The Partners

Two experienced search leaders. One independent partnership.

The Inflection Point Group brings complementary executive backgrounds together to support complex leadership mandates.

Howard Hodges

Founder & CEO · Executive Search Partner

Howard is a professional executive search strategist, thinker, partner, and former operating executive. His background includes leadership in sales operations, sales productivity, sales management, business development, and executive search.

At Texas Instruments, he progressed through increasingly senior sales and operations responsibilities, ultimately directing global sales productivity initiatives for large, distributed organizations and leading teams supporting substantial revenue portfolios.

His executive search experience has concentrated on semiconductor and technology leadership, including optical networking, optoelectronics, AI hardware, machine-learning hardware, and autonomous-driving technology.

Trevor Pritchard

Search Partner · Healthcare & Life Sciences

Trevor brings senior executive recruiting and operating experience across healthcare and life sciences. His search work has included biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, drug delivery, not-for-profit organizations, and contract services.

He has collaborated with boards, venture capital investors, CEOs, hiring managers, and staffing organizations on searches for board-level positions, CEOs, Presidents, and functional leaders.

His operating background includes senior leadership roles in pharmaceutical and medical device businesses across the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific Rim.

Executive Board

Senior counsel from proven search and operating leaders.

The Inflection Point Group draws on an executive board of veteran search principals and former C-suite operators who advise on mandate strategy, client relationships, and candidate evaluation across specialized sectors.

Ron Marshal

Executive Board Member · Financial Services & Technology Search

Ron brings more than 20 years of executive search experience across financial services, technology, and management consulting. As Managing Partner of Synergy Partners – Executive Search, he has built a specialty recruiting current and former consultants, from managers to partners, into strategy, business development, corporate development, general management, and private equity roles.

His search practice also spans business valuation, risk, treasury, accounting, finance, and technology functions within banking, hedge funds, and alternative asset management, with additional depth in healthcare and life sciences. His client base has included information services firms, management consulting firms, international and investment banks, hedge funds, and other investment management organizations.

Ron began his career in public accounting at KPMG and BDO USA before moving into executive search. He holds a B.S. in Accounting from Baruch College, City University of New York.

Troy Risch

Executive Board Member · Retail, Restaurant & Hospitality Search

Troy is Executive Vice President and Partner at RB Partners Executive Search, a boutique search practice focused on the restaurant, retail, and hospitality industries, and a Partner at MGMT3D, which provides operating-partner services to private equity firms and their portfolio companies.

Before moving into executive search, Troy spent more than two decades in senior retail operating leadership, including as Chief Operating Officer of hhgregg, Executive Vice President of Operations and Real Estate at RadioShack, and Executive Vice President at Target Corporation, where he held P&L responsibility for a multibillion-dollar store portfolio and served on the executive committee.

That operating background gives Troy firsthand credibility evaluating C-suite, and operations leadership talent for clients. He holds a B.S.B.A. in Business Administration from North Dakota State University and completed Harvard Business School's Finance for Non-Financial Managers program.

Search Network

Independent search partners we collaborate with nationally and abroad.

Beyond the founding partnership and executive board, The Inflection Point Group works alongside a network of independent executive search professionals, each bringing distinct sector depth, geography, and client relationships to a mandate.

Eddie Graham

Search Network · Sales & Enterprise Talent Acquisition

Eddie brings 15 years of recruiting experience in the Atlanta market and nationally, currently as a Talent Acquisition Consultant with Cox Enterprises supporting Cox Automotive. He specializes in placing sales talent at every level, from individual contributors to senior sales leadership.

His earlier recruiting career spans technical staffing and general management roles with firms serving insurance, financial services, pharmaceutical, and criminal justice clients. He studied Electronics at Gwinnett Technical College.

Robert Rubin

Search Network · C-Suite, Board & Private Equity Search

Robert is Vice President, Executive Search at StevenDouglas in New York, a retained search partner to Fortune 500, middle-market, and private equity portfolio companies, where he conducts C-suite, board, and VP-level searches.

He previously held senior search roles at Leathwaite and Korn Ferry, and led corporate talent acquisition functions at BASF and W.L. Gore & Associates. He holds a B.B.A. from Hofstra University.

Tom Zhou

Search Network · China / US Executive, VC & PE Talent

Tom is a Partner at DaCare Staffing, placing senior and executive-level leaders for venture capital and private equity firms and their portfolio companies across China and globally. He also founded China HR Network, which hosts PE and VC forums in Beijing and Shanghai and manages one of LinkedIn's largest China-based professional communities.

Earlier in his career, Tom was a Director at UBS and Chief Operating Officer of the Shanghai Silicon Intellectual Property Exchange. He holds a bachelor's degree from Fudan University and a master's in Computer Science & Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Ken Minter

Search Network · Healthcare, Life Sciences & Energy Search

Ken is a Senior Partner at Allen Austin, an executive search and leadership advisory firm in Houston, where he leads national and international senior-level searches across healthcare, life sciences, professional services, and energy, including upstream and downstream oil & gas.

He previously spent 14 years as Managing Director of BFL Associates and began his career as a senior engineer at Exxon. He holds a BSME from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA in Strategy from the McCombs School of Business.

Matthew Etkin

Search Network · Technology & Product Talent Acquisition

Matthew is Director of Talent Acquisition for Technology & Product at FanDuel, leading strategic hiring for one of the country's leading sports and gaming platforms. His prior in-house recruiting roles include Amazon, NBCUniversal, and MLB Advanced Media.

He brings a strong technology and product recruiting network to client mandates in media, sports, and digital consumer businesses. He holds a degree in English/Creative Writing from the University of Hartford.

Shared Model

Independent by design. Collaborative by mandate.

One Client Experience

Clients engage a senior partner-led process rather than a layered recruiting model.

Complementary Networks

Technology and semiconductor depth is complemented by healthcare and life sciences reach.

Executive Perspective

Both partners bring firsthand operating experience to candidate assessment and client dialogue.