How Klein Hersh Has Supported a Leading Healthcare Investment Firm Across Nine Portfolio Companies
Summary
Since 2019, Klein Hersh has partnered with a leading healthcare-focused private equity firm to build executive leadership teams across its portfolio. Over five years, this relationship has evolved from an initial talent-sharing introduction into a trusted, strategic partnership spanning nine portfolio companies and more than 20 executive placements, including CEOs, commercial officers, operating partners, and advisors. Klein Hersh’s deep understanding of the healthcare and biotech ecosystem, along with its ability to deliver interim, fractional, and permanent executive solutions, has been instrumental in driving portfolio growth, acquisitions, and successful exits.
The Challenge
When the firm first engaged Klein Hersh in 2019, it sought an executive search partner that truly understood the inersection of healthcare, biotech, and private equity. Their leadership team needed access to candidates who had a track record of scaling companies post-investment, deep experience navigating growth-stage and exit strategies, and the ability to serve in interim or advisory capacities across portfolio companies.
From the beginning, Klein Hersh took a hands-on approach, sitting in on strategy discussions to understand the firm’s focus areas and investment theses. This insight allowed us to align emerging market talent with the opportunities the firm was pursuing, ensuring that every search directly supported its broader growth strategy.
The challenge was not only identifying high-performing executives but also finding leaders who had already achieved meaningful exits and could transition from operator to mentor, advisor, or operating partner. Klein Hersh was able to deliver top-tier candidates who were actively available through long-standing, trusted relationships across our network. Without these connections, many of these individuals would have been secured quickly by other firms, underscoring the value of our established access and agility in the talent landscape. At the same time, the private equity firm was expanding during an unprecedented period of disruption in 2020, navigating virtual diligence, remote leadership interviews, and an evolving investment landscape. They needed a search partner that could adapt quickly, ensure rigor in the assessment process, and understand the nuances of executive leadership in PE-backed healthcare and biotech organizations.
The Approach
Klein Hersh began the relationship by introducing strong executive candidates who were not tied to an immediate search but represented the caliber of leadership the firm would need as its portfolio grew. This proactive, relationship-first approach built credibility and trust, laying the foundation for a retained search partnership in 2020.
Once engaged, Klein Hersh applied its specialized market expertise and private equity-aligned methodology to each search, leveraging a proprietary network of leaders across life sciences, healthcare services, and pharma technology. The approach included:
- Collaborative scoping: Partnering with operating partners, talent leaders, and investment professionals to define what success looked like for each role.
- Precision sourcing: Targeting executives with proven experience in private equity-backed environments who could lead through inflection points and scale organizations from tens to hundreds of millions in revenue.
- Flexible engagement models: Delivering solutions across retained, interim, and fractional executive search depending on each company’s needs.
- Rigorous evaluation: Using structured scorecards, backdoor references, and case-based assessments to ensure leadership alignment and readiness for the private equity model. Klein Hersh also effectively represented the firm’s culture and investment narrative in the market, attracting top executives whose experience and leadership style aligned with both strategic goals and organizational values.
Klein Hersh’s ability to act as an extension of the firm’s talent and investment teams, offering strategic advisory input alongside search execution, set it apart from traditional recruiters.
The Results
Since the first retained engagement in 2020, Klein Hersh has supported the firm across nine portfolio companies and completed more than 20 executive and advisory placements. These include CEOs, commercial leaders, CFOs, operating partners, and board members who have directly contributed to:
- A portfolio exit valued near $1 billion.
- Multiple acquisitions and integrations across healthcare services and pharma tech companies.
- The creation of new divisions and leadership structures that positioned portfolio companies for accelerated growth.
Today, Klein Hersh continues to serve as a strategic talent partner for the firm, advising on active searches, introducing high-impact advisors, and building leadership infrastructure to support continued investment.
By combining deep functional expertise with a specialized focus in life sciences, healthcare, and biotech, Klein Hersh has become a trusted partner for venture capital and private equity firms seeking executives who can create value from investment through exit.
Partner With Klein Hersh
Whether your firm is building its first healthcare platform or scaling an established portfolio, Klein Hersh provides the network, experience, and precision to deliver leaders who drive transformation.
