, separate team, that’s what they do all day. And then we have a contingent search practice.

Again, most firms don’t do it that way. We did that with purpose. So our retained practice really focuses on C-suite CFO, CEO, COO, chief commercial officers, really the drivers of the business. Do they need to scale that? And then we got to a point where we realized, you know, it’s wonderful to scale and build the C-suite, but then we want to make sure that they’re successful in their roles. How can we help and lean into them? We place them. 

So we keep that relationship going and really bridge the gap and pass the relationship to our contingent team. They partner with those C-suite and use our model. Also use our intel on how the process worked, what the culture is, what we know so far through all our experience and placing the teams under them. So it could be a director of accounting, it could be a controller, it could be, you know, capital markets, chief of staff. There’s so much that people don’t see that go on behind the scenes and building and scaling that it could be a make or break. So we try to make it smooth, easy and collaborative.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 09:43

What you know, I know you’ve been doing this a long time. What made you decide to launch your own?

Vivian Gonzalez: 09:51

You know, my husband teases me all the time and tells me that I needed to have training wheels and now the training wheels, I’ve taken them off. And he’s right. I did this for 20 years working for other companies. Top performer in those companies, but never really had any form of equity or ownership. And I felt like that was missing. 

So my kids were in high school and I said to myself, I’ve got to take the leap now or never. I did, I think many people don’t do it because of the fear behind it, but it’s good to be uncomfortable. So I got uncomfortable, and now I’m in a position where I tell myself every day, why did I do it sooner? Why didn’t I bet on myself sooner?

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 10:50

What’s been, you know, you are a competitive person. Okay. Your background is pretty incredible. As a competitive gymnast. So one of those moments, because you take that same thing with obviously what you do at Park Capital Search. So talk about one of the things you had to overcome as a competitive gymnast, because I know you had a slew of injuries.

Vivian Gonzalez: 11:18

I did. You know what people don’t know, and Jeremy, I’m sure you probably don’t know yourself. My parents put me in gymnastics with purpose. I was six years old at the time and they had just found out I was deaf and one of my ears, so I can only hear out of one ear.

And at that time, you know, doctors said we need to put her in a special school. And my parents just refused. So they decided if we put you in a sport, you’ll learn what you’re weak in and what you’re strong in. And then maybe that will really be a parallel to what you deal with every day. So as a gymnast, a lot of it is mind. 

It’s psychology. Your body is capable of doing so much. But what is your mind willing to do? I had multiple injuries. Seven discs that needed to be fixed in my neck, had neck surgery, had multiple broken noses, multiple broken fingers and toes. 

And many of those times I just power through it because it’s mind over matter. And I think that’s a big part of why, frankly, I loved hiring and partnering with former athletes. I do think there’s something that you learn. There’s a muscle that you build separate from the muscles you’re using and that, you know, whatever athletic positioning it is, you’ve got to learn that mind over matter. And in business, your mind can take you through some rabbit holes that you never thought. 

And how do you push through that to make sure that you’re staying focused on what your goal is?

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 13:21

I love for you to talk about the immigrant mentality, and then some of the lessons you learned from your parents, because I feel like the people who grew up in, like, immigrant households have a certain drive. They have a certain yearning to be successful. So I’d love for you to talk about that and some of the lessons from your parents.

Vivian Gonzalez: 13:42

Sure. My kids give me a hard time every day because I still have that immigrant mentality, and they didn’t grow up around it. They get to benefit. But my mom immigrated here from Cuba. My dad is from Puerto Rico.

He came to the States for college. So he spoke no English until he started at Cornell. My mom moved here when she was in elementary school, and so they started with nothing. They both came from very, you know, humble beginnings. And we moved every two years from one state to the next for my father’s job, for him to pursue a better job each time. 

So you can imagine starting a new school every two years. I really didn’t know what it was to not be an immigrant, a child of immigrants, because once we would settle in, we’d have to up and move again. So fast forward to high school. We’re here in Florida and we were living in a small three bedroom apartment, not in a very good place in town. And my room was my dresser was the closet on the floor, sharing a room with my younger six year younger sister with twin mattresses on the floor. 

And that’s what I make sure I remember every day, is doesn’t matter how successful I am, I’m still that girl that had that twin mattress on the floor. I don’t forget where I came from, but I also know what it is to say anything’s possible. What am I going to do with it?

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