About Us
Who We Are & What We Believe
We believe that entrepreneurs will solve the toughest problems of our time, and that they’ll only do it with the right people around them. We exist because we know that building that team can be the hardest part and while we started small ourselves, our vision for what’s possible is bigger than ever. With the entrepreneur at the center, our vast suite of capabilities addressing all facets of human capital has evolved to meet our partners where they are, brought to life by our passion for storytelling and connecting people.
We built our platform and model to align tightly with the companies we serve, frequently investing in them alongside their institutional sponsors, treating each of them as if it was our capital at stake regardless. With national reach, we have cultivated a network of leaders from all corners and cultures, bringing a diverse network of talent - coupled with a sophisticated repeatable process - to bear.
Our partners are transforming the healthcare landscape before our very eyes, and we find our purpose in supporting them throughout their entire journey - from 'back-of-the-napkin' early days, through rapid scale, and beyond. Through them, we feel our impact on the ecosystem, collaborating closely to convene teams that are built to go the distance.
Our Core Values
Our Team
Our engagements are guided by senior leaders with a breadth and depth of experience in both industry and executive search. Meet our storytellers.


Tim Gordon
Founder & Managing Partner
Tim Gordon is the Founder & Managing Partner of Aequitas Partners, which he founded after spending over two years helping to build Oxeon Partners, nearly from its inception. Since the firm’s founding, Aequitas has been engaged on Board and Executive Level searches across all functional areas, has invested in over 15 high growth healthcare companies, and launched a portfolio of products that support its partners in a myriad of ways.
As employee #4 at Oxeon, Tim led searches and placements across the C-suite for clients such as Evolent Health, Privia Health, RxAnte, Liazon, The Advisory Board Company, eVariant, Cambia Health and others. Additionally, Tim managed the human capital content creation for StartUp Health’s Curriculum, and continues to advise its entrepreneurs on building their leadership teams. He has found his passion in working with healthcare companies on the critical challenge of getting the right people involved at the right time — companies that are changing the way the world thinks about Healthcare.
In addition to managing the firm, Tim spends time every month advising entrepreneurs and engaging with them on topics ranging from compensation benchmarks, to recruitment strategy, to long term human capital planning. He has been a Mentor at Startup Health, StartupBootcamp and MATTER, is the Co-President of The Healthcare Club New York, and an Advisor to a number of early stage healthcare companies.
Tim graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Supply Chain & Information Systems, but has been a Nittany Lion all his life. Originally from the Philadelphia suburbs, Tim spent more than a decade in Manhattan, where Aequitas was founded, and now resides in the Society Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia with his wife Kristy, who is a Nurse Practitioner at Jefferson University Health System, his son Theo, and his daughter Reese.


Polina Hanin
Senior Principal & Head of Development
Polina Hanin is a Senior Principal at Aequitas Partners with a passion for enabling entrepreneurs to achieve their audacious visions. A builder at heart, Polina works with clients of all stages to define their organizational design strategy to build highly functional teams. Outside of search, Polina runs the Health Talent Exchange, Annual Compensation Study, and other company initiatives, all with the goal of improving equity and access to opportunity.
Polina joined Aequitas after spending nearly a decade as the Portfolio Director at StartUp Health, a platform that invests, broadcasts and unites health entrepreneurs around the world. While there, she managed a portfolio of 300+ companies, acting as primary coach for entrepreneurs at all stages of the startup lifecycle. Specifically focusing on positioning, she helped teams craft stories that led to companies raising more than $750M after joining StartUp Health, gaining contracts from national institutions and growing their visibility. Polina was also instrumental in building out and scaling the company’s programming, community and internal platform that enabled the team to collaborate and share industry insights.
Polina got her start in the health space in the early 2000’s at Viscogliosi Bros., a merchant bank focused on the musculoskeletal industry. Throughout her tenure, she held multiple roles within the firm’s portfolio companies - everything from corporate finance to cleaning instrument sets. While there, she launched MCRA, a consulting firm for commercializing orthopedic technologies, where she brought in the first 20 clients. Polina also led M&A, corporate development and distribution-related activities for Centinel Spine’s spinal stabilization device portfolio.
Polina earned her bachelor’s degree at Wesleyan University’s College of Social Studies and her M.B.A. at University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia and raised in northern New Jersey, Polina technically resides in New York City with frequent escapes outside the US.


