Lorcan Cavanaugh Managing Director, United States Charlotte, 28203, United States [email protected] · (704) 555-0335
11 September 2026
Mr. Amadou Osei-Bonsu Global Head of Advisory Hollowbrook Partners New York, United States
Application for Managing Director, United States, Hollowbrook Partners
Dear Mr. Osei-Bonsu,
I am writing about the managing director role for the United States business at Hollowbrook Partners. I currently run the United States business of a middle-market advisory firm: a $46 million revenue profit and loss across three offices and 118 people, reporting to the global chief executive. I still carry a personal fee book alongside it, which is deliberate rather than residual, and I mention it first because your posting uses both vocabularies and I read the role as a producer seat with a country attached.
On the profit and loss: revenue moved from $31 million to $46 million over three years and operating margin from 17 percent to 24 percent, with about two thirds of the growth from the two existing offices rather than from the new one. I opened a third office in 2024 with four senior hires and it reached breakeven in its fourth quarter against a plan of six. I also closed an underperforming sector team in 2023 after two missed review points and redeployed three of the five people inside the firm, which was the less comfortable half of the same job. Through a year when headcount grew 13 percent I held revenue to fixed compensation cost at 4.1 times, because a country business that grows its cost base faster than its book is not actually growing.
On what travels: over three years as head of industrials I was credited with $14.2 million of fees and originated $8.8 million of it, across 19 transactions from $20 million to $180 million in enterprise value. Nine of those were repeat clients and four of the relationships had already followed me once from a previous firm, which is the only evidence of portability I would ask anyone to take seriously. My Series 79 and Series 24 registrations are current and I am a statutory director of my current firm's United States entity.
What I would want to understand first is whether the board expects the United States head to keep originating, because the honest answer changes the hiring plan and the compensation design underneath it. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Lorcan Cavanaugh
Summary
A managing director cover letter has to settle an ambiguity before it does anything else, because the title means both the head of a country or business unit and a senior producer in banking or professional services. This guide shows you how to tell which job is being filled, gives a full adaptable letter, and sets out what a firm is really buying when it hires at this level.
Managing Director cover letter examples by experience level
A managing director cover letter has one job before it has any other: to tell the reader which managing director you are.
In a corporate group the title means the head of a country, a subsidiary or a business unit, carrying a profit and loss. In banking, advisory, consulting and law it means a senior producer who originates and closes work and carries a fee book. A letter that does not settle that in its first two sentences gets read as the smaller of the two.
Guide to a managing director cover letter
This guide and the managing director cover letter example below cover:
- Which of the two readings a job description is hiring
- How to structure the letter, paragraph by paragraph
- Openings that work for both readings
- What a firm is really buying, and how to say it without overclaiming
How to write a managing director cover letter
| Paragraph | Its job | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | The role, and your core number: the profit and loss or the fee book | 3 to 4 sentences |
| Evidence | One decision or one book, with the numbers behind it | 5 to 6 sentences |
| Portability | What comes with you, and what belongs to your current institution | 3 to 4 sentences |
| Close | What you would want to understand first, and a thank you | 2 sentences |
Four paragraphs, one page, 300 to 450 words.
The third paragraph decides outcomes. The reader is asking whether the thing you are good at travels: client relationships for a producer, and for a unit head whether the results came from your decisions or from the market.
Read the posting for vocabulary before you write a line
Job descriptions rarely say which managing director they mean, but they give it away in their nouns. Subsidiary, country, operating profit, headcount, budget, entity, board: this is the unit head reading, so write the profit and loss first. Coverage, origination, mandate, pitch, deal team, fee: this is the producer reading, so write the book first.
If both appear, it is usually a producer role with unit leadership attached: lead with the book and put the leadership evidence second.
A managing director cover letter example you can adapt
Dear Mr. Osei-Bonsu,
I am writing about the managing director role for the United States business at Hollowbrook Partners. I currently run the United States business of a middle-market advisory firm: a $46 million revenue profit and loss across three offices and 118 people, reporting to the global chief executive. I still carry a personal fee book alongside it, which is deliberate rather than residual, and I mention it first because your posting uses both vocabularies and I read the role as a producer seat with a country attached.
On the profit and loss: revenue moved from $31 million to $46 million over three years and operating margin from 17 percent to 24 percent, with about two thirds of the growth from the two existing offices rather than from the new one. I opened a third office in 2024 with four senior hires and it reached breakeven in its fourth quarter against a plan of six. I also closed an underperforming sector team in 2023 after two missed review points and redeployed three of the five people inside the firm, which was the less comfortable half of the same job. Through a year when headcount grew 13 percent I held revenue to fixed compensation cost at 4.1 times, because a country business that grows its cost base faster than its book is not actually growing.
