A key moment: moving into private equity

Praeva Partners is expanding its remit into the private equity market – and bringing a new partner on board – following a hugely successful first year working exclusively with high-growth, privately-owned businesses in the UK and Europe.    

It means that Praeva Partners will work with private equity funds and their portfolio companies to identify board and C-suite leaders. Its executive search offering supports businesses and investors throughout the investment lifecycle, from pre-deal planning and value creation through to exit readiness.

Since we launched in November 2025, we’ve prided ourselves on the quality of our service delivery. We’ve worked with some incredible businesses, helping them find the new talent for their boards that will take them on to amazing new things.  

Now, it’s time for us to take our offering into a new market: private equity. And as part of our plans to do that, we’re welcoming Josh Guest to our team to lead our Life Sciences practice, and Heather Napier as a senior consultant to support the full team.

What’s new

We’ll still be working with the ambitious private companies that have been at the core of our offering so far, but now we’ll also work with the funds that can help them access massive growth. We believe that this natural expansion of our work will be really beneficial to our existing clients, and will help us to reach even more exciting businesses in the UK and Europe.

Mark Sherman, founder and chief executive of Praeva Partners, said: “Our first year has reinforced my view that the search market needs to operate differently. There is huge unclaimed value in working with a partner where the model is integrated. This means we can work cross-team to get the right expertise on each project, with a sole focus on quality delivery and client experience. The evolution from working solely with privately-owned businesses into the private equity market is a natural continuity. Many of our customers are in their first years of growth and are ready to seek a new investment partner to ramp up that growth. We have a wealth of experience on both sides of the deal, which I believe massively increases our relevance in the private equity market.  

“The right leadership team is the biggest single driver of value creation, so working with the right executive search firm is a hugely important part of managing the senior talent - both in portfolio businesses and in funds themselves,” he continued. “Our team has decades of combined experience operating in the equity market and we bring an approach built on collaboration, measurement and flexibility to our clients. We've found most traditional models are slower to execute, encumbered by legacy systems and the wrong incentive models. We are delivering faster – and better – results, with our whole model built around the right knowledge for each requirement. This will be a great fit for private equity.”  

We’ll be working with both the funds themselves, and their portfolio companies to find the board and C Suite talent that will propel them towards success - from pre-deal and value-creation phases through to exit readiness.  

Expanding into life sciences

Our expansion into private equity comes as we expand our senior team with Josh Guest. Josh has joined us to establish and lead Praeva Partners’ life sciences practice. Josh will focus on executive search across specialty pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical outsourcing, clinical research organisations (CROs), contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs), life sciences advisory businesses and medical technology companies.

Josh said: “Life sciences companies within the private equity ecosystem operate at a specific intersection, balancing innovation, regulation and commercial urgency. As a result, leadership decisions in this market are nuanced and require knowledge-led advice.

“I’m really excited to be joining Praeva, a firm that has focused first and foremost on building a collaborative team and equipping them with the tools and technology to give more time back to their clients, where it is most needed. Praeva offers the search model that these companies, and the investors backing them, need. I can’t wait to get started.”

Mark added: “Josh brings a wealth of experience in the life sciences and healthcare sectors, working with privately owned and equity-backed organisations alike to partner them with the right leadership to drive success. His experience and reputation speak for themselves and having worked closely with him previously I know that he will be the right cultural fit for Praeva and for our clients. He’s a real asset to the business and I have every confidence that he’ll develop a thriving life sciences and healthcare practice at Praeva.”

And a word from our sponsors!

Praeva launched with investment from Jigsaw Equity, a specialist sector investor. Jigsaw Equity co-founders Michael and Graham Goodwin both joined Praeva Partners’ board, supporting the firm’s strategy and development during its formative years.

Michael Goodwin, co-founder of Jigsaw Equity, added: “Praeva Partners has had an exceptional first year and its move into private equity is a natural next step. Under Mark’s leadership, the business has been carefully designed to meet the needs of both founder and investor, delivering a premium, seamless service that helps ambitious and growing businesses turn their growth visions into reality.”

Hungry for more?

We want to know what you think!  

Get in touch (or message Mark on LinkedIn) and give us your take.  

We’re all ears.  

‍