Ellen Travers

Ellen Travers is a Partner at JM Search and a member of the firm’s Healthcare & Life Sciences Practice. She partners with investors, boards, and executive teams to build leadership that drives value creation. Ellen specializes in recruiting CEOs, C-suite executives, and board members for biotech and pharmaceutical companies at critical stages of growth and transformation.

Before joining JM Search, Ellen was with Chartwell Partners, a boutique executive search firm focused on life sciences, and previously led Talent Acquisition at Xontogeny, a life sciences accelerator backed by Perceptive Advisors. In that role, she partnered closely with founders and portfolio company leaders to architect leadership teams from inception through scale, supporting businesses at critical inflection points from early formation to commercialization. Earlier in her career, Ellen spent more than a decade in executive search and held in-house talent acquisition roles at Celgene, The Medicines Company, Sanofi, UBS, and McKinsey & Company. This combination of search and operator experience gives her a practical, investor-aligned perspective on leadership assessment, succession planning, and team build-out.

Ellen holds a B.A. from The Catholic University of America and a Master’s degree from Columbia University. She is an active mentor with Women in Bio, and outside of work, she gives back by teaching yoga to incarcerated individuals and volunteering as an ESL teacher in her community