VP Referral Strategy and Operations

I am handpicking a hands‑on leader for the President/COO for a highly successful firm. We want a commercially credible Vice President of Referral Strategy & Operations to lead the strategy, structure, expansion, and performance management of our referral ecosystem. The business has a vast number of relationships ready to be leveraged to grow our referral partners. We need someone with experience, vision, drive, and an analytical mindset to identify which types to expand into.

If you do NOT bring referral network, ecosystem, and/or partner growth and operations experience, this is NOT for you.

This senior leader must have started their career in a relationship‑driven, execution‑oriented role — building partnerships, managing accounts, or driving business development — and bring that practical, frontline experience into strategic growth planning and operational optimization. I am looking for a self‑starter with strong ethical standards, accountability, and ownership. Someone energetic, proactive, adaptable, and passionate about building scalable growth engines — and, of course, a collaborative team leader.

The role will lead a team of seven, oversee the full referral lifecycle, including network expansion, partner performance management, analytics and KPI development, CRM optimization, and cross‑functional alignment. The VP will serve as the primary strategist and driving force behind our referral growth strategy — ensuring revenue growth, geographic and specialty expansion, partner accountability, data‑driven decision‑making, and operational rigor across a multi‑market platform.

This is a hands‑on leadership role designed to transform our referral channel into a disciplined, high‑performing, and scalable revenue engine.

This is a newly defined, high‑upside leadership opportunity at a clear inflection point. This is so much untapped opportunity; we already have strong foundational elements in place — brand strength, consistent referral volume, and an existing partner base — but the referral function has been under‑structured and under‑managed. With focused leadership and investment, this area is expected to generate millions in annual revenue
, with longer‑term potential beyond that.

The core mandate is to transform the referral operation into a structured, performance‑driven growth engine — building a network, introducing analytical rigor, and unlocking measurable revenue opportunities that are currently left on the table.

The foremost objective is to design and scale a formal, strategic referral partner network.

Key responsibilities include:

• Building and expanding referral partnerships across geographies and specialties
• Proactively identifying and cultivating new referral relationships
• Expanding into new practice areas (e.g., construction, tort, out‑of‑market cases)
• Increasing market share in underserved regions
• Developing a structured go‑to‑market approach for referrals

This requires someone with strong business development DNA — not transactional sales, but sophisticated relationship‑building, influence, and partnership development. The individual must be commercially hungry and motivated to expand market presence.

Equally critical is introducing structure and performance management into the current informal system.

The referral ecosystem includes:

• 5,000+ open referrals
• Approximately 100 partner firms
• 1,800 cases in 2025 alone that could not be placed due to network gaps
• No dedicated analytical ownership

Responsibilities include:

• Establishing KPIs and SLAs
• Assessing partner performance and identifying underperformers
• Reallocating referral flow strategically
• Extracting insights from dashboards and CRM systems
• Creating repeatable processes where ad hoc management exists today

The ideal candidate must be comfortable interpreting data, building reporting frameworks, and translating analytics into an actionable growth strategy. This role requires process discipline, operational maturity, and commercial instincts.

The initial phase will focus on stabilization and visibility:

• Mapping…