Riviera Partners Expands Private Equity Practice
April 2, 2024 – San Francisco-based Riviera Partners, a recruitment provider specializing in C-level engineering, product, and design leader placements, has added Rick Harris to its private equity-backed practice as a partner. “With more than 20 years of experience placing top executives for many of the world’s leading software and consumer tech companies, Rick will be a valuable asset within our Private Equity-focused team,” said Eric Larson, managing partner of Riviera Partners’ private equity practice. “He is a talented search professional who knows the ins and outs of the PE space, and his skills and knowledge will be key.”
With over two decades of experience, Mr. Harris has led more than 200 executive searches for companies in software, consumer technology, and, most recently, a focus on healthtech. Before joining Riviera Partners, he established and co-led Raines’ global software & technology officers practice, working closely with private equity, venture capital, and public CEOs to attract transformational product & technology leaders.
Mr. Harris was previously a partner at True Search. During that time, he founded and co-led True’s product, data, and technology practice, was a foundational member of the healthcare practice, and helped establish True as a leader in PE. He also worked as a lead executive recruiter at Vistaprint, placing executives across the North American region who helped the company double in size to over $1 billion in revenue and 4,500 employees, and at Korn Ferry in the global technology practice.
“Riviera is the gold standard for recruiting engineering and product leaders, with a track record that speaks for itself,” said Mr. Harris. “It’s an honor to join this outstanding team of talented recruiters dedicated to search excellence.”
Related: Riviera Partners Adds Veteran HR Executive
Riviera Partners is a global recruiting firm specializing in the technology industry. The firm provides clients with optimal placements by combining recruiter interactions and experience with data-driven findings about candidates. Riviera Partners has recruited for key executive roles at Pinterest, Postmates, Tinder, Twilio, Uber, Asana, Dropbox, GitHub, DoorDash, Hulu, and partnered with venture-backed concerns, including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Benchmark, Accel, Menlo Ventures, KPCB, Greylock, and General Catalyst.
Riviera Partners Receives Investment from Insight Partners
Riviera Partners has received an investment from global software investor Insight Partners. Privately backed since 2019, this investment allows Rivera Partners to forge additional opportunities for its recruiters and employees to scale into new markets and geographies. Riviera Partners will continue to operate independently. “With thousands of open engineering, product, and design leadership roles across Insight Partners’ portfolio, we know how in-demand top talent is,” said Allyson White, managing director at Insight Partners. “Riviera Partners has established a best-in-class, tech-driven approach to finding the best product and engineering candidates. Hiring is a critical component to a company’s success regardless of their stage, and we recognize that Riviera plays a large role in the health of the software ecosystem. We look forward to working with Riviera Partners as they continue to grow and place top technical leadership that will build the future generational companies.”
Through machine learning algorithms, Riviera Partners identifies specialized, highly qualified candidates that fit an organization’s needs from 600,000 professionals across tech geographies. Riviera can often provide a short list of candidates in 30 days and has a success rate of over 95 percent.
Recent Addition
Riviera Partners recently expanded with the addition of Sam Wilkins as a partner, joining the firm’s venture capital-backed practice led by managing partner Eoin O’Toole. “We are delighted to welcome Sam to the team,” said Mr. O’Toole. “In addition to being an incredible search professional, Sam embodies the entrepreneurial DNA shared by the founders with whom we work. His reputation has been built on incredible delivery and forging lasting relationships through delivering outsized value.”
Mr. Wilkins brings a wealth of experience from his decade-long tenure at Erevena, establishing the CTO practice in Europe before relocating to San Francisco five years ago and increasingly concentrating on product and deeptech.
Mr. O’Toole leads the recently formed venture practice, which combines Riviera’s former emerging and growth practices. The fully VC-backed focus aims to expand and strengthen Riviera’s existing relationships by offering service and continuity across the spectrum of company growth stages and better leverage the agility and innovative approaches of the emerging practice along with the depth, experience, and expansive network of growth.
Related: Riviera Partners Acquires Arete Partners, Creates Riviera Ventures
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor; Lily Fauver, Senior Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
