December 2025

Pedersen & Partners hosted a thought provoking session with Latvian entrepreneur Uldis Iltners, Co-founder and Board Member of AS MADARA Cosmetics and Founder of Selfnamed, a three-year-old on-demand/private-label cosmetics platform, as part of its Live Talk Series on family-owned and founder-led businesses. 

The session, moderated by Pedersen & Partners’ Inga Ezera, Principal, and Marek Petruš, Client Partner, explored how Uldis led Latvia-based MADARA from a founder-driven startup to a listed company on Nasdaq First North, and then consciously handed over the CEO role while remaining deeply engaged as a Board member. The discussion focused on how founders can design leadership transitions without losing the original entrepreneurial “spark,” and how to balance governance, culture, and growth when one person’s vision has shaped the entire organisation. 

Family Roots and the Entrepreneurial Path

Uldis described his entrepreneurial journey as inseparable from his personal story. He started his first business at university, learning quickly that it was “a great educational experience, but not the best financial experience.” That early venture taught him resilience and confirmed that he was unlikely ever to pursue what others call a “real job” with corporate onboarding and HR training. 
Family played a central role in giving him the confidence to take risks. For many years, Uldis and his wife lived in his great-grandfather’s house a practical and symbolic safety net. This sense of rootedness still shapes how he defines success: not just financial outcomes, but the freedom to build, fail, start again, and still feel supported.

“I think I am what I am because of my family. Their support gave me the strength to continue when things were incredibly difficult.”

Building MADARA: From Niche Idea to Listed Company

In 2006, Uldis co-founded MADARA Cosmetics together with four co-founders, including his wife. At the time, certified organic cosmetics were still niche – typically sold in “dark eco shops” next to potatoes and other specialist products. The idea behind MADARA was to create a modern, stylish, organic skincare brand that could compete in mainstream cosmetics channels. 
The timing and positioning proved right. MADARA grew from a team of five to more than 200 employees, becoming one of the most recognised Latvian brands and consistently ranked among the greenest brands in the Baltics and beyond. As the company matured and was listed on Nasdaq Riga’s First North market, it adopted robust structures and governance, firmly transitioning from a small entrepreneurial venture to a professionally managed business.
Yet success also brought a new question: when does the organisation need something different from its founder?

“There is a moment when the business needs not entrepreneurial energy, but stability, structure, and someone who enjoys what founders often avoid.”

By 2023, Uldis recognised that MADARA needed a different type of leadership for its next phase. Weekly operational meetings drained his energy; he wanted to create, not optimise. At the same time, the business required stability and a stronger organisational backbone.
The turning point came in a candid conversation with MADARA’s Head of HR, who told him directly that if he wanted to continue as CEO, he would need to change. Uldis realised he did not want to change his core entrepreneurial nature. 
In parallel, approaching 40 sharpened his sense of time: he had many ideas he wanted to explore and felt that if he did not act on them now, he might never do so. This combination convinced him to initiate an external CEO succession process. 
With the support of Inga Ezera and the Pedersen & Partners team, MADARA appointed Gunta Šulte as CEO – a leader whom Uldis describes as an exceptional cultural match. 
Crucially, he emphasised that “founder stepping away does not mean stepping out.” He remained on the Board, stayed close to strategy and culture, and continued to carry the founder’s energy – exploring the future and new ideas rather than managing weekly operations.

"This transition was the biggest and most important event of my professional life.”

Culture Fit Above Everything Else

For Uldis, culture is experienced at gut level: an instant sense of shared attitude toward people, communication, and work. It is not about simply liking someone; it is about running on the same wavelength.
In the CEO search, culture fit was the non-negotiable criterion.

• The compass, represented by its CO₂-reduction commitments under the SBTi framework, defines strategic direction.
• If the “frequency” did not match – in other words, if the interaction did not feel natural, if values and energy were misaligned – the answer was a firm no, regardless of credentials.

Uldis is convinced that skills without culture do not lead to success, particularly in founder-led and family-influenced businesses where identity, loyalty, and shared history are deeply embedded.

