Three Search Firms Join Forces to Form HealthSearch Partners

April 18, 2018 – Consultants from three executive search firms have joined forces to launch a new search platform, HealthSearch Partners, specializing in identifying and placing transformational, mission-minded CEOs and senior leaders in healthcare systems.

“Health system boards now have an even better option than the customary ‘Big Four’ search firms,” said Keith Southerland, board chair, HealthSearch Partners. “Our experience gives us the unique ability to consistently identify the transformational leader mission-minded healthcare organizations need.”

“We have the unusual opportunity to access candidates who are off-limits to many large firms due to their wide range of clients and placements, enabling us to be even more selective when finding the right leader,” said Barry Cesafsky, board vice chair of the group.

HealthSearch Partners combines the leadership of Oak Brook, IL-based CES Executive Search, and Dallas-headquartered firms FaithSearch Partners and Southerland Partners. Collectively, principals Mr. Southerland, Ed Fry, Neill Marshall, Laura A. Conley, Ivan Bartolome, and Mr. Cesafsky, have managed more than 500 healthcare CEO searches.

“What sets us apart is that we have the level of experience and expertise of a large firm, but the speed, creativity and access of a small firm,” said Mr. Fry, who serves as president and CEO of the new organization. “Our clients aren’t passed on to a junior consultant after they sign. They work with senior consultants every step of the way – people who have 20 to 30 years of experience, have seen it before and can lead a search confidently.”

Healthcare Veterans

Mr. Southerland has over three decades experience conducting executive searches for healthcare provider organizations. He has been involved in more than 900 searches for prominent non-profit multi-hospital health systems, professional associations, pediatric health systems, public hospitals, academic medical centers and managed care organizations. His firm has placed CEOs at Ardmore Institute of Health, St. Joseph’s Healthcare System and El Paso Children’s Hospital, among other healthcare organizations.

Mr. Marshall, a longtime colleague of Mr. Southerland’s, will serve as COO of HealthSearch Partners. He has over 20 years of experience in healthcare recruiting and has been involved in hundreds of senior-level assignments. His expertise includes physician-related consulting, and his early experience includes healthcare supply sales.

Since 1990, Mr. Fry has assisted faith-based organization boards and executive teams in securing mission-minded leaders. His firm FaithSearch Partners has partnered with Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas, Baylor University Medical Center, Mercy Hospital Oklahoma City, Ascension / Providence Health Network, Adventist HealthCare and Covenant Health System, among others. The firm has placed top HR executives at Adventist Health System and Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas.

Mr. Bartolome, who has worked with Mr. Fry since 2008, will serve as VP of HealthSearch Partners. Before entering executive search, he served as administrative director for Cardiovascular Services at Shawnee Mission Medical Center, the second largest hospital in the metro Kansas City area.

Mr. Cesafsky’s executive search assignments have included CEOs, CMOs, CFOs, CNOs, CIOs, human resource executives and senior-level positions for hospitals, healthcare systems, senior services organizations and retirement communities, medical group practices, professional service firms, foundations and other large vertically-integrated healthcare organizations. He is the board vice chair of HealthSearch Partners. His firm, CES, has been serving hospitals, health systems, senior services and other healthcare-related organizations since its founding in 2001. The search firm maintains relationships with two of the nation’s three largest health systems, Providence Health & Services and Catholic Health Systems.

Mr. Cesafsky’s long time co-worker Ms. Conley becomes vice president at the new firm. She has spent the first half of her career with some of the leading pediatric hospitals in the country, such as Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, focusing on quality improvement, operations and strategic planning. Ms. Conley is skilled at partnering and consulting with boards of directors, CEOs and senior executives on executive recruitment and retention, succession planning and organizational and leadership development.

Recent Mergers

Executive search firms have seen a rise in mergers in recent months. Here’s a look at a few from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

CMP, a talent development and transition firm, has merged with Atlanta-based coaching firm The Frontier Group. Frontier, which has a 31-year track record of delivering individual career transition solutions, redeployment solutions and executive coaching, will operate under the CMP brand.

Orthopedic and spine-focused executive search firm Othoexecutive and Crowther Ballantyne Associates have merged. The collaboration of the U.K.-based operations brings together 33 years’ experience in executive search, and 18 years’ experience in the medical device industry in sales and marketing functions.

DES Recruitment has merged with U.K.-based Miramar Global Executive Search. For the past 15 years, DES Recruitment has identified and attracted senior-level executives for clients nationwide. Miramar Global has forged a reputation serving U.S. multinationals in the Americas as well as across EMEA and Asia.

Gibson Consultants, a recruiter that serves healthcare payers and digital health companies, has merged with its affiliate, Enterprise Recruiters, a recruiting firm also focused on digital health companies. The combined company, which will keep the Gibson Consultants name, has also opened an additional office in Wilmington, NC.

Asset management executive recruiters Grace Point Partners and BraddockMatthews have merged. The joint firm will continue to serve clients across traditional and alternative asset management, including hedge fund, private equity, endowment and foundation, and family office organizations. The firm will be known as BraddockMatthews and have offices in Manhattan and Boston.

Buffkin/ Baker recently merged New York-based WTW Associates into its expanding executive recruiting platform. WTW, a talent provider focused on the media, entertainment, technology and law industries, will integrate its operations into the Buffkin/Baker New York office. Warren Wasp becomes a partner in the firm, and will head its entertainment/ media practice.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Will Schatz, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media