Riviera Partners Names Practice Leaders
May 19, 2021 – Riviera Partners, a recruitment provider specializing in C-level engineering, product and design leader placements, has appointed 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 will manage the emerging and early-stage practice; Mr. Behnam will run the mid- to late-stage venture-backed practice; Mr. Larson will drive the middle market growth and private equity practice; and Mr. Morell will direct the late-stage private and public companies practice.
“Our business is growing at an incredible pace, with unprecedented client demand for technology executives,” said Will Hunsinger, CEO of Riviera Partners. “Companies at different stages have unique needs. By focusing our teams in these practice areas, we’re able to meet this demand and create stronger relationships with the candidates that have proven track records of success at specific segments, gain better insights about stage-specific trends, and offer increased specialization for our clients to leverage.”
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Led by Mr. O’Toole, the emerging and early-stage practice is focused on the unique talent and expertise needs of emerging companies, from concept through go-to-market and emerging growth phases. The firm notes that these rapidly evolving organizations are often hiring their first “outside” executives.
Led by Mr. Behnam, the mid to late-stage venture-backed practice specializes in venture-backed start-ups in rapid growth and expansion phases. “These companies disrupt industries and/or define entirely new categories of products, services or markets,” Riviera Partners said.
Led by Mr. Larson, the middle market growth and private equity practice supports the executive recruiting needs of private equity-backed companies. “These companies often look for seasoned operators with a track record of profitably managing growth through to successful exit,” Riviera Partners said.
Led by Mr. Morell, the late-stage private and public companies practice works with established, mature, large-scale private, and publicly traded enterprises that require mid-level to the most senior-level engineering, product, and design talent. According to Riviera Partners, these companies are looking for executives to deliver on new market expansion or growth initiatives and lead digital transformation projects to maintain or enhance their competitive position in the marketplace.
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.
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 the 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.
“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
