Long Ridge Partners Names Head of IT Recruiting
July 24, 2025 – New York City-based Long Ridge Partners has appointed Lijo Thomas as managing director, head of IT recruiting. “Since joining us in 2021, Lijo has been a driving force behind our tech recruiting practice,” Long Ridge Partners said in a LinkedIn post. “Her leadership, insight, and dedication have made a real impact — and this next chapter is so well deserved. Congrats, Lijo!”
Ms. Thomas specializes in technology recruiting across hedge funds, private equity, and asset management firms. She leads the firm’s technology practice, managing relationships with a prestigious client base and executing high-impact searches across technology and business management functions. Thoughtful and relationship-driven, Ms. Thomas builds lasting connections with clients and candidates. She is known for delivering talent that aligns both technically and culturally in today’s competitive market.
Prior to joining Long Ridge Partners, Ms. Thomas worked as a team lead at Forrest Solutions, a financial search firm, where she focused on searches spanning front office, middle office, and technology roles. She brings deep expertise in hiring for technical and strategic positions across engineering, enterprise architecture, infrastructure, program and project management, and business analytics.
Since 2004, Long Ridge Partners has provided executive recruiting services to the Investment Management sector. Boutique and institutional investment managers alike have been leveraging the resources of Long Ridge’s front, middle, and back office recruiting solutions to build their organizations. The combined efforts of Long Ridge’s experience include over 2,000 placements. Recognizing the growing needs of our clients led Long Ridge to launch several other verticals including Long Ridge Real Estate, Long Ridge Legal, and most recently, Long Ridge Partners IT (LRPIT). Understanding the convergence of Investments and Technology, LRPIT focuses on recruiting Developers, Programmers, and Software Engineers to assist our clients in developing front and back end solutions.
Newly Launched In-House Counsel Division
Long Ridge Partners recently launched its in-house counsel division and named Gabrielle L. van den Berg as director, legal. “With her deep expertise in the investment management and legal spaces, Gabrielle will be leading our newly launched In-House Counsel Division,” the firm said in a LinkedIn post. “She brings a strong track record of placing in-house counsel at all levels across the investment management industry. We’re thrilled to have her on board and look forward to the impact she’ll make as we continue to expand our reach and deliver exceptional service to our clients.”
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Ms. van den Berg specializes in legal in-house placements in the alternative investment firms and hedge fund spaces. She has a unique expertise with special situations, structured products, and 40 Act counsel roles. Before joining Long Ridge Partners, Ms. van den Berg worked at two large international recruiting firms focusing on in-house and private practice placements in the U.S. She also practiced law at boutique firms in Canada and helped start a skincare company, based out of Brooklyn.
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Earlier this year, Long Ridge Partners added Sabine Sellers as vice president. “With her deep knowledge of the investment management space, she will be focusing on placing candidates in senior-level roles across investment teams, business development, and investor relations,” the firm said in a LinkedIn post. “We look forward to watching Sabine grow with our firm!”
Ms. Sellers focuses on research and execution of mid- to senior-level private equity and private credit investment, business development, and investor relations professionals. She began her executive search career at Bay Street Advisors, where she specialized in investment banking, traditional and alternative asset management placements. Prior to joining Bay Street Advisors, she worked at Ridgetop Research, an expert network focused on primary source research for hedge fund and private equity clientele.
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