Stephanie Sutsko
Senior Principal & Head of People
Stephanie Sutsko is a Senior Principal and Head of People at Aequitas Partners. She has 10 years of executive search experience and a decade of prior experience working in the pharmaceutical and clinical research industry. She has led search engagements across functions, placing Board members, CEOs, C-Suite executives, and other executive leaders in operations, finance, marketing, IT/engineering, sales, and HR.
Stephanie has a passion for the intersection of healthcare and technology and the impact that digital health companies can have on patients’ lives.
Prior to Aequitas, Stephanie was a Principal at Howard Fischer Associates, where she served as a partner and strategic advisor to executive leaders of both emerging-growth and Fortune 100 companies. She collaborated with her clients to identify, engage, and evaluate strong talent to drive success for their business needs. She worked across many industries including SaaS, telecommunications, industrial technology, healthcare, manufacturing, computer software, financial services and media.
Stephanie started her career in executive search at the Atlantic Group where she expanded the firm’s practice into life sciences and technology. Her early career was in pharmaceutical clinical research where she worked both for clinical research organizations and in Big Pharma at Novartis.
Stephanie graduated with degrees in Biology and History from the University of Delaware where she was also a member of Chi Omega sorority. She is a certified Pilates instructor, roller-coaster enthusiast, and loves spending time outdoors. She is originally from Philadelphia and now resides in the suburb of Bucks County with her family, including daughter, Emmelyn, and son, Gavin.


Kelly McEldrew
Principal
Kelly McEldrew is a Principal at Aequitas Partners. She joined the firm in 2022 with 10 years of executive search experience.
Prior to joining the firm, Kelly was a Principal at Howard Fischer Associates, where she partnered with executive leaders of both emerging-growth and Fortune 500 companies, collaborating with clients to identify, engage, and evaluate strong talent to drive success for their business needs. Her work spanned across multiple industries, including media, telecommunications, digital, consumer and enterprise services and products and technology. She has recruited across functions, including Board members, CEOs, C-Suite executives, and other executive leaders in operations, finance, marketing, IT/engineering, product, sales, and HR. In addition to traditional executive search, a large portion of her search portfolio was dedicated to helping her clients enhance and fulfill their executive commitment to DE&I by engaging with top level diverse talent.
Prior to Howard Fischer, Kelly started her search career at the Atlantic Group, a boutique executive search firm focusing on finance recruitment.
Kelly graduated with honors from Georgetown University with degrees in Psychology and English and a minor in French. She was also a member of Georgetown’s Varsity Women’s Track and Field and Cross-Country teams. When not working, you can find her spending time with family including husband, Brett, and son, Parker at the beach in Sea Isle City.


Suzanne Chiaramonte
Principal
Suzanne joined the team at Aequitas Partners in 2023, bringing 8 years of Executive Search experience with her. She has led diverse search engagements across C-Suite leadership, sales/commercial, data, product, marketing, and client success roles as well as a successful RPO assignment.
Prior to Aequitas, Suzanne spent two years as Managing Director at Hunt Club, an executive search firm harnessing the power of relationships and referrals to find preeminent talent. In addition to bespoke executive search, Suzanne also led a team and owned a portfolio of clients across a wide range of functions and industries.
Suzanne began her Executive Search career at Chasm Partners as their first employee, helping establish the firm's track record in HCIT & Digital Health-focused search.
Suzanne's passion for healthcare started with her first career in marketing research. During her 11-year tenure in Nielsen's BASES unit, she developed and commercialized several new predictive analytics capabilities for the life sciences industry. She followed her BA in Economics from Bucknell University with an MBA from Rutgers University, specializing in Pharmaceutical Management.
Suzanne was born and raised in Northern NJ, and now makes her home in rural Connecticut with her husband and two sons; she dreams of retiring to one of the Carolinas and will opine on this whenever prompted. When she is not working, you can find Suzanne enjoying live music at dive bars and huge stadiums -and everywhere in between.


Julie Blum
Associate Director
Julie Blum is an Associate Director at Aequitas Partners where she drives executive-level searches across various sectors of the Digital Health industry. Julie focuses heavily on candidate generation and development and prides herself on maintaining long standing relationships with candidates and clients she supports.
Prior to joining Aequitas Partners, Julie was a Senior Associate at True Search, a global retained executive search firm specializing in high-growth emerging tech talent. At True, she focused on executive-level, B2B and B2C searches for private equity and venture capital-backed businesses, primarily on marketing and sales roles. She worked across multiple industries including Retail, eCommerce, HealthTech, AdTech and FinTech. Prior to True, Julie spent 4 years at LinkedIn overseeing their Talent Solutions portfolio, which included LinkedIn Recruiter. At LinkedIn, Julie was responsible for change management, product adoption, customer education and ensuring that her clients saw a return on their investment. In the early days of Julie’s career, she worked in account management for various AdTech companies.
Julie received her B.S. in Psychology at The Pennsylvania State University. Upon graduating, she lived in NYC for 6 years before returning back to her hometown of Philadelphia.
Outside of work, Julie enjoys exploring new restaurants with her husband and taking her beloved Australian Labradoodle on long walks and hikes. She loves to cook and is always testing new recipes, attending various fitness classes, and traveling to new countries.


Regina Heffernan
Senior Associate
Regina Heffernan is a Senior Associate at Aequitas Partners where she drives cross-functional searches across various sectors of the Digital Health industry and executive functions including; CEO, growth and commercial, technology, regulatory, operations, product and marketing.
She joined the firm after working at Independence Blue Cross as a Product Manager where she managed enhancements to the product portfolio for various market segments including virtual care, disease and chronic condition management, customer service, and weight management solutions.
Regina began her career in Government and External Affairs at AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies focusing on Medicare, Medicaid and other publicity funded low-income populations. During her time there, she was responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the Political Action Committee. In addition, Regina supported the company’s state legislative and advocacy efforts and the development of their strategic government affairs objectives in current and expansion markets.
Regina holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and recently earned her Masters of Business Administration, Management Specialization from La Salle University. She also is a Board Member and works closely with Fred’s Footsteps to advance their young professional program. It is an organization that provides interim funds for otherwise financially stable families to help them handle the financial burden of a child’s illness or traumatic injury.


Julia Kramer-Golinkoff
Senior Market Analyst
Julia Kramer-Golinkoff is a Senior Analyst at Aequitas Partners. She is passionate about digital health and the utilization of technology in lowering healthcare costs and improving patient care, particularly for underrepresented populations. She believes success and impact is driven by innovative leaders, and is committed to bringing top talent to technology-enabled companies across the healthcare continuum.
She started her career as a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where she oversaw a number of clinical research studies. She served as the Communications and Advocacy Liaison for the Global Leukodystrophy Initiative Clinical Trials Network, working with clinicians, research teams, and advocacy partners from around the globe. Julia is a co-founder of Emily’s Entourage, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing research for rare nonsense mutations of Cystic Fibrosis.
Julia received her BS and MSPH from Tulane University. She currently resides in New York City. On the weekends, you can either find her racing down the ski slopes or playing just about any beach game. She is always in search of her next concert or show!


Carlee Horgan
Senior Associate
Carlee Horgan is an Associate at Aequitas Partners, where she collaborates with search teams across functions, and has worked on everything from Product to Sales leadership. She is fascinated by the intersection of technology and healthcare in order to resolve issues of accessibility, quality and affordability.
Passionate about lowering healthcare costs, she began her career as a Sales Operations Market Analyst at Imagine 360 (formally ELAP Services), where she was responsible for leveraging prospective client claims information to conduct detailed analysis of potential health savings. Additionally, she identified market and performance trends, while engaging directly with insurance brokers to provide detailed intel on analysis results.
Carlee received her BS in Natural Science from the University of Pittsburgh and is an avid Pitt football fan. She now happily resides in Philadelphia, PA. In her free time, you can find her trying out different workout classes, pretending to know how to cook, and spending time outdoors.


Yoma Onobrakpeya
Associate
Yoma Onobrakpeya is an Associate at Aequitas Partners. Utilizing various data sources, he collects qualitative and quantitative data related roles, salary trends, and job satisfaction. Yoma assists in driving the cultivation of top-down market research and engagement of prospective candidates, as well as acting as a liaison between candidates and clients.
In 2021, prior to joining Aequitas Partners, Yoma interned at Mars Wrigley as a Financial Planning & Accounting Analyst. During his internship he assisted in the analysis of detailed financial and corporate information as well as creating a model to automate the analysis process. He also acted as a liaison between the FP&A team and other segments of the company.
Yoma graduated from Drexel University with his degree in BSBA, majoring in Finance and Financial Management services. Yoma currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Outside of work, Yoma is a proud member of the See More Good Foundation, a York, Pennsylvania non-profit organization that teaches basketball and financial literacy to youth in the York area. When he is not volunteering there, you can find him at the Drexel Recreation Center playing basketball with his friends or reading up on Federal Reserve news concerning the US Economy.


Britta Kinkeldei
Executive Assistant & Recruiting Coordinator
Britta Kinkeldei is Aequitas Partners’ scheduling ninja and office organization maven. As Tim’s first ever Executive Assistant, she is excited to work closely with Tim and the leadership team to lend support on searches, organize company events, and work behind the scenes to make sure everyone’s day stays on track. And as Recruiting Coordinator, she helps to keep candidates and clients aligned so that searches can run smoothly. She also organizes the office and keeps snacks and drinks on hand to keep everyone in the office happy.
Throughout her career Britta has worked in investment banking, fashion and, most recently, in Venture Capital. She’s excited to learn more about executive search and contribute to the process of helping our clients thrive.
Britta received her Bachelor in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Southern California and earned an MBA in Media Management from Hamburg Media School in Germany. Born and raised in Germany, she spent her late teens in the suburbs of Philadelphia and most recently moved back to the area after spending nearly a decade in the San Francisco Bay Area. Outside of work, you can catch her playing Roblox with her son Sebastian or having dance offs with her daughter Penelope – she’s also active in her daughter’s elementary school PTA and you can always find her at a concert or trying out the latest restaurant in town with her husband Colin.
Join Us
Director
About Us
Aequitas Partners is a boutique, retained executive search firm with a concentrated focus on the growth stage, healthcare technology and services industry. We help our clients identify, attract and retain leadership teams that enable them to change the healthcare landscape dramatically, delivering superior results for their investors. Because our clients are typically Venture Capital orPrivate Equity backed, we find ourselves in the unique position of being able to be investors in addition to search partners. The result is a dynamic search practice that benefits immensely from its industry focus, and the alignment we create with our clients.
That’s what we are, but equally important is who we are. We believe that great results for our clients don’t have to come at the expense of your personal life, and that work happy hours are awesome, but so is disconnecting and spending quality time with your family and friends – away from your work family. Balance is incredibly important to professional success, and we want to foster an environment that enables people to achieve that. We’re hardworking, but we also know how to have fun, and are careful not to take ourselves too seriously. We’re young – that is, we’re still becoming the company we’re going to be – which means you’ll have the opportunity to help shape that. If you’re passionate about marketing, maybe you lead our web efforts. If you’re interested in finance, perhaps you take the lead in managing our portfolio. At the end of the day, our goal is to build a company that is enriching on multiple levels for its employees, while consistently executing on its core mission – top tier executive search.
About You
You’re driven and looking for a job that’s more than just a job. You’re excited by the prospect of sitting across the table from industry leading executives, and engaging with them at a high level, helping them build their companies. You like a challenge, are creative in the way you solve problems, and take pride in being someone who just gets stuff done. You are resilient – executive search is full of variables, but you know how to control what you can, and let the other stuff rolloff. You’re interested in being more than just a recruiter, and more than just an employee. You have a life outside of work that involves friends and family, and all manner of personal pursuits – and you want a job that allows you to enjoy them to the fullest. You’re entrepreneurial, and understand that a role at Aequitas will provide diverse opportunities for you to explore that spirit, and build something you will be proud of.
Responsibilities
- Lead multiple searches simultaneously, typically at the C Level (CEO,CTO, CFO, CGO, etc.)
- Establish and guide research efforts to identify target companies and prospective candidates for the searches you are leading
- Provide leadership and guidance for Associates, with respect to research strategies, interviewing, process and time management
- Perform in-depth, 2nd and 3rd level vetting of prospective candidates
- Consistently travel to conduct in person interviews of prospective candidates
- Oversee and assist in the development of high quality deliverables for our clients, that include decks, candidate biographies, quantitative assessments, and research lists
- Assume a leadership roll on client search calls on a weekly basis, interacting with client CEOs and Board members
- Present candidates that you have identified and vetted on client calls
- Travel to industry conferences to interview candidates, expand your network, and identify new opportunities
- Identify areas within the company that you’re passionate about improving, and take the reigns in making it happen!
Thank you for your interest in joining the Aequitas Partners team. Please note that we review applications on a rolling basis and conduct interviews accordingly. If you are selected for an initial conversation, we will reach out to you directly.
In the meantime, keep up with all of our and our partners’ latest news by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on LinkedIn.

Associate/Sr. Associate
About Us
Aequitas Partners is a boutique, retained executive search firm with a concentrated focus on the growth stage, healthcare technology and services industry. We help our clients identify, attract and retain leadership teams that enable them to change the healthcare landscape dramatically, delivering superior results for their investors. Because our clients are typically Venture Capital orPrivate Equity backed, we find ourselves in the unique position of being able to be investors in addition to search partners. The result is a dynamic search practice that benefits immensely from its industry focus, and the alignment we create with our clients.
That’s what we are, but equally important is who we are. We believe that great results for our clients don’t have to come at the expense of your personal life, and that work happy hours are awesome, but so is disconnecting and spending quality time with your family and friends – away from your work family. Balance is incredibly important to professional success, and we want to foster an environment that enables people to achieve that. We’re hardworking, but we also know how to have fun, and are careful not to take ourselves too seriously. We’re young – that is, we’re still becoming the company we’re going to be – which means you’ll have the opportunity to help shape that. If you’re passionate about marketing, maybe you lead our web efforts. If you’re interested in finance, perhaps you take the lead in managing our portfolio. At the end of the day, our goal is to build a company that is enriching on multiple levels for its employees, while consistently executing on its core mission – top tier executive search.
About You
You’re driven and looking for a job that’s more than just a job. You’re excited by the prospect of sitting across the table from industry leading executives, and engaging with them at a high level, helping them build their companies. You like a challenge, are creative in the way you solve problems, and take pride in being someone who just gets stuff done. You are resilient – executive search is full of variables, but you know how to control what you can, and let the other stuff rolloff. You’re interested in being more than just a recruiter, and more than just an employee. You have a life outside of work that involves friends and family, and all manner of personal pursuits – and you want a job that allows you to enjoy them to the fullest. You’re entrepreneurial, and understand that a role at Aequitas will provide diverse opportunities for you to explore that spirit, and build something you will be proud of.
Responsibilities
- Execute on multiple searches simultaneously, typically at the C Level(CEO, CTO, CFO, CGO, etc.)
- Drive research efforts to identify target companies and prospective candidates for the searches you are supporting
- Craft initial outreach to prospective candidates, and engage them in first round screening and vetting
- As appropriate, travel to conduct in person interviews of prospective candidates
- Develop high quality deliverables for our clients, that include decks, candidate biographies, quantitative assessments, and research lists
- Actively participate on client search calls on a weekly basis, interacting with client CEO’s and Board members
- Present candidates that you have identified and vetted on client calls
- Travel to industry conferences as necessary to interview candidates and expand your network
- Identify areas within the company that you’re passionate about improving, and take the reigns in making it happen
Qualifications
- Bachelors Degree required, with 1-3 years of professional experience
- At least 1 year of search and recruitment experience is strongly preferred
- Experience in a client facing role, i.e. sales, account management, relationship management, etc., will be considered in place of search experience
- Strong project management capabilities, with a demonstrated track record in client delivery-focused roles
- Experience in, or understanding of the healthcare industry is ideal, but not required
- A consultative approach to the way you recruit, sell, manage, etc.
Thank you for your interest in joining the Aequitas Partners team. Please note that we review applications on a rolling basis and conduct interviews accordingly. If you are selected for an initial conversation, we will reach out to you directly.
In the meantime, keep up with all of our and our partners’ latest news by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on LinkedIn.

Don't see a role for you?
We're always looking for great candidates with a variety to talents and backgrounds, so if we've piqued your curiosity, send us your resume and cover letter letting us know what role you see yourself filling on our team.
Thank you for your interest in joining the Aequitas Partners team. Please note that we review applications on a rolling basis and conduct interviews accordingly. If you are selected for an initial conversation, we will reach out to you directly.
In the meantime, keep up with all of our and our partners’ latest news by subscribing to our newsletter and following us on LinkedIn.
