Network Associate

BDT & MSD Partners is a merchant bank with an advisory and investment platform built to serve the distinct needs of business owners and strategic, long-term investors. We are distinguished by our decades of experience advising at the intersection of founders, families, and businesses, as well as by our differentiated capital base and culture of aligned investing. Since 2010, our affiliated funds have deployed more than $50 billion across our investment strategies.

BDT & MSD Partners was established in 2023 through the combination of BDT & Company, the merchant bank to the closely held, founded in 2009 by Byron Trott, and MSD Partners, a premier investment firm that since 2009 has invested on behalf of Dell Technologies Founder Michael Dell, his family, and other like-minded investors.

Website: https://bdtmsd.com/

Business Title: Network Associate

Department: Network Team

Reports to: Head of Network Engagement

Location: Chicago

Compensation: BDT & MSD is committed to providing its employees with career growth opportunities and a competitive total compensation package. Salary will be based on various factors, including, but not limited to, the candidate’s relevant qualifications, skills, and experience.

Job Type: Full-time

Scope:

The person in this key role will bring a sharp editorial eye, attention to detail, and a strategic mindset to BDT & MSD’s Network team to deliver content and experiences that engage a global Network of family business owners and founders.

The Network Associate will excel as a project manager who can support the development and execution of a range of programs across each calendar year with specific audiences and commercial outcomes in mind. Responsibilities include researching attendees and speakers, communicating with a range of internal stakeholders, strategically highlighting BDT & MSD key messages through content and remarks, identifying program topics and external speakers, and more.

This team member should embrace the opportunity to become an expert on the family business owners and owners across our global Network, then transfer learnings into compelling content and relationship-enhancing touchpoints that serve our clients, their families, and the firm’s broader interests. Simultaneously, the ideal candidate will have their finger on the pulse of global economic and business trends, and leverage a solid business foundation to enhance and support written and live content across programs.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Program Management and Content Development
  • Serve as a dedicated project manager responsible for supporting, building and executing content for Network programs from start to finish.
  • Leverage prior experience to produce thoughtful new program ideas, content suggestions, and speaker recommendations. Work collaboratively with Network leads to coordinate with internal Network and external speakers, provide research, build conversation Q&As, and track agenda progress.
  • Contribute to program communications and collateral with an excellent editorial voice, bringing life to program descriptions and copy across a variety of invitations and assets.
  • Develop expertise on Network families and their businesses to impact recommendations and nuanced program development.
  • Maintain knowledge of BDT & MSD operations as well as relevant business, financial, economic and global issues relevant to the Network.
  • Proactively identify emerging speakers, innovative new formats and audience engagement tools.
• Network Team Execution
  • Brainstorm and execute on impactful programs that raise the bar, stay true to commercial objectives, and showcase BDT & MSD expertise through unique themes, locations, experiences, co-hosts and audience makeups.
  • Act as a capable and confident utility player as needed onsite during Network programs, and a flexible resource during intensive periods of planning and
  • Work with Network team members to establish best practices for reconciling key takeaways, learnings, and outcomes from each program.

Experience and Qualifications:

• 3-6 years of professional experience in content creation, relationship development, live events and/or related functions, ideally through previous work in finance/banking/wealth management; family business; communications; consulting; journalism; or other.
• Ability to develop and maintain excellent relationships with internal and external clients.
• Confident to multitask, prioritize, and ask for support where needed in working on multiple projects simultaneously
• Strong attention to detail and follow through. Able to carry out tasks from beginning to end, and spot inconsistencies or opportunities for improvement.
• Superior communication skills—written and oral. Possess conversational poise for engaging with stakeholders.
• Entrepreneurial spirit, ambition and drive; plus a track record of initiative and ownership of work.
• Cool under pressure and maintaining a collaborative and flexible approach with the ability to work in demanding, fast-paced environment.

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree required
• Exceptional problem-solving and analytical
• Strong computer skills and willingness to learn InDesign, Cvent, and Asana, if not already familiar
• Previous experience with CRM systems (ie. DealCloud), event management systems (ie. Cvent), and/or virtual event production platforms additive.

Additional:

• Must satisfactorily complete a standard background check and fingerprinting.

At BDT & MSD, we are committed to creating and prioritizing a diverse, equitable & inclusive work environment in all we do. We are focused on building a workplace that reflects a variety of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, as well as fostering an inclusive and development-oriented culture. Our people are our most important asset. We believe that having a strong team of diverse, world-class talent is not only the right thing to do but also critical to every aspect of our collective success as a business.

BDT & MSD is an Equal Opportunity Employer.