ECA Partners Expands Healthcare and Life Sciences Practices
January 26, 2026 – Santa Monica, CA-based search firm ECA Partners has named Ryan March and Allison Chappelle as senior directors within the its healthcare & life sciences practice. “Both appointments reflect ECA’s strategic expansion in the healthcare sector and reinforce its commitment to delivering specialized expertise to private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies,” the firm said. “Together, they strengthen ECA’s ability to serve the full spectrum of healthcare and life sciences executive talent needs.”
“Adding Ryan and Allison to our healthcare & life sciences practice – under Gustav’s leadership – reflects both client demand and our firm’s momentum within the sector,” said Ken Kanara, CEO of ECA Partners. “As we continue scaling—evidenced by our recent Hunt Scanlon ranking—we’re doing so strategically, bringing in senior talent who can immediately impact client outcomes in high-priority sectors like healthcare.”
Mr. March and Ms. Chappelle join ECA’s healthcare & life sciences team under the leadership of ECA’s managing director Gustav Brown, bringing complementary expertise across the biotech, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, and healthcare services sectors.
Based in Tampa, Ms. Chappelle brings more than two decades of executive search experience. Throughout her career, she has placed C-suite and senior vice president-level leaders across healthcare, life sciences (pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device), manufacturing, consumer, and technology industries.
As managing director of executive search at Patina Solutions (acquired by Korn Ferry in 2022), Ms. Chappelle launched and scaled the firm’s executive search division in 2017. Her client portfolio has ranged from Fortune 100 companies to high-growth investor-backed organizations. She also spent the first half of her career as a client of executive search firms, including nearly a decade leading talent acquisition and talent management at Adecco Group North America.
At ECA, Ms. Chappelle will partner with sponsor-backed companies to fill critical leadership roles across finance, operations, commercial, corporate development, and human resources functions. While focused on healthcare and life sciences, she will also leverage her experience across manufacturing, industrials, consumer, and retail sectors, with particular emphasis on expanding ECA’s presence in the Florida market and throughout the Midwest and East Coast.
“I’m so honored to be a part of the ECA team and work with such high-caliber search professionals who are not only committed to delivering an exceptional client experience but also share a commitment to ensuring our candidates are treated with the same white-glove service,” said Ms. Chappelle. “As a former client of search firms earlier in my career, the transparency and accountability built into the data-driven processes and technology is so refreshing and allows our clients to feel like they are true partners in the search process.”
Based in Boston, Mr. March brings nearly a decade of executive search experience focused on biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing companies. At Stratacuity (acquired by ASGN/Apex Systems in 2017), he served as senior director, building relationships with industry leaders throughout the New England region while establishing a track record of placing senior talent across drug development, manufacturing, and clinical functions through commercialization. Prior to his search career, Mr. March spent over three years as a senior member of a specialized research team at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Molecular Therapeutics.
At ECA, Mr. March will focus on placing executives in corporate development, strategy, operations, and commercial leadership roles across the life sciences sector, with particular emphasis on serving private equity sponsors in the Boston and broader New England markets.
Related: ECA Partners Names Leader of Value Creation Practice
“I joined ECA Partners to leverage my experience—alongside the deep expertise of the talented professionals across the firm—to drive high-quality partnerships throughout the private equity, healthcare, technology, and life sciences sectors,” said Mr. March. “ECA’s distinctive approach to search, paired with its commitment to hiring and developing top-tier internal talent, reflects the caliber of white-glove service the firm consistently delivers. It’s a mission and culture I’m truly excited to champion.”
Wealth of Experience
“Ryan and Allison each bring a wealth of experience to ECA’s healthcare practice—Ryan in biotech and across the life sciences, and Allison across the payer, provider, and services side of healthcare,” said Mr. Brown,. “Both have an impressive track record of placing top talent; now, with the support of ECA’s top-tier execution team, they are positioned to play a central role in ECA’s continued growth.”
The appointments come at a time of significant momentum for ECA Partners. The firm recently climbed 10 positions in the Hunt Scanlon Top 50 Recruiters rankings for 2025, landing at #40 with a 38 percent year-over-year growth rate, positioning ECA as the third fastest-growing firm among all Top 50 executive search companies.
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.
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.
Related: ECA Partners Expands Search Staff
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
