Trista McCarthy - JM Search

Trista McCarthy is a Partner at JM Search and co-leads the Firm’s Go-To-Market team. She has over 25 years of experience in executive search, human resources, and brand marketing. She focuses on recruiting C-Suite executives and Senior Leaders across the industrial and services sectors, with a functional specialization in marketing. Trista supports large public clients and mid-market private equity and Family office-backed businesses.

Prior to JM Search, Trista was a partner at Roberts and Ryan, a boutique retained executive search firm, where she recruited executives across industries and functions. She joined Roberts and Ryan from SGK, global marketing, and brand delivery firm, where she built out a fully-scaled global talent acquisition delivery program as VP of Global Talent Acquisition. Before SGK, she held leadership roles at Maddock Douglas, an innovation consulting firm, and the Encore Group, a marketing-focused executive search firm. Trista began her career in marketing, strategy, and account management, holding roles in the advertising, technology, and nonprofit sectors.

Trista has personally experienced and supported numerous mergers and acquisitions and brings an empathetic approach to M&A due diligence and change management. She understands and appreciates how talent truly can make or break a successful business venture. Thanks to her rich and varied career path and multi-faceted business lens, she can help organizations achieve top business results by identifying best-in-class talent that delivers against their business strategies.

Trista is a graduate of Loyola University of Chicago and resides in Hinsdale, IL, with her husband, Kevin, and their two children. She is a member of the Chicago chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth and the Private Directors Association. She also holds two Board Advisory seats for start-ups in the business services sector.

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