Coulter Partners Expands With an Industry Going Global
February 5, 2016 – Global life sciences search specialist Coulter Partners has opened a new office in Newton, Massachusetts. The office will be led by executive vice president Dr. Chris Palatucci. The expansion is intended to strengthen the firm’s presence in key U.S. markets, while further enhancing its international networks.
Dr. Palatucci joined Coulter Partners in 2014. He focuses on recruiting for board level and senior positions across a broad range of functions, with an emphasis on technical appointments, including CTO, CSO, CMO, VP, and R&D. His clients range from start-ups to major pharmaceutical companies.
“As well as broadening our local offer to clients in the Waltham and Newton areas, we wanted to provide a new operational base and improve efficiencies for our North American presence,” said Dr. Palatucci.
Dr. Palatucci said that as the life sciences sector expands, heavy demand for talent is now coming from the U.S. He said several factors are behind it:
“The capital markets have reopened over the last few years and while we are currently in a more rational financing environment, there is still significant growth across the industry.”
Also, he said, the industry is in the midst of a resurgence in many forms of gene therapy and the field of immuno-oncology is ballooning.
“As our focus is exclusively life sciences, we know these landscapes intimately, and are increasingly being called upon to identify the talent that will move these programs forward,” Dr. Palatucci said Coulter’s U.S. clients are now embracing the reality that life sciences talent is global, and they therefore seek a global talent partner to identify the best people for their needs.
“Some of the most exciting aspects of life science relate to how truly global it has become and how fast it is evolving,” added managing partner Joe Coulter. “Our challenge has been to build a search model to support our clients and to help them find the leaders they need to succeed in such conditions wherever they may be. We continue to grow our own networks and expertise in response to this challenge.”
Coulter Partners has made a number of new appointments to augment its global expansion. The firm’s team now includes PhD and MD-qualified researchers, language proficiencies in Russian, Bulgarian, Italian, Spanish, Czech, Danish and Swedish and specialized expertise in business psychology and human resource management.
In December, Coulter added Elizabeth McCabe as executive vice president in Morristown, New Jersey. This came on the heels of the firm’s expansion into Switzerland with the appointments of Graham Johnson and Helene Johnson in its new Basel office. Late last year Coulter also expanded into Germany with the opening of new offices in Frankfurt and Berlin. The firm appointed Anne-Monika Dürk as executive vice president, Thomas Pilz as research associate and Dr. Christoph Themel as principal.
“Our sector has changed beyond anyone’s expectations over the last two decades,” said CEO Bianca Coulter. “We need to understand the appetites and needs of the major multinationals. This requires reach into all corners of the market. While our office network is growing, the key has been to have multilingual, multi-market experienced and connected researchers and consultants. Our team speaks many languages and has worked in all major bio-pharma markets and is organized as one P&L, to ensure collaborative information and experience sharing.”
Coulter currently operates overseas offices in the U.K., Germany, Switzerland and Denmark. In the U.S., the firm also has offices in Princeton, Boston and Morristown.
According to Deloitte’s just released 2016 global sector outlook on life sciences, persistent talent shortages and the need to develop and retain employees with critical business and technology skill sets will continue to challenge global life sciences companies as they try to navigate a new world of work — one that requires a dramatic change in strategies for leadership, talent, and human resources.
Contributed by Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor, Hunt Scanlon Media