THE CLIENT OPPORTUNITY

The client, a $100 million pharmaceutical company and an emerging leader in the cell therapy industry, was purchased by a private equity company. A new CEO was brought in and they needed an entirely new executive team. The client attempted to build this team by reaching out to their professional network, but the role of Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance proved to be more of a challenge.

The CEO and Vice President of Human Resources determined that the complexity of the project and time gate to bring someone on board required a professional search in order to be completed efficiently and successfully. Therefore, they contacted Ashton Tweed to fill this imperative position.

 

THE ASHTON TWEED SOLUTION

The client needed someone with a minimum of 10 years of R&D or Regulatory experience in the biotech or pharmaceutical industries and who had experience defining drug and device requirements for new projects. Additionally, one of their major products was for the dental space – a narrow field, which makes it challenging to isolate qualified talent.

The company did not have the time or resources to find such a rare individual. Therefore, the role necessitated a retained executive search firm that was an expert in their industry. Ashton Tweed had extensive knowledge in this field and their research team started by looking into 100 potential backgrounds. Such a large-scale task would have burdened an internal HR team that already had full-time responsibilities. Furthermore, retained search firms have access to candidates who aren’t actively looking for new career opportunities, opening up the candidate base and resulting in a better hire.

Ashton Tweed had the expertise to actively recruit 15 qualified candidates and narrow it down to 4 finalists who were ideal for the company. With their full-time efforts and narrowed focus, the entire process took only 90 days from start to hire.

 

THE BENEFIT

The company was able to secure a highly qualified professional who met all of their requirements, with the added bonus of a dental background and global experience. This hire came at a time that was critical to the CEO, as she had come on board with an aggressive timetable to build her executive team. With Ashton Tweed handling the narrow executive search, the company could focus on the other team members.