PRESS RELEASES

ECA Partners Expands Healthcare & Life Sciences Practice with Two Senior Director Appointments

Santa Monica, CA – January 22, 2026– ECA Partners, a leading executive search firm specializing in private equity and portfolio companies, announced today the appointment of Ryan March and Allison Chappelle as Senior Directors within the firm’s 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.

Ryan and Allison 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. Together, they strengthen ECA’s ability to serve the full spectrum of healthcare and life sciences executive talent needs.

ECA’s President and CEO, Ken Kanara, noted that these new additions to the team come at a critical time in ECA’s growth: “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. 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.”

Allison Chappelle: Healthcare Services and Cross-Sector Leadership

Based in Tampa, Allison brings more than two decades of executive search experience. Throughout her career, she has successfully 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), Allison launched and scaled the firm’s executive search division in 2017, developing the strategy, processes, and tools that grew annual search revenue by 400% in 5 years.  Her client portfolio has ranged from Fortune 100 companies to high-growth investor-backed organizations.

Allison’s unique perspective comes from having 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. This dual vantage point—as both buyer and provider of search services—gives her particular insight into client expectations and pain points.

At ECA, Allison 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 extensive 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 Allison. “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.”

Allison holds a Bachelor of Applied Sciences in Communications from Simon Fraser University. She is currently pursuing Sommelier certification and is completing Level II while beginning Level III coursework.

Ryan March: Biotech and Life Sciences Expertise

Based in Boston, Ryan brings nearly a decade of executive search experience focused on biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing companies. At Stratacuity (acquired by ASGN/Apex Systems in 2017), Ryan served as Sr. Director, building deep 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, Ryan spent over three years as a senior member of a specialized research team at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Molecular Therapeutics. His hands-on experience assessing the efficacy of targeted cancer therapies provides him with unique insight into the technical and operational requirements of biotech leadership roles.

At ECA, Ryan 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.

“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 Ryan. “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.”

Ryan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Bates College and completed the Medical Practice and Policy Program at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Strategic Growth in Healthcare & Life Sciences

“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 Gustav Brown, Managing Director of ECA’s Healthcare & Life Sciences practice. “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 remarkable 38% year-over-year growth rate, positioning ECA as the third fastest-growing firm among all Top 50 executive search companies.

About ECA Partners

Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Santa Monica, California, ECA Partners is a specialized project staffing and executive search firm focused on private equity and PE portfolio companies. Using a proprietary, evidence-based approach that leverages data and technology, ECA provides clients with exceptional talent to execute their value creation plans. The firm offers executive search, interim executive placement, and on-demand consultant services, specializing in roles critical to private equity success.

ECA Partners has completed more than 4,000 executive placements with top-tier private equity firms and portfolio companies, maintaining a 96% success rate. The firm’s proprietary talent management system, CASCADE, enables it to present first candidates within 2.5 weeks and deliver fully vetted candidates 2-3 times faster than traditional search firms.

For more information, visit www.eca-partners.com.