Privacy Policy

1.   Our business

Executive Nexus is a trading name of Aequitas Group Ltd. We provide network building and data services to private equity firms and their investee businesses. We also assist executives in developing professional relationships and finding opportunities with private equity.

Our business is reliant on the trust of the executives and private equity professionals we work with. We aim to hand executives more control over their profile with private equity by giving the ability to see and amend the personal data which we share with investors and by providing clarity over who has access to this information.

We gather personal data about the executives and private equity professionals we work with from a number of sources, including publicly available information from networking sites and search engines, from third party data providers, and also via word of mouth.  Executives provide personal data to us when they use our web app. When we have contact with executives and private equity professionals in the course of our work, we add further information which they give us to our database.

We use this information to offer two main services:

a.     Connection services to Private Equity Professionals 

We help private equity professionals connect with executives with whom they may wish to work or network.  We do this by sharing summary profiles of executives from our database with private equity professionals where we believe there may be a match, so that the private equity professionals can decide if they would like to connect with the executive to explore opportunities.  A summary profile contains publicly available professional information i.e. career history, education history, professional experience, photograph; plus specific preferences, diversity information and role details with clients which are relevant to the specific service we are undertaking on behalf of the investor. When both the executive and private equity professional agree to connect with each other, we may share additional information between the parties including contact information (e-mail address, address, telephone number) and detailed career profiles and preferences of executives. We only share compensation information of executives (when not in the public domain) with the individual’s specific consent. More detail on data sharing is detailed below.

b.     Our web app for executives

Our web app is available as a tool to support executives to build networks with private equity professionals. Where we have obtained personal data about private equity professionals from the sources listed above, we include limited personal data consisting of name, job title, company information, deal history and photographs in our web app. Executives we invite to become users of the web app are able to see summary profiles of private equity professionals who they search for or are recommended by us. Recommended matches are determined on the basis of the experience and geographical relevancy of the private equity professional and the executive.  Possible matches are viewed by executives within the web app. Executives may themselves propose matches, which will be separately reviewed and approved by our team, following which the parties are connected with each other.

 

2.   What data do we collect and how?

This data we collect can be split into three main categories:

a.     Publicly available data

This includes names, career history (including board memberships), deal (M&A) history, email address (where sourced from publicly available data), work contact details and professional network IDs.

We may collect this data from third party data providers, publicly available sources (including professional networking sites or search engines) or via word of mouth.

b.    Personal data provided by executives

When we engage with executives, executives may provide information such as their CV, an image of themselves, contact information, information on their preferences, role details and compensation data.

Executives may also choose to indicate whether they consider themselves “a diversity candidate” (see “Special Category Data” section below).

c.     Validations of enriched personal data from executives

We may validate data which is provided to us by executives. In particular, we may ask prior colleagues of an executive to validate prior career history. We may also, if agreed to by an executive, ask current colleagues about current roles. When we validate information, we also process personal data about the validating individuals such as name, role, and share the output of the validation process with the executive in question, with the option given to the colleague for their feedback to be shared without their name attached to it.

In addition to these 3 main areas, we also gather data in other ways:

d.    Data collected on customers, suppliers and other stakeholders

As part of the ordinary course of business we gather personal data (such as names, job titles and professional contact details) on stakeholders we interact with.

e.     Data about prospective employees

We also process data such as contact information, CVs and compensation details about prospective employees.  We collect this data through online recruitment platforms, recruiters and directly from prospective employees themselves.

f.      Data collected by our web app and other technologies

We log information from your use of our services, plus we collect data via cookies and similar technologies. We may also gather information on your device, browser, and location when you interact with our services.  Please see our Cookies Policy for further information.

 

3.   How do we use personal data?

a.     Executive data

1. In supporting both executives and private equity with network building (or as part of providing the services outlined below), we enable executives and private equity funds to connect via us, including via our web app. When a connection is made, which requires the prior agreement of both the executive and private equity professional, we may share the contact data of both parties with each other.If the private equity professional is a client of ours, when both parties agree to being connected we also provide the private equity investor with the ability to view the executive’s Executive Nexus profile, excluding compensation data.  Executives can agree to be connected with a private equity investor within our web app, or independently from the app.Compensation data is only shared with our clients if the executive specifically agrees to this.
2. We may use executive personal data to validate an executive’s track record as described above.
3. We invest in providing services to executives to support them in developing their connections and careers with private equity.In particular, many of the executives whom we gather personal data directly from are able to access our web app, which gives executives the opportunity to understand the private equity market and dealmakers relevant to them, plus make connections with relevant private equity investors.
4. We also use executive data to provide services to private equity. These services include assisting private equity in building world class networks of executives, finding C-level industry advisors on prospective acquisitions, and supporting with portfolio CEO succession.We use both publicly available data and personal data provided by executives to do this work, but only share certain categories of personal information we hold on executives in undertaking these services for private equity clients. We may share publicly available data, plus specific preferences and role details with clients which are relevant to the specific service we are undertaking on behalf of the investor.
5. We also may use executive data to promote our services to executives, including new potential connections, opportunities, content about a relevant topic and news about us.
6. We also may use executive data to undertake research on our market, though this research will only be shared outside our organisation in a way which does not personally identify executives, unless they have given their prior specific agreement.

b.    Private equity professional data

1. We use data on private equity professionals to enable network building, including via our web app, to allow executives to find relevant investment professionals and connect with them.
2. We use private equity professional data to provide services to those professionals and the firms they work for.
3. We use private equity professional data for marketing to individuals and the private equity community.

c.     Other uses of personal data

1. We use personal data to secure and manage our systems.
2. We use personal data to administer and protect our business, our website, and our web app (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data).
3. We use personal data to develop new services and create enhancements to current services.
4. We use personal data of various stakeholders as part of our day-to-day business with suppliers, partners, and other entities we interact with.
5. We use personal data of prospective employees to evaluate applications and consider candidates for positions.

 

4.   Special category data

Executive Nexus and our clients are committed to increasing the diversity of private equity portfolio boards and management teams. When executives use our web app, they can inform us whether they consider themselves a “diversity candidate”. This allows us to promote executives of diverse backgrounds to our clients. In addition to this information, in order to promote the interests of candidates of diverse backgrounds, we may, through our interactions with executives or publicly available information, collect more detailed information such as ethnic background and sexual orientation. We will only collect this information with your express consent. If you choose to provide this information via our web app, you will be asked for your consent, and similarly if you give us this information through other means.

 

5.   Legal bases for processing

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

1. Where we need to perform our contract with you. This is the case where we process data of our web app users (the relevant contract being our web app terms of service.  We process data on this legal basis as needed e.g. to make the web app and its functions available to users, to share personal data between users of the web app and private equity professionals where both parties wish to connect, and to communicate with you for service-related purposes.
2. Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. By way of example, we rely on this basis to build our database of information about executives and private equity professionals, to analyse such data to identify people who may be of interest to each other, and to disclose limited personal data in the form of summary profiles of executives and private equity professionals to each other (except where this happens within the web app as described above).  The legitimate interests we rely on for this processing include:
   1. 1. supporting executives in building relationships and finding roles with private equity investors and their investee businesses,
      2. furthering the business interests of private equity professionals; and
      3. growing, developing and running our own business.

   We also rely on our legitimate interests in running our business to carry out the processing activities described in section 4(c).

3. Where you have consented to the processing e.g. if you give us consent to allow us to send you direct marketing emails or text messages.
4. Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.

 

6.   Data Sharing

We share executive data with our clients and data relating to private equity professionals with executives in the ways described above. We have agreements with those clients which seek to ensure that the data is secure and handled appropriately and is only used for the purpose of searching for and contacting executives, and analysis of the data pertaining to human capital related matters. We understand that it is critical to our business that our clients are reputable investors who have the controls in place to secure personal data.

We may also share executive data with selected partners (such as Teamscope, who we partner with to add additional depth to executives’ profiles). We have agreements with partners which seek to ensure data is secure and handled appropriately.

We share data with our outsourced partners who work with us to deliver our services.

We also may need to share personal data with third parties for legal or regulatory reasons or to work with third parties who support us in building, maintaining and securing our infrastructure. We may also share personal data as part of due diligence and other activities relating to financing, fundraising or selling an interest in our business.

 

7.   How do we secure Personal Data?

Executive Nexus seeks to ensure the security of personal data. This data is only accessible to Executive Nexus employees and the outsourced partners we work closely with. We seek to ensure that is protected from unauthorised access, loss, manipulation, falsification, or disclosure by using appropriate processes and technical measures to protect the data.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the EEA, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data.

Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved for use in the UK which give personal data the same protection it has in the UK.

Alternatively, in limited cases we may rely on one of the exceptions under applicable data protection laws which allow transfers in specific scenarios.

 

8.   What are my rights and how can I exercise them?

If you are a member of the Executive Nexus web app you are able to review and amend much of the personal data we hold on you by reviewing the “My Nexus” and “My Career” sections of the app.

In addition to this, you have the right to access, erase, correct, update or complete your personal data, or to request no further contact from Executive Nexus. You also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information, and to ask us to restrict processing of your personal information. If you have given consent to processing, you can withdraw consent at any time. If you wish to exercise any of these rights, contact [email protected].

Should you request that we remove your personal information from our database, we may retain some limited personal data about you in order to prevent future contact, record your wish for your data to be removed, and to keep a record of data shared with clients and other stakeholders.

Similarly, if we have collected and processed your personal information based on your consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent will not affect any processing performed prior to your withdrawal. It will also not affect processing based on processing grounds other than consent.

You also have the right to bring a complaint to the relevant data protection authority about our collection and use of your personal information.  In the UK this is the Information Commissioner’s Office.

 

9.   How long do we retain your personal data?

We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation in respect to our relationship with you.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.

If you would like further information on the retention periods we apply to personal data please contact us using the details below.

 

10.   Changes to the Privacy Policy

We may modify or amend the Privacy Policy as our services evolve, the regulatory environment changes or for other reasons. If there are material changes to the Privacy Policy, we will take steps to keep those we hold personal data for informed. Please check back to this Privacy Policy from time to time to stay informed.

If you have any questions about your personal information, please e-mail [email protected].

Executive Nexus
17 Hanover Square
London W1S 1BN
+44 (0) 20 7390 0440

February 2021