C & C in the Community Employment Trends Life Sciences Trends

Our Associates

Brian McMerty

Managing Partner
(919) 424-1592
bmcmerty@ccesearch.com

Brian is the Managing Partner of Carlyle & Conlan. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, with an MBA from the Duke University School of Business, Brian has held high level executive officer positions in finance and accounting over the years, including Chief Financial Officer of a large, international public real estate development and management company. While employed as a CPA by a Big 8 accounting firm, Brian helped lead the audits of several public and private companies, including one of the largest corporations in the world.

Before joining Carlyle & Conlan, Brian led another search firm and several successful high-tech companies. His dynamic style and ability to form solid business alliances has uniquely qualified him to lead Carlyle & Conlan. Brian specializes in placing top-tier mid-level and senior-level professionals in world-class companies.

Brian is very active in serving both the communities of Wilmington, NC where he lives with his family, and the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina, where Carlyle & Conlan is headquartered. Brian is the Chairman and CEO of the Cape Fear 50 club, a club consisting of CEOs of significant organizations, President of the Notre Dame Club of Wilmington, NC, and he serves on the Foundation Board of the University of North Carolina - Wilmington and the boards of many charitable organizations. 

Anastasia C. Pucci

Senior Partner
(919) 424-1596
apucci@ccesearch.com

Anastasia is a founding partner of Carlyle & Conlan and currently serves as Carlyle & Conlan's Senior Partner. Anastasia has fourteen years of experience in Executive Search and Recruitment, with special emphasis on Clinical Development in the field of Life Sciences.

Anastasia began her career in Canada, working with one of the country's largest search and consulting firms. Early in her tenure she was recruited to open the company's first U.S. office in Raleigh, NC. For four and a half years, Anastasia was instrumental in growing their local office into a multi-million dollar business. Her contributions included building a diverse network of clients from many major corporations, including Nortel Networks, IBM and GlaxoSmithKline, to a group of "skills-on-demand" emerging growth companies.  She consistently ranked as the #1 U.S. Search Consultant within the firm and Top 5 globally. 

Since co-founding Carlyle & Conlan ten years ago, Anastasia has been personally involved in launching each specialty practice area, recruiting the best and brightest Search Consultants to join Carlyle & Conlan's team and continuously developing and enhancing Carlyle & Conlan's strategic approach to executive and individual contributor search.

Anastasia is also very active in the local community serving on the Board of the CED, CED's Executive Committee, and chairing CED's Human Resources Committee.  In 2008 she was named one of Business Leader's Movers and Shakers and a Top 25 Human Resources Impact Player.   

Anastasia is a graduate of Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, having spent her formative years in England and South Africa.  Her passions include her family and her business, and her hobbies include scuba diving and occasional rounds of golf.

Don Alexander

Vice President, Life Sciences Development and Commercialization
(919) 424-1593
dalexander@ccesearch.com

With over 14 years of executive search industry experience, Don has spent the last 9 years focusing exclusively on recruitment projects for mid to senior level professionals in the Life Sciences. His projects have involved senior level individual contributors through C level executives, with particular emphasis on sales, business development, marketing, product development, project management and pre-clinical R&D. In addition, Don has prior experience recruiting in Technology and Engineering.

An enabler of relationships that have resulted in quantifiable goodwill for his constituency, Don is recognized by his clients, candidates and peers, as routinely creating value through a powerful network and deep industry knowledge. Throughout his recruiting career, Don has often finished in the top 10% and consistently finished in the top 25% of his peer group, as ranked by revenues.


Prior to the recruiting industry, Don spent several years in the financial services industry and managed several million dollars in assets. He holds the designations of CFP® and AAMS® and a BA in Business Management and Economics from North Carolina State University.

Erica Langdon

Vice President, Technology
(919) 424-1595
elangdon@ccesearch.com

With over nine years of search industry experience, Erica has spent the last seven years focusing on executive search with a concentration in the Technology industry.

Erica's client list primarily consists of emerging growth, entrepreneurial high-tech organizations. Her searches have included individual contributors through senior level executives, with particular emphasis on Technology, Sales and Marketing. Erica spent the first part of her career as a Recruiting Manager working across several industries and disciplines to assist clients with interim consultant needs.

Erica is recognized by her clients, candidates, and peers as routinely creating value through her powerful network and industry knowledge. Erica is very active in the local business community serving as a member of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development, NCTA, Durham Chamber of Commerce and has been an invited speaker to various industry conferences. Erica is a graduate of the University of Maine with a Master's Degree in Communications.

Erica has consistently finished in the top percentile of her peer group and has received a number of accolades and awards. These include:

  • Pacesetter (annual award to the top 5% of recruiters within our globally affiliated network of over 7000 recruiters) for the years 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010.
  • Carlyle & Conlan "Most Valuable Player", 2006
  • Carlyle & Conlan "Partner Award", 2007
  • Carlyle & Conlan "Producer of the Year", 2008

When not working, Erica spends her leisure time reading, jogging and playing golf.

Lori Bush, CSM

Director, Manufacturing & Electronics
(919) 424-1594
lbush@ccesearch.com

Lori joined Carlyle & Conlan as the Director of Manufacturing and Electronics, with 15 years of experience in the Executive Recruiting industry.  Having owned her own recruiting office in the Research Triangle Park of North Carolina for over eleven years, she merged her office with Carlyle & Conlan to extend the reach of her business with the best Executive Recruiting Firm in the Triangle.

Lori’s recruiting specialty has been in Passive and Active Components in the Electronics industry.  Her focus on capacitors, resistors, inductors and semiconductors, to name a few, has led to the establishment of key accounts in that industry.  As a complementary recruiting effort, Lori has extensive recruiting experience in the area of specialty Electronic Materials, which adds to her overall expertise in the electronics field.  Working with the best companies in Electronic Materials, she routinely deals with Executive Management to search for exceptional talent, generally at the PhD level, for very specific products such as powder metals, specialty polymers, PCB Laminate materials and specialty chemicals that are unique to the electronics industry.

Lori is also involved in General Manufacturing in order to increase the breadth of clients in that industry.  Recruiting on Retained, Engaged and/or Contingency searches, her activities have encompassed a broad spectrum of assignments, ranging from top executive searches to specialty engineering positions.  Her clients consistently come back to her for the special knowledge and experience she has within her industries.

Lori has consistently been ranked as a top performer, achieving Pacesetter status virtually every year.  While performing as a Billing Manger, she was named one of the Business Leader’s Top 25 Human Resources Impact Players.  Lori also serves on the Board of Directors for the MRINetwork Charitable Foundation.

Lori attended Coastal Carolina University in Myrtle Beach, SC, majoring in Accounting.  In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, reading and spending time at the beach with her family.

Cody Hamilton

Business Manager
(919) 424-1499
chamilton@ccesearch.com

With over 20 years of business management experience, Cody Hamilton serves Carlyle & Conlan in the role of Business Manager. In this capacity, Cody supports the day to day accounting, finance and operations functions of Carlyle & Conlan. Further, he carries the responsibilities for human resource administration, facilities maintenance and internal technology project management.

Cody grew up outside of the Charlotte, NC area, later attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Afterwards, he opted to remain in the Raleigh / Durham / Chapel Hill area and has lived and worked in all 3 major local markets during his professional life. Needless to say he enjoys calling NC’s Triangle area his home.

In his spare time, he likes to explore the world and has traveled extensively. After traveling to destinations in Europe, Asia-Minor, Northern Africa, as well as many parts of the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean, it is his dream to be able to say one day that he has set foot on all major inhabited parts of the entire world.

 

Kevin Coggins

Search Manager, Manufacturing and Life Sciences
(919) 424-5534
kcoggins@ccesearch.com

Kevin joins Carlyle & Conlan as a Search Manager. With over 20 years of experience as a business owner and hiring and managing staff, Kevin brings a wide array of experience to the firm. Kevin is very active in the local community having served for 3 years as Board President of the Greater Raleigh Merchant's Association. He led them through a major rebranding effort that more than tripled membership. He is a graduate of NC State University and a life long resident of North Carolina. In his free time, Kevin enjoys cycling, cooking, and all things New Orleans.

Megan Smith

Marketing Manager / Search Manager
(919) 428-2027
msmith@ccesearch.com

Megan joins Carlyle & Conlan as Marketing Manager and Internet Researcher. Megan is responsible for all marketing and public relations initiatives, as well as internet research in support of the Life Sciences team. 

Megan was raised in Pinehurst, North Carolina and went on to attend The University of North Carolina at Wilmington. She graduated with honors from UNC Wilmington with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration. In her spare time, Megan enjoys spending time with her family, water skiing, and wakeboarding. She also enjoys traveling and recently spent six months traveling in Europe while she was studying business management in France.

Skip Williams

Director, Telecommunications & Engineering
(919) 428-2026
swilliams@ccesearch.com

Skip joins Carlyle & Conlan as a Director. With over 16 years as a recruiter, Skip brings a wide array of experience to the firm. In 2009, Skip was regional “Rookie of the Year” and #9 in the world as a “Rookie Top Biller” in a global search organization. Skip has an in-depth talent for truly understanding the needs of candidates he recruits, and being able to direct them to success. 

Skip has a passion for the Spanish language, extensive travel, all things cats and humor! He is a graduate of NC State University with a BA in Spanish Language & Literature and a resident of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 

Emily Brown

Search Manager, Technology
(919) 594-6030
ebrown@ccesearch.com

Emily was raised in Apex, North Carolina and went on to attend East Carolina University where she earned a Bachelors degree in Communications. Emily has a passion for working with other people and was a volunteer for the Appalachian Service Project for 5 years. As a newlywed her passions include travel, spending time with her family, outdoor activities and becoming a better cook. 

Murad Maksumov

Intern

mmaksumov@ccesearch.com

Murad joins Carlyle & Conlan as an intern for the summer of 2011. He is responsible for online research, marketing and public relations, customer serivce, and communications. He is also responsible for special projects and managing multiple assignments.

Murad was born and raised in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. After graduating from high school there, he came to the United States and attended Durham Technical Community College and received an Associate in Science degree. He is currently a senior undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill, and he is majoring in Biomedical Engineering. In his spare time, Murad enjoys spending time with his friends, playing tennis, basketball and working out at the gym. He also enjoys reading Russian novels and poems.

Kaitlin Frey

Intern
(919) 474-0771 x114
kfrey@ccesearch.com

Kaitlin joins Carlyle & Conlan as a Marketing Intern for the fall of 2011. Kaitlin is responsible for all social media initiatives, as well as offering support for ongoing office projects. 

Kaitlin was raised in Raleigh, North Carolina and currently attends the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a Communication Studies major and plans to study abroad in England this Spring. In her spare time, Kaitlin enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, being active and meeting new people.