From Search to Strategic Partnership: Supporting a PE-Backed Healthcare Platform

The Client

Founded in Austin, Texas in 2007, our client is a leading interventional pain management platform with a growing network of clinics and ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) across the United States. Known for its customized, multi-disciplinary approach to chronic pain treatment, the organization partners with physicians to deliver high-quality, evidence-based care. A focus on innovation, community impact, and advanced procedures like spinal cord stimulator implants has made the company a respected leader in the space.

Backed by a prominent private equity sponsor, the business had grown rapidly through acquisitions and was entering a new phase of scale. With that growth came operational complexity—and the need for a senior leader who could bring structure, consistency, and vision to the platform’s day-to-day operations.

The Challenge

To support its aggressive expansion strategy, the company needed a new Chief Operating Officer to serve as the operational right hand to the CEO and a close partner to the CFO and Board. This was not a traditional corporate leadership role—the COO would be responsible for overseeing a broad and decentralized set of teams, including nurse anesthetists, lab operations, DME, referral coordination, a centralized call center, business development, and regional administrators.

The mandate was as ambitious as it was nuanced. The COO needed to:

• Lead both clinical and non-clinical operations across a multi-state footprint
• Build scalable systems to integrate acquisitions and support continued M&A
• Embed in the field to build trust with physician partners and staffs
• Professionalize and standardize operations while respecting local autonomy
• Drive improvements in scheduling, throughput, quality, and compliance
• Work cross-functionally with IT, HR, Finance, Marketing, and Real Estate to align operations with strategic priorities

The ideal candidate needed to thrive in complexity, lead with empathy, and operate with both a strategic lens and an execution-first mindset.

Our Approach

We launched a national search targeting senior operators with proven success in multi-site, provider-based healthcare services—especially those who had worked in capital-backed environments. We focused on identifying leaders who could manage through rapid growth and organizational change, while remaining deeply connected to the day-to-day realities of running a patient-focused business.

Over the course of the search, we engaged more than 250 candidates. We partnered closely with the CEO, PE sponsor, and key internal stakeholders to ensure alignment on not only the candidate profile, but also the cultural DNA and leadership style required to succeed in the role.

The Placement

The candidate ultimately selected brought a rare blend of strategic depth and operational range:

• A former Accenture consultant, he had experience across multiple industries—including healthcare, consumer goods (Coors), entertainment (Disney), and retail (Wawa)
• He had led operations and held P&L responsibility at a large veterinary services roll-up, where he managed integration efforts and drove performance across dozens of sites
• He brought over four years of experience in PE-backed, multi-site healthcare services organizations
• His strong M&A background made him well-suited to support the company’s acquisition-driven growth
• Just as importantly, he demonstrated high emotional intelligence, clear communication skills, and a field-forward leadership style that resonated with both the executive team and front-line providers

The Outcome

We completed the search in under 90 days from kickoff—well ahead of traditional retained search timelines.

Since joining, the new COO has quickly embedded himself with the clinical and operational teams, built trust with physician partners, and driven meaningful improvements in standardization, throughput, and team alignment. He has become a strategic anchor within the organization and a trusted partner to both the CEO and private equity sponsor.

The partnership has also grown beyond a single placement. Since the COO’s arrival, we’ve gone on to lead two additional successful executive searches for the company—deepening our relationship with the leadership team and continuing to support the platform’s ongoing transformation.

From a single search to a lasting partnership, this engagement reflects the kind of long-term, strategic value we aim to deliver.