TurningPoint Executive Search and Collabrie Unite to Create Ascentria Search Partners
May 15, 2025 – TurningPoint Executive Search and Collabrie have recently joined forces to establish Ascentria Search Partners. “The merger was a natural fit because both firms share the same philosophy: recruiting is about relationships, not just resumes,” said Seann Richardson, former president of Collabrie and now a partner at Ascentria Search Partners. “By bringing our expertise together, we’re amplifying our ability to connect companies with the right talent who will drive long-term success.”
“At Ascentria Search Partners, we go beyond recruitment—we build lasting partnerships that fuel business growth,” said Ken Schmitt, former CEO of TurningPoint Executive Search and now a partner at Ascentria Search Partners. “By combining our deep industry knowledge and high-touch approach, we’re redefining executive search as a strategic collaboration, not just a transaction.”
With over 25 years in recruiting and executive search, Ms. Richardson has built her career helping companies align strategy with talent. In 2013, she became president of Caron & Stanley, where she led the firm’s transformation into a high-touch, relationship-driven search firm. In 2021, she took full ownership, rebranding the company as Collabrie to reflect its consultative, people-first approach to talent acquisition.
Mr. Schmitt has been a recruiter for close to 25 years. His team at TurningPoint have placed nearly 400 of the nation’s leading sales, marketing, operations, and C-suite professionals, partnering with national clients across numerous industries such as tech, software, transportation, manufacturing, distribution, consumer products, professional and financial services, healthcare, life sciences, and hospitality.
With a focus on C-suite, sales, marketing, operations, HR, accounting, and finance, Ascentria Search Partners will continue serving decision-makers across diverse industries, including technology, private equity, manufacturing, architectural & engineering services, CPG, software, SaaS, construction, and more.
“Together, we bring you the same trusted advisors, now with deeper resources, broader reach, and a bold new vision,” Mr. Schmitt said. “Our mission remains unchanged: to connect exceptional companies with extraordinary leaders, one meaningful partnership at a time.
Roots of the Merger
“Seann and I have been colleagues for 25 years, and we’ve always discussed the possibility of joining forces” said Mr. Schmitt. He points out that it really came down to three factors that the decision to combine into one firm:
- To offer more options to clients across a broader array of functions, leveraging our combined experience supporting privately held and private equity-backed lower and middle market firms that don’t have access to high touch, consultative search firms.
- To provide our team with opportunities for growth, new challenges and a chance to work with a newly expanded client base.
- To ultimately allow Ms. Richardson and Mr. Schmitt to orchestrate an exit in five to seven years as a larger, more robust firm.
Related: Executive Search 2025: Balancing AI Innovation with a Human Touch
“Seann and I have not only been friends and colleagues for 25 years, we’ve also served as a quasi-advisory board for one another,” Mr. Schmitt said. “We have crafted our offering and our management styles in such a way that we focus on building long-term relationships with our clients, as evidenced by the fact that both of us derive 85 percent of our business from referrals and repeat clients. We both pride ourselves in how we approach client development, our deep involvement with our business community, our commitment to quality over quantity and our track record of 90 percent retention rates among our placements and nearly 95 percent fill rate.”
Mr. Schmitt also explained that clients will now benefit from our collective expertise. “Many of my clients ask about our ability to handle accounting, finance and HR searches, and historically we haven’t had the bandwidth or expertise, other than VP and C-suite role,” he said. “Seann and her team bring a wealth of experience in this area, and likewise, she is now able to offer sales, marketing and C-suite search to her legacy clients. Historically, TurningPoint Executive Search has carved out a niche of private equity firm client, representing 70 percent of our book of business. While Seann has focused more on founder led and private companies, we will now be able to offer this expanded suite of search to the private equity sector as well.”
“The great things about combining firms is that nothing will change about our approach or how we support our clients,” Mr. Schmitt continued. “We will continue to focus on or niche, rather than trying to be all things to all people, and our clients will always come first. Seann and I are equally committed to the core value of accessibility, meaning that even if we are not the best resource for a client, we will do what we need to in order to refer them to the right firm. The cornerstone of our success will continue to be relationships.”
Related: Predicting Talent Acquisition Trends for 2025
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
