Argosy Healthcare Partners News

Wayne, Pennsylvania, and Orlando, Florida, July 16, 2024 – Connect Life Sciences (“CLS” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that Mark Smith and Jerick Henley have joined its Board of Directors, as Executive Chairman and Director, respectively. CLS, a portfolio company of Argosy Healthcare Partners (“AHP”), is a life sciences recruitment solutions company that serves pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device customers. Mark and Jerick previously partnered with Paul Barrett, AHP’s Managing Partner, in scaling and exiting their prior company, American Health Staffing Group (“AHSG”), beginning in 2016 until its sale to Littlejohn & Co. in 2021.

Mark and Jerick are serial entrepreneurs who previously co-founded AHS Staffing (“AHS”) in 2010. AHS, a temporary healthcare staffing company headquartered in Edmond, Oklahoma, grew significantly, and Mark and Jerick sold a majority stake in 2016 to a New York-based private equity firm dedicated to healthcare where Paul Barrett served as Managing Director, and AHS Board Member. Over the subsequent five years, Mark, Jerick, and Paul rebranded AHS to American Health Staffing Group (“AHSG”), executed four add-on acquisitions, and built a technology-driven, healthcare workforce solutions company, serving thousands of endpoints across health systems, hospitals, and outpatient clinics in all 50 states. AHSG achieved substantial growth and sold to Littlejohn & Co. in 2021. Prior to founding AHS, Mark started Foundation Medical Staffing and sold it to CHG Healthcare in 2007, one of the largest healthcare staffing companies in the US.

Paul Barrett commented, “working with Mark, Jerick and AHSG was the most formative professional experience of my career and I feel very fortunate that the stars have aligned to allow us to team up again and support Jim Owens, Andrew Doucet and CLS in achieving their vision. We are passionate about healthcare staffing and believe there is tremendous opportunity for CLS to become a preeminent provider of staffing solutions to the life sciences industry.”

Mark Smith and Jerick Henley stated, “we are thrilled to partner again with Paul and lend our experience scaling first time PE-backed healthcare staffing companies to Jim, Andrew, and the CLS team. CLS has a strong foundation, services high growth end markets in pharma, biotech, and med. device, and is well positioned to scale.”

“We are excited to welcome Mark and Jerick to our Board,” said Jim Owens, CLS CEO, “We are embarking on a journey with AHP that Mark and Jerick successfully executed previously, and we are fortunate to have their counsel as we execute our growth plan. Their proven track records and staffing industry expertise will be pivotal as we execute our strategic initiatives and drive long-term value to our stakeholders.”

Connect Life Sciences

Connect Life Sciences, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, and founded in 2020 by Jim Owens and Andrew Doucet, provides a range of recruitment services from staff augmentation to project-based services. CLS delivers full life cycle resourcing solutions including contract staffing, contract to hire, direct placement, and consulting services. CLS provides these services from research to regulatory affairs with expertise in biostatistics, data management, clinical monitoring, quality assurance, IT programming, pharmacovigilance, regulatory affairs, medical writing, and real-world evidence.

Argosy Healthcare Partners

Argosy Healthcare Partners (“AHP”) is a lower middle market private equity firm dedicated to healthcare. AHP partners with founder owned healthcare businesses anywhere in the US with $1.0 – $3.0 million of EBITDA and executes control transactions. AHP is a platform built for founder-owned companies to support their culture, reinvest in their business, and help accelerate growth.

For further information, please visit:

Connect Life Sciences: www.connectlifesciences.com

Argosy Healthcare Partners: www.argosyhp.com

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