ZRG Partners Appoints Leader of Human Capital Consulting and Advisory Practice
August 3, 2023 – ZRG Partners has named Michelle Stuntz to lead and grow the firm’s human capital consulting and advisory practice. “As ZRG continues to build out our human capital offerings, bringing in a leader with global experience scaling a consulting business was a critical step in our journey,” said Larry Hartmann, CEO. “We are thrilled to add Michelle, who has successfully navigated growing a consulting business within a global executive search firm at Korn Ferry but also brings outstanding pedigree and experience from Deloitte.”
“We are very excited for Michelle as she takes on her new role,” Mr. Hartmann said. “Her years of experience in the consulting industry have led her to where she is now and I’m confident she will help us expand our consulting and advisory division at ZRG.”
Ms. Stuntz most recently was the North America consumer consulting leader at Korn Ferry, where she led the efforts to provide human capital strategy, innovative performance management redesign, assessing and succession planning for C-suite talent, redesigning various talent functions, designing EVP, and optimizing rewards spend. She was responsible for growth across CPG, retail, travel, hospitality, leisure, sports, media, and entertainment. Prior to that, Ms. Stuntz spent eight years with Deloitte Consulting, most recently as a senior manager leading teams of over 100 employees.
ZRG has made two recent strategic acquisitions in the consulting and advisory space, including Walking the Talk, a global leader in culture transformation and Brimstone, a niche firm in the strategy and CEO alignment space. The plans are to organically grow this sector while continuing to be active in M&A looking for complementary product offerings led by great leaders.
“There’s real room in the market for a consulting practice that inspires and supports its clients in growing organizationally and individually; that’s what we’re doing with ZRG Consulting,” said Ms. Stuntz. “Our solutions are practical, applicable, and immediately useful. I’m excited to shape and grow the consulting business unit in partnership with our other lines of business.”
Related: ZRG Partners Names Chief Commercial Officer
ZRG, founded in 1999, is a progressive mid-sized global executive search firm. With the financial backing of private equity investor RFE Investment Partners, ZRG is among the fastest growing firms in the search industry. It provides a full suite of executive, middle-management, and customized search solutions through its offices in North America, Europe, South America, and Asia. The firm 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.
Recent Funding
Last December, ZRG secured a new secondary equity investment from a consortium of new and existing institutional investors led by Timber Bay Partners. “We see tremendous opportunity to acquire great businesses in the recruiting and talent advisory areas that will augment our organic growth across all of our business lines,” said Mr. Hartmann. “The new equity capital and expanded credit facility provide ample dry powder for our organic and acquisition growth plans, Additionally, we will continue to invest in our disruptive Zi technology platform and grow our interim and consulting businesses in tandem with our core executive recruiting deliverables.”
ZRG Partners Names New Practice Group Leaders
ZRG has appointed three new practice group leaders in their executive search business. Samantha Foster, Davonne Helmer, and Richard Dowd have been tapped to step up to leadership roles in their major practice groups. Ms. Foster joins James Aslaksen in leading the firm’s industrial practice. Ms. Foster also leads the U.S. aerospace and defense practice. Ms. Helmer joins Wendy Murphy at the head of the human resources officers practice. Mr. Dowd joins Bruce Robertson in leading the financial officers practice.
This new capital will accelerate ZRG’s acquisition and hiring efforts as the company continues to build-out a full suite of offerings to help clients solve people problems. The new equity round included increased support from existing investors as well as a number of new institutions. RFE will manage the new equity consortium and will maintain a control equity position.
Future Growth
Concurrent with the new equity investment in the company, ZRG also announced the closing of a new and expanded senior credit facility led by Truist Bank. Proceeds will be used to refinance existing debt and provide additional capital for future growth.
“ZRG has an exceptional track record of supporting and growing acquired companies that have all thrived under ZRG’s resources and unique culture,” said Michael Rubel, managing director at RFE. “This new capital accelerates our strategy of partnering with great new human capital people and brands.”
Atlantic-Pacific Capital served as exclusive global financial advisor and placement agent. Truist Bank served as the sole lead arranger for the new credit facility. Specific financial terms were not disclosed.
Related: ZRG Appoints Global Head of Financial Services
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
