Senior Advisor to Founder

Best Merchant Partners

Senior Advisor to Founder

Academic Career & Executive Search is pleased to assist Best Merchant Partners in its search for Senior Advisor to Founder.

Best Merchant Partners (BMP) offers a distinctive opportunity to work directly alongside founder Randy Best, a highly successful entrepreneur who has spent more than two decades building businesses designed to expand access to affordable higher education around the world. This position is ideal for an accomplished professional who thrives in an entrepreneurial environment and offers rare insight and exposure to the growth and evolution of businesses across a global portfolio.

The position provides the opportunity to expand experience and advance professionally.

Operating at the intersection of higher education, technology and entrepreneurship, BMP and its portfolio companies are navigating an industry undergoing significant change, creating new possibilities for expansion, innovation and growth. The Senior Advisor to the Founder will work closely with Randy Best on a daily basis, helping advance priorities across BMP and its portfolio companies. This is a hands-on role, not a traditional advisory position.

The Senior Advisor will be an active member of the team, working with leadership, following through on priorities and decisions, helping to evaluate opportunities and challenges, solving problems, and stepping in wherever needed to move initiatives forward.

This role calls for an intellectually agile, highly responsive individual who learns quickly, listens well and is comfortable working in a fast-moving, entrepreneurial environment. The successful candidate can quickly absorb new ideas, think independently, offer thoughtful perspectives and, most importantly, help translate ideas into action. Flexibility and follow-through are essential. The Senior Advisor must be comfortable moving between strategic discussions and hands-on work, adapting as priorities change, and taking on responsibilities that may fall outside traditionally defined roles.

This is an on-site position based in Dallas and requires significant international and domestic travel and flexibility.

Serve as a trusted partner to the Founder, helping establish priorities, evaluate opportunities and challenges, and ensure effective follow-through on decisions and initiatives. Work closely with portfolio company leaders to assess performance, identify operational needs and opportunities, and ensure effective execution and follow-through on key initiatives. Provide hands-on input and problem-solving across the portfolio, stepping into complex situations and helping move businesses and initiatives forward with urgency.

Help shape and execute business plans for existing portfolio companies, balancing long-term strategy with the immediate operating needs of businesses at different stages of growth and development. Help evaluate opportunities for growth, partnerships, acquisitions and new business models, including potential expansion within the United States and re-entry into North America. Participate in due diligence related to potential acquisitions and investments and support capital and transaction-related activities as appropriate.

Help BMP and its portfolio companies anticipate and respond to significant changes in higher education, technology and the competitive landscape, including the rapidly evolving role of artificial intelligence. Help foster effective relationships with executives, university partners, investors and other stakeholders, regularly representing the Founder and BMP as appropriate. Serve as a flexible, hands-on resource across the businesses, taking on emerging priorities and responsibilities as organizational…