On what travels: over three years as head of industrials I was credited with $14.2 million of fees and originated $8.8 million of it, across 19 transactions from $20 million to $180 million in enterprise value. Nine of those were repeat clients and four of the relationships had already followed me once from a previous firm, which is the only evidence of portability I would ask anyone to take seriously. My Series 79 and Series 24 registrations are current and I am a statutory director of my current firm's United States entity.
What I would want to understand first is whether the board expects the United States head to keep originating, because the honest answer changes the hiring plan and the compensation design underneath it. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Lorcan Cavanaugh
Openings that work, for both readings
| Instead of | Use, unit head reading | Use, producer reading |
|---|---|---|
| I am writing to express my interest in this role | I run the United States business of a middle-market advisory firm: $46 million, three offices, 118 people | I was credited with $14.2 million of fees over three years and originated $8.8 million of it |
| I am a results-driven senior leader | Revenue moved from $31 million to $46 million and margin from 17 percent to 24 percent | 19 transactions closed from $20 million to $180 million, lead adviser on 13 |
Say what travels with you
For the producer reading, the firm is buying future origination under a different letterhead, and everyone in the room knows that some of your book belongs to your current institution rather than to you. The honest signals are repeat clients across several years, relationships that have already moved with you once, and coverage built on a sector rather than on a platform. Never promise to bring named clients.
For the unit head reading, the question is about causation: did the unit grow because you made decisions, or because the market did? Answer by naming a decision that had a cost, such as a team closed, an office opened at risk or a cost base held while headcount grew.
Decide which reading the posting means and lead with that number. Give one decision with a cost attached, not only a growth figure. Split originated fees from credited fees. Say which relationships are portable. State registrations for the producer reading, and statutory directorships for the unit head.
Do not write a letter that could be sent to both kinds of role. Do not name clients, counterparties or unannounced transactions. Do not quote credited fees without saying what you originated.
Why no single pay figure fits this title
No federal occupational profile exists for "managing director", because the two readings sit in different occupational families. The unit head reading is captured in general and operations managers, with a median annual wage of $105,770 in May 2025 and employment of 3,599,000, or in chief executives, with a median of $213,990 and employment of 291,600; both are projected to grow through 2035, by 5 percent and 3 percent respectively (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 wage data and 2025 to 2035 projections).
The producer reading is captured in securities, commodities and financial services sales agents, which explicitly covers investment bankers. That occupation had a median of $78,660 in May 2025, employment of 531,000, 1 percent projected growth and about 35,100 openings a year, with a median of $103,030 in securities and commodity contracts against $61,720 in credit intermediation, where 54 percent of employment sits (BLS, May 2025 wage data and 2025 industry employment data).
None of it can be read as a managing director package. The federal wage survey measures straight-time gross pay, which includes commissions and incentive pay but excludes year-end bonuses, profit-sharing payments and stock bonuses (BLS, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey documentation, accessed 13 September 2026). In advisory and banking the year-end award is often the larger part of the year. Never put a compensation expectation in a letter on the strength of a number you cannot source.
Length, format and sending it
One page, four paragraphs, 300 to 450 words. PDF, named for yourself and the role: lorcan-cavanaugh-hollowbrook-managing-director-letter.pdf. Address a named person: the global head or the search partner running the process.
Keep every figure identical to your resume, and lead both documents with the same reading of the title. Our managing director resume example uses the same numbers.
Key takeaways
- Decide which managing director job is being filled first.
- Lead with the profit and loss or the fee book, not both.
- Give one decision that had a cost, not only a growth figure.
- Split originated fees from credited fees.
- Say what is portable and what belongs to the institution.
- Never name a client or promise to bring one.
- One page, addressed to a named person, with figures that match your resume.
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Managing director cover letter questions, answered
How do I know which managing director role a posting means?
Read its nouns. Subsidiary, country, operating profit and board point to a unit head; coverage, origination, mandate and fee point to a producer. If both sets appear, it is usually a producer role with leadership attached. If it is genuinely unclear, email the search partner and ask whether the role carries a profit and loss.
Can I mention the clients I would bring?
No. Describe portability instead: repeat clients across several years, relationships that have already followed you once, and coverage built on a sector rather than a platform. Naming clients risks whatever your agreements say, and shows the hiring firm how you would behave when you leave.
Should a unit head letter include any transaction detail?
One line at most. A country managing director letter that turns into a deal list reads as a candidate who never left execution, which is exactly the doubt a group chief executive has about producers moving into general management.
What if I am moving from producer to unit head for the first time?
Say so, and build the letter on the closest thing you have run: a sector group with a headcount, a budget and a hiring plan. Then name the part you have not held, usually full profit and loss accountability or a legal entity role. Committees at this level are comfortable with a stated gap and uncomfortable with a blurred one.
Does an international managing director letter need to be different?
The structure holds, but check the meaning of the title in that market first. In several countries the managing director is the senior executive and the role is closer to chief executive, in which case our [CEO cover letter example](/cover-letter/ceo/) is the nearer model. State your entity responsibilities plainly, since statutory directorship carries real duties in most jurisdictions.