Dual Senior Appointments for a PE-Backed Ophthalmology Company at a Critical Growth Inflection Point

The client is a UK-based ophthalmology medical device and pharmaceutical company doing business in more than 80 countries, backed by a leading international private equity firm. The organization grew from about 150 employees to more than 1,000 in five years through a mix of acquisitions and direct market entries. Its biggest commercial market was the Americas region, based in Memphis, Tennessee, and serving the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Latin America. This region is at the center of its five-year growth strategy.

The company had to replace two senior leaders at the same time: the HR Director for the Americas and the Finance Director for the Americas. Both searches were highly confidential: as the existing leadership for each role remained in position throughout the engagement. Due to the circumstances, all shortlisted candidates were required to sign non-disclosure agreements before the company’s identity was revealed. Both roles had different requirements but both required multi-country leadership experience, private equity credibility, and the seniority to act as genuine commercial partners at a critical juncture in the company’s growth.

The HR Director needed multi-country HR leadership experience, credible private equity experience, and the necessary practical capabilities to run a lean in-market team while developing the talent infrastructure to support large personnel growth. The Finance Director needed to be a fully qualified accountant with strong FP&A and business partnering credentials, who could act as a strategic partner to the Americas VP and grow a cross-country finance team as the region expanded. Both of these positions were office based in Memphis.

Keller ran both searches at the same time, looking for executives who had led teams across multiple countries, especially if that experience was in the Americas, either in PE-backed or high-growth settings. The HR search pulled from the medical devices, pharma, manufacturing, and industrial sectors with a preference for operational generalists with hands-on experience in rapid workforce scaling. The Finance search was focused on CPA-qualified finance professionals from the medical device and broader healthcare disciplines who had built or grown finance functions in fast-moving organizations. Both searches included video interview footage of candidate profiles to provide the client with an early insight into communication style and cultural fit.

The UK business made two regional hires: an HR Director to lead workforce strategy for the United States, Canada and Brazil, and a Finance Director to boost financial planning, reporting and strategic finance support.

The HR appointment brings a private equity-backed growth experience, multi-country HR leadership, acquisition experience, and a track record of building HR infrastructure at scale.

The Finance hire brings CPA-level financial leadership, deep FP&A and commercial finance experience and the ability to support regional growth with better forecasting, controls and executive reporting.

Together, the appointments gave the client the regional executive capability it required in two key functions simultaneously, with new leadership established to support the next phase of growth in the Americas.