Testimonials
Our Clients give us more than just compliments – they give us referrals. In fact, our current client base is derived largely from our previous clients and candidates. Here are a few comments from our partners in search.
"Bente Hansen has provided us with outstanding executive search candidates.Ican especially appreciate their friendly, reliable and transparent process. We have filled some keypositions and expect to remