CTR Group Acquires RM Nephew & Associates

June 28, 2021 – A group of private investors led by majority partner CTR Group, a Virginia-based, family-owned employment services firm, has completed its acquisition of RM Nephew & Associates, an executive search firm headquartered in Boston, MA. Hunt Scanlon Ventures facilitated the introduction and the transaction.
RM Nephew and Associates, with offices in Boston and New York, offers partnership-driven solutions to business leadership and recruitment challenges for a premier list of clients, primarily in the healthcare, technology, and professional services sectors. Those clients range from Fortune 500 companies to mid-sized firms and private equity-sponsored enterprises. The firm has extensive experience partnering with privately held, family-owned businesses and has conducted numerous C-suite and board-level searches over the past decade. RM Nephew & Associates was founded in 2010 by Robert Nephew, an executive search veteran with more than 35 years of experience.
CTR Group is a 34-year-old holding company that operates nationwide. The firm has interests in real estate, software, and employment services, and serves an extensive list of clients in various industries, including shipyards, maritime, manufacturing, healthcare, defense, and industrial. The acquisition of RM Nephew extends CTR Group’s permanent placement, contract labor and temp/temp-to-hire staffing platforms.
Seamless Integration
For RM Nephew, the acquisition positions the firm for sustained growth and expansion and will enable it to better serve its clients on a multinational level. “Backed by the resources of CTR Group, RM Nephew will now have the opportunity to grow an already impressive in-house research and recruiting team, deepen its functional and industry expertise, and expand its international capabilities,” said Scott A. Scanlon, who assisted both firms in the transaction. “It is an honor for my firm to have been selected as the core platform from which CTR Group will build its exceptional, mid-sized executive search firm,” said Mr. Nephew.
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With the acquisition, CTR Group will be adding a new strategic offering to its business that will enable it to provide top-tier executive search services to its defense and commercial clients. Arnold Boyd, CTR Group’s founder and CEO, said that “we look forward to our expansion into the executive search arena. I see this acquisition as the ideal way for CTR to phase seamlessly into a new industry with an experienced and dedicated team already in place.”
Committed to Bespoke Client Service
“RM Nephew and CTR Group place great value on integrity, respect, relentless pursuit of client satisfaction, and open and honest communication,” said David Bayer, CTR Group managing partner. Mr. Bayer has 20-plus years of experience in the executive search industry and has participated in numerous private equity and venture capital deals during his career.
LLR Partners Makes Equity Investment in True
Private equity firms continue to pair up with executive recruiters at a blistering pace. High growth rates, new layers of incremental revenue streams, and AI-powered talent intelligence tools aimed at revolutionizing the sector are creating a perfect storm for PE investors who now view search firms as an investment of choice. Hunt Scanlon Ventures talked to True about their deal with LLR Partners.
True surpassed $100 million in revenues in 2019 and added 146 people during the pandemic. True has consistently been the fastest organic growth mid-sized search firm over the last decade. Last month, True placed No. 7 on the Hunt Scanlon Media ‘Top 50 Recruiters’ ranking.
“For our part, we remain committed to providing personalized, bespoke service to our clients,” said Mr. Nephew, whose firm has conducted an impressive array of executive search assignments recently, including: a CFO for the International Institute of New England, a board director for Watts Water Technologies, a chief accounting officer for Aspen Technology, a CFO for Financial Recovery Technologies, a CHRO for Cytel, a CEO for Accord Services, a CEO and CFO for National HME, a CFO for InVivo Therapeutics, and a financial executive team for Madison Square Garden.
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RM Nephew Associates will keep its original team intact while adding two new partners. Among them is Luis Landinez, who brings more than a decade of experience from General Motors, most recently serving as regional HR/LR director for South America in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and prior to that with Heineken. Mr. Landinez will provide additional business development opportunities with large multinational corporations in the U.S. and Latin America. Luke Tierney will act as business liaison between CTR Group and RM Nephew & Associates.
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media