ECA Partners

Firm Overview

ECA is a specialized project staffing and executive search firm focused on private equity and PE portfolio companies. We provide our clients with the very best talent to execute their value creation plans.

Executive Search | Interim Execs | On-Demand Consultants

Example roles include: PortCo CFOs, PortCo CEOs, M&A Leaders, Portfolio Operations Leaders, Strategy Leaders, Interim CFOs and Controllers, PMO Consultants, and more!

We use a proprietary, evidence-based approach to recruiting that leverages data and technology to ensure the very best outcomes for our clients. We invested millions to build our industry leading Talent Management System, CASCADE, that gives our clients an edge both in terms of speed to hire and likelihood of success. We’ve conducted thousands of searches for hundreds of clients, across private equity, corporate strategy, search funds, consulting firms and more.

Locations: Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Chicago, Phoenix

Off-Limits Policy

We don't solicit from clients

Average Time to Completion on Assignment

108 days

News Briefings

Why Structured Interviews Lead to Better Hiring

As organizations compete for leadership talent, many are reexamining how executive interviews are conducted and whether traditional hiring instincts are leading to the best decisions. Increasingly, research is showing that structured interviews built around standardized questions and evaluation criteria deliver more reliable hiring outcomes than conversational, free-flowing assessments. Talent experts say the approach not only...

ECA Partners Strengthens PE-Focused Talent Solutions

Santa Monica, CA-based search firm ECA Partners has appointed Damon Reynolds and Tim Fetzer as senior directors. These strategic hires further strengthen ECA’s capabilities across finance, digital transformation, and industrial manufacturing sectors. “Damon and Tim represent the caliber of specialized talent we’re strategically adding to serve our clients’ evolving needs,” said Ken Kanara, CEO of ECA...

ECA Partners Expands Healthcare and Life Sciences Practices

Santa Monica, CA-based search firm ECA Partners has named Ryan March and Allison Chappelle as senior directors within the its healthcare & life sciences practice. “Both appointments reflect ECA's strategic expansion in the healthcare sector and reinforce its commitment to delivering specialized expertise to private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies,” the firm said. "Together, they strengthen ECA's...

Post-Merger Integration Leadership: Hiring the Right Executives to Capture Deal Value

Private equity firms spend billions on acquisitions each year, yet Harvard Business Review research shows that 70-90 percent of mergers fail to achieve their projected value, with the breakdown occurring primarily during post-merger integration. For lower middle market PE firms executing buy-and-build strategies, this failure rate represents millions in unrealized returns, according to a recent report...

Hiring Interim CEOs for PE Portfolio Companies

Private equity firms are increasingly relying on interim CEOs to drive transformation within their portfolio companies. As interim leadership becomes a mainstream solution, the critical question evolves: how can firms deploy it to achieve transformative outcomes? In 2025’s challenging market environment, where value creation depends on operational excellence rather than financial engineering, interim CEOs have become...

Private Equity’s Resurgent Interest in Education: Key Trends for 2025

Following a phase of cautious investment, private equity firms have rekindled their interest in the education sector in 2025, adopting focused strategies and prioritizing long-term value generation. Education, it turns out, is a fantastic investment, and not just for the bright-eyed, ambitious youth but also for savvy investors, according to a recent report from ECA...