ECA Partners Adds Private Equity and Financial Services Expertise
October 3, 2024 – Santa Monica, CA-based search firm ECA Partners has expanded with the addition of Evan Markgraf as senior director. The search firm notes that this strategic addition further strengthens ECA’s capabilities in serving private equity firms and their portfolio companies. “Evan’s extensive CFO network and recruiting expertise has strengthened ECA’s ability to meet the growing needs of our clients across both PE-backed companies and publicly traded organizations,” said Steven Haug, managing director at ECA. “I continue to be excited about the growth of ECA’s world-class team.”
“This strategic addition enhances ECA’s standing as a leading executive search firm in the private equity space,” the company said. “As the firm expands, it maintains its unwavering commitment to providing high-quality, data-driven executive search services to its growing client base. Markgraf’s arrival reinforces ECA’s reputation for assembling top-tier talent to meet the evolving needs of private equity firms and their portfolio companies.”
Mr. Markgraf comes to ECA Partners with over a decade of experience in executive search and recruitment, focusing in finance, accounting, and investment management. He most recently served as an executive search consultant at Korn Ferry, where he focused on placing top-tier talent in private equity, family offices, real estate, asset management, hedge funds, and venture-backed startups. Before that, Mr. Markgraf held key positions at Robert Half’s financial services group and The Gershman Group, where he gained experience recruiting for wealth management and financial services. His experience also includes roles in compliance and operations at Wealthguard Inc. and client service at Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc., providing him with an understanding of the financial services industry.
As a senior director at ECA, Mr. Markgraf will leverage his industry knowledge and network to identify and place top executives across various roles, including permanent placements, interim executives, and on-demand consultants. His expertise will be particularly valuable in supporting private equity firms and their portfolio companies.
“I’m thrilled to be a part of such a high caliber group of professionals, and everyone at ECA is dedicated to exceptional client experience and proven process,” said Mr. Markgraf. “Given my focus on the private equity fund and portfolio company ecosystem throughout my career, ECA was an obvious fit. From a more nuanced perspective, ECA places great emphasis on data analytics to inform its practices and processes as well so I am excited to be a part of a firm that is at the cutting edge of the executive search world.”
Related: ECA Partners Expands Search Staff
ECA is a specialized project staffing and executive search firm focused on private equity and PE portfolio companies. They use a proprietary, evidence-based approach to recruiting that leverages data and technology. The firm uses a talent management system, CASCADE. Founded in 2010, ECA operates across five global offices and in 2024 was named one of Hunt Scanlon’s Top 50 Recruiters.
ECA Partners Launches Client Portal
ECA Partners has launched its client portal, Cascade. “A lot of our middle-market private equity clients have a short time horizon to deliver on value creation plans,” said Ken Kanara, president and CEO of ECA Partners. “We built Cascade, a talent management system, with that in mind. Combined with our proprietary process, we are able to quickly and efficiently deliver the very best talent across strategy, operations, and finance.”
Developed and incubated at ECA, Cascade brings ECA’s data-driven approach to the forefront, giving clients access to data and analytics as it relates to search metrics, recruiting processes and candidate pipeline. Providing this data in real-time, Cascade allows ECA’s clients to move quickly when making hiring decisions, according to the search firm. “It’s exciting to see how quickly Cascade is adding value for our clients,” said Atta Tarki, ECA’s founder and chairman. “By giving them full transparency to the recruiting process, it allows them to make better decisions around talent and to solve their hiring bottleneck.”
Atta Tarki is the founder and chairman of ECA. He leads ECA’s private equity and venture capital practice, where he supports PE-owned, VC-owned and other high growth companies with filling C-level positions. His primary focus is on CEO, COO, president, CFO, and chief strategy officer roles. Prior to ECA, Mr. Tarki led management consulting engagements at L.E.K. Consulting.
Past Addition
Earlier this year, ECA added Natasha Bunten as a senior director. “Natasha, with her distinguished career in private equity and sales operations, brings valuable expertise to this vital role,” the firm said. “Natasha’s extensive experience in the private equity, B2B services, and healthcare sectors, combined with her track record of driving growth and delivering results, will be a significant asset to our clients and ECA,” said Ken Kanara, managing partner. “Her expertise in sales operations, leadership, and process will further enhance our ability to serve clients with our best team forward approach in these key industries.”
Ms. Bunten has held key positions in the PE industry, including her prior role as VP of sales and marketing at Centrae, a firm that provides a go-to-market (GTM) framework delivered through a tech-enabled platform, paired with GTM advisory services. She has spent the last four years supporting private equity firms from due diligence to post-acquisition value creation. Before her tenure at Centrae, Ms. Bunten spent 11 years to Cardinal Health, a Fortune 14 company, where she led BD teams and negotiated contracts with managed care organizations such as Regence.
Related: ECA Partners Grows Search Staff with PE Veteran
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media