“We could feel in the first seconds whether the culture fit was right or not.”

Letting Go, Allowing Mistakes, and Redesigning the Organisation
Handing over the CEO role also meant accepting several uncomfortable realities:

• He would no longer control all decisions.
• The new CEO needed space to decide – and to turn out to be right, or sometimes wrong.

Under new CEO Gunta s leadership, MADARA’s organisation evolved substantially, including people decisions affecting long-standing team members. New profiles joined; some long-serving employees left. Some departures Uldis still questions, but he accepted that constant interference would undermine the CEO s ability to lead. 

He made a clear commitment in both MADARA and Selfnamed to allow management to make their own mistakes. Without this autonomy, he argued, succession cannot work – the founder then remains the bottleneck, and the company cannot truly transition to a CEO-led model.

"It is not easy to watch decisions you would not make yourself, but without giving space, it simply won t work.”

Lessons for Founder-Led and Family Businesses

Succession is not loss of control
Handing over the CEO role does not mean abandoning the company. Founders can do well to remain influential in strategy, culture, and innovation while freeing themselves to work where they create the most value.

Culture fit is decisive
In key leadership hires, especially the first external CEO, values alignment and energy match are more critical than an impressive CV.

Founders and CEOs have distinct but complementary roles
Founders search the unknown, build the future, and bring entrepreneurial energy. CEOs structure, scale, and optimise what works. Sustainable growth happens when these roles coexist in balance.

Inspiration is a strategy, not a luxury
For Uldis, protecting time and space for inspiration has been essential to starting new ventures and rediscovering his own motivation and impact.

"Only the founder s energy plus the CEO s structure creates real growth.”

For Inga Ezera, Marek Petruš, and the global Pedersen & Partners team, Uldis story offers a blueprint for advising founder-led and family-owned clients: how a founder can design succession consciously, stay involved where it matters most, and still open space for new ideas and businesses to emerge. If founders can combine inner security, clear governance, and the courage to let others lead, Uldis suggests, they are far better positioned to turn one successful company into a long-term entrepreneurial journey.

June 2025

Pedersen & Partners hosted a live conversation with Kateřina Oellerich, a second-generation executive at RESPECT, a.s., the leading family-owned commercial insurance brokerage firm in the Czech Republic. The session, moderated by Marek Petruš, Client Partner at Pedersen & Partners, focused on the strategic leadership and succession challenges faced by family-owned businesses in Central Europe.
 

Founded by her father, Mr. Zdeněk Reibl, in 1993 following the Velvet Revolution in the Czech Republic, RESPECT has grown into a national leader in insurance brokerage. With annual revenue nearing CZK 1 billion (EUR 40 million) and consistent growth of approximately 15% per year, the company remains entirely family-owned and managed. Mr. Reibl continues to serve as Chairman and CEO and was recently named the Ambassador for Family Business Week 2025 in the Czech Republic.

A Career Intertwined with the Family Business
Kateřina’s journey with RESPECT began at age 15. Initially involved in support roles, she spent summers working in various departments. After earning her MBA, she returned to join the management team and took on formal responsibilities across HR, marketing, finance, and regional operations.
 

“It was very natural for me to later join the company,” she noted, “because if you are part of a family business, it’s not just some company—you grow up with it. It’s like another sibling.”
 

Over time, and after returning from maternity leave, she reduced her involvement in daily operations but has continued to participate in strategic functions, concentrating on transformation initiatives, recruitment, and governance at the company where the average employment tenure of management board members is 21 years.
“I decided to focus on areas where I cannot be so easily replaceable,” she explained. “HR and strategy are where I feel I can contribute the most right now.”

Managing Succession and Structuring Governance
Succession planning was a central theme of the session. Kateřina outlined four possible pathways the family had considered: 

• continuing with a family successor,
• appointing external management,
• inviting outside investment,
• selling the company. 

