ZRG Partners Acquires Dowd Associates

May 2, 2019 – ZRG Partners, a fast growing executive search firm, has continued its expansion with the acquisition of certain assets of Dowd Associates, an executive search firm focused on the financial officer’s space. The deal’s financial terms were undisclosed.

As part of the asset purchase agreement, Dowd Associates’ president and CEO Rich Dowd will join ZRG as a managing director. Mr. Dowd has over 20 years of experience in executive search. In addition to being a known subject-matter expert in treasury search, he also has deep experience in VPs of finance, controller and CFO search work. He will be a member of ZRG’s financial officer’s practice.

“With Rich on board, we now have additional specialty expertise to support our clients,” said Larry Hartmann, CEO of ZRG. “We have an experienced team already focused on the CFO function and adding Rich allows us to not only recruit CFOs but help them be more successful by attracting the right talent in this critical function.”

“The success and good fortune I’ve experienced throughout my career has come directly from the wonderful client relationships I’ve been able to foster and my access and knowledge of the talent pool,” Mr. Dowd said. “By being a part of ZRG, I will be able to bring my clients new expertise, a global reach and a market leading data and analytics search platform. I am extremely excited about all that is available to me and my clients –present and future.”

Bruce Robertson, head of ZRG’s global financial officer’s practice, said the practice will benefit immensely by the addition of Mr. Dowd and his team. “With over 20 years of experience in this nuanced functional area, he knows the talent pool and the key drivers of success for firms seeking talent,” said Mr. Robertson. “His experience enables us to expand our ability to support our clients in building world-class finance and accounting teams.”

ZRG Partners, founded in 1999, is a progressive mid-sized global executive search firm that uses a proven, data-driven approach. ZRG finds leaders across a broad spectrum of business markets, including aerospace, consumer, education, healthcare services and solutions, industrial, life sciences, non-profit, private equity and venture capital, and technology.

Continued Expansion

ZRG has experienced a wave of expansion recently. Here is an abridged overview of the firm’s more recent growth from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

ZRG Partners began the year by adding Frederick Lamster as a managing director and a retail sector specialist within its growing consumer practice. The firm described the move as part of a strategy and commitment to accelerate its ability to serve a wider range of clients within the global consumer landscape. Prior to joining ZRG, Mr. Lamster was a partner with Battalia Winston, where he provided retained search and organizational consulting to clients in the retail sector.

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ZRG also hired Greg Gerson as a managing director and leader within the firm’s healthcare services practice. Mr. Gerson has over 17 years of experience in executive search, as well as the healthcare sector. He was previously with Korn Ferry, where he was the leader in the healthcare market for professional search within the firm’s Futurestep division. He has also worked at Aon as a compensation expert in the healthcare sector.

In addition, ZRG named Rahul Kapur as managing director and leader of its newly launched blockchain unit and Mr. Robertson as managing director and head of the financial officer practice. The new blockchain practice will help the firm’s financial services, fintech and healthcare clients as well as those in emerging blockchain-centric industries meet the emerging talent needs required to capitalize on opportunities in the distributed ledger/blockchain space, said ZRG Partners. With deep expertise in payments and financial technology, Mr. Kapur previously held senior positions at PwC, Deloitte, Capgemini and MasterCard Advisors.

Continued Growth

Here is an overview of further examples of the firm’s expansion moves from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

Giovanni Lamarca was recently hired as a managing director and a consumer products sector leader within the firm’s growing consumer practice. Mr. Lamarca is of multiple nationalities and speaks six languages fluently, said ZRG. Previously, he was managing director with RSR Partners. 

Just recently, ZRG appointed Charles H. King as managing director and global board practice leader. Mr. King, who has completed more than 600 board mandates in his career, partners with clients to recruit executives to serve as directors of public and private companies. 

ZRG also recently acquired certain assets of the Epsen Fuller Group. As part of the asset acquisition agreement, Thomas Fuller, formerly the managing partner and CEO of Epsen Fuller Group, is joining ZRG as managing director & global practice leader for the firm’s consumer sector.

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

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