PRESS RELEASES

ECA Partners Promotes Dan Baker to Lead Value Creation Practice

Santa Monica, March 24, 2025 – ECA Partners, a top 50 executive search firm renowned for its data-driven recruitment process, today announced the promotion of Dan Baker to Director, Value Creation Practice. This strategic advancement reinforces ECA’s commitment to delivering exceptional talent solutions for private equity firms and their portfolio companies.

Dan Baker has been with ECA Partners since July 2022 where he has led numerous successful executive searches for his private equity clients. In his new role, Baker will lead ECA’s Value Creation Practice, leveraging his extensive network of talent to solve his clients’ most difficult talent needs.

Before his promotion, Baker was an Engagement Manager at the firm, during which time he honed his expertise in matching top talent with his clients’ needs. His unique blend of academic excellence and practical experience positions him perfectly to drive ECA’s unique data-driven approach to executive search.

“Dan’s promotion reflects his outstanding contributions to our clients and his intimate familiarity with the top value creation talent in the private equity ecosystem,” said Ken Kanara, Chief Executive Officer at ECA Partners. “His diverse background in law, economics, and public policy brings a multidimensional perspective to solving complex business challenges.”

Baker brings an impressive academic pedigree to his new role, holding a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley, a J.D. from Duke University, and a Diploma in Economics from the University of Cambridge. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Washington, earning a B.A. with honors in Philosophy.

Prior to joining ECA Partners, Baker built a distinguished career in academia, serving as a Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy & Practice and a Course Facilitator at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. He also held several teaching positions at UC Berkeley. Baker’s professional experience extends to the legal sector, where he worked as an Attorney at Wiggins & Masters, PLLC and served as a judicial clerk for Judge J. Robin Hunt at the Washington Court of Appeals.

“I’m honored to take this next step and help build the CEO and Value Creation Practice at ECA,” Baker said. “We’ve built a foundation through steady investment in our search process and execution for clients, and I’m excited to help ECA lead the market in talent for private equity value creation.”

Baker’s promotion is a sign that ECA’s expanding cadre of PhD talent continues to drive success at the firm. “We are very excited to promote Dan to Director,” ECA Partners Managing Director Jason Blonstein stated. “Dan has been a go-to Engagement Manager at ECA, and this is a well-deserved promotion. It also highlights the continued success of our PhD program at ECA Partners as well as the intellectual horsepower that they bring to executive search.”

About ECA Partners

ECA Partners is a Top-50 boutique executive search firm, focused on strategy, operations, and finance talent serving private equity and private equity portfolio companies, for interim, project and full-time talent needs. The firm has been in operation since 2010 and has more than 400 clients.

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