Riviera Partners Names Chief Technology Officer
June 23, 2021 – Riviera Partners, a recruitment provider specializing in C-level engineering, product and design leader placements, has appointed Andrew (Pete) Peterson as chief technology officer. In this role, Mr. Peterson will oversee the firm’s technology vision, direction, and development by leading the engineering, product and data science teams. “Riviera Partners has created a platform that uses machine learning to amplify our recruiters’ ability to match the right candidates for the right jobs and, as a result, recruiters, companies and clients can make more confident hiring decisions,” said CEO Will Hunsinger. “Pete’s leadership will ensure rapid scaling to meet the demands of our clients and drive continued innovation in our platform, making it possible to further enhance the recruiting experience.”
Mr. Peterson brings more than 20 years of cloud/SaaS platform and solution development expertise to Riviera Partners, including big data, digital transformation, product management, and platform optimization experience. He most recently served as chief information technology officer for the City of Oakland. Before that, Mr. Peterson was chief information officer at Up Communications, vice president, technology and operations at Xtiva Financial Systems, and vice president, reporting and analytics engineering at CallidusCloud Software.
“Riviera Partners is in the midst of addressing a very compelling technology challenge that has already improved the recruitment process,” said Mr. Peterson. “I’m looking forward to leading the team in architecting the next evolution of Sutro and its companion products which will further accelerate Riviera’s impressive growth. We are doubling down on our efforts to significantly increase the success rate of Sutro-recommended candidates by ensuring the highest data quality and the utilization of improved AI and ML models.”
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. The firm 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.
Related: Riviera Partners Assists Life360 with Chief Product Officer Search
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 track record of over 95 percent success rate. “Speed and efficiency are what clients now want, and demand, of their talent providers, especially in the PE and VC world where time is short and value creation has to happen at lightning speed,” said Scott A. Scanlon, CEO and co-founder of Hunt Scanlon Media. Leadership talent, he said, is more often than not the key lever driving it all.
Mr. Peterson’s appointment comes on the heels of other strategic additions to the Riviera Partners team. In February, the firm named Eoin O’Toole and Eric Larson, alongside managing partners Ali Behnam and Michael Morell, to lead four newly implemented, specialized practices within the firm. Mr. O’Toole manages the emerging and early-stage practice; Mr. Behnam runs the mid- to late-stage venture-backed practice; Mr. Larson drives the middle market growth and private equity practice; and Mr. Morell directs the late-stage private and public companies practice.
Recent Acquisition
Riviera Partners recently acquired Arete Partners. The Arete Partners team will form the foundation of Riviera Ventures and build upon its focus on seed-to-B stage VC-backed start-ups. Mr. O’ Toole is co-founder and CEO of Arete Partners and now leads the new Riviera Ventures unit. Over the course of the past six years, Arete Partners has placed executive talent for seed-to-B stage companies with “an understanding that the earliest leadership hires are of critical importance if start-ups are to reach their full potential,” Riviera Partners said in a statement.
Riviera Partners Secures $25 Million in Private Equity Funding
Private equity concerns continue to pour money into executive search firms as demand for senior-level talent remains strong. Riviera Partners, a recruitment provider specializing in C-level engineering, product and design leader placements, has closed a minority investment of $25 million led by private equity firms Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors and ROCA Partners.
The financing will be used to fund Riviera Partners’ continued geographic expansion, strategic acquisitions, enhancements to its “Sutro” proprietary recruiting platform and the addition of staff to meet the increased demand for its services. Riviera grew its revenues by nearly 48 percent this past year, to $31 million, and is now ranked No. 18 by Hunt Scanlon Media on its Top 50 list.
“The focus and specialization our companies share makes us highly compatible and will help us meet the existing and increasing demand for tech leadership recruiting,” said Mr. Hunsinger. “With this acquisition and Arete’s expertise, we significantly enhance our market coverage of earlier-stage companies while bringing our proprietary service-meets-tech offering to our combined clientele.” Riviera Partners is “synonymous with start-up recruiting, a position earned through a relentless focus on quality and specialization,” said Mr. O’Toole. “The Arete team has become the leader in identifying emerging executive talent at a start-up’s earliest stages,” he said. “I am both excited and confident that the combined entity – leveraging Riviera Partners’ proprietary ML-enabled platform – will deliver even greater value creation for our VC partners, clients, and candidates.”
Related: Riviera Partners Adds Business Development and Executive Recruiting Leaders
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