The latter option was firmly ruled out.
“We’re passionate about growing responsibly so our family business stays strong for generations to come,” said Kateřina.
To prepare for generational transition, the family is developing a family constitution to formally define roles, responsibilities, and governance frameworks. The future governance structure could include an advisory board, possibly with external directors, ensuring operational independence while preserving family influence over strategic areas like branding and corporate culture.

“You cannot just leave it in a way that you have no idea what’s happening,” she said. “There must be clear rules. Even if we bring in external managers, we need to preserve the family spirit.”

The Family as Core and Culture
Today, four family members are actively involved in the company: the founder and CEO (her father), Kateřina herself (in strategic leadership), her husband (a strategic advisor), and her mother (handling operational finance and internal controls).
This compact yet engaged family structure provides continuity while limiting complexity. Kateřina emphasized that preserving the “family spirit” is key to differentiating RESPECT from corporate counterparts.

“For some people, this is what they’re looking for,” she explained. “A place where you know your colleagues, where the environment feels more like a community. We don’t just hire for skills—we look for people who share our long-term view.”

Building Alignment, Not Just Filling Roles
As a Western-educated HR expert, Kateřina provided a detailed view on the challenges of attracting and integrating external managers into a closely held business. Recruiting senior-level talent is especially difficult in the Czech market due to its size and limited pool of candidates.

“Very often, people from corporations are used to different environments—more structure, more layers, clearer paths,” she explained. “But in a family business, you need to sit on more than one chair. You must be ready to think like an entrepreneur.”

She also emphasized the importance of cultural humility. “If you come in with the attitude, ‘I’ve worked for a big brand, I’ll show you how things are done,’ it won’t work. We need people who listen first.”
To address this, RESPECT has focused on authentic, values-based communication. Candidates are encouraged to reflect on their long-term motivations and entrepreneurial mindset. 

“I often ask them: ‘What’s your investment in this?’.”

Attracting and Retaining Talent
Kateřina also addressed the question of attracting experienced professionals to family-run companies in the Czech Republic. The local market is small, and top talent has historically preferred larger, international firms that offer perceived structure and career mobility. RESPECT competes by offering a clear purpose, continuity, and personal involvement from the ownership and leadership in recruitment and development. Integration of external hires requires effort from both sides: candidates must align with the values and expectations of a family-driven environment, while the company and its owners must provide clear communication and consistent support during the transition period.

“It’s not just about hiring someone who looks good on paper. If they don’t fit the culture, if they can’t build trust with people who’ve been here for years, it won’t work.”

Lessons from Cross-Regional Experience
Kateřina also drew comparisons between family-owned companies in Central and Western Europe. She noted that family businesses in post-communist economies are still maturing in their approach to governance and succession.
“In Central Europe, we’re mostly in the first or second generation,” she said. “In Western Europe, you already have third or fourth or fifth generations with well-established rules. We’re catching up.”
Yet the core challenges remain the same—succession, trust, and talent management. What varies is the cultural framing. “In Austria or Germany, working for a family business is seen as a badge of honor. In our Central European region, we’re still building that credibility.”

Looking Ahead
When asked about her vision for the future, Kateřina expressed a desire to see RESPECT remain independent, expand internationally, and become a long-term source of employment and pride for the Czech business community.

“I’d love to see RESPECT stay Czech-owned. That’s very important to me. We don’t want to get to a point where we’re begging for outside capital. We want to grow on our own terms.”

This discussion outlined how family ownership shapes decision-making, leadership, strategic recruitment and succession planning. Kateřina Oellerich described how RESPECT is navigating growth while preserving its structure and long-term orientation as a private, family-owned company.

“If we succeed, it’s not just about our family,” she said in closing. “It’s about building something that other Czech families can be proud of and follow as a role model.”
 

Pedersen & Partners is a leading global Executive Search, Leadership Consulting and Board Services firm, focused on finding key talent for our clients across Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas. By listening more closely to our clients, we seek to bring a differential perspective to each engagement, and this is underpinned by our values of Trust, Relationship and Professionalism. We go “beyond the obvious” and aim consistently to deliver value-creating outcomes.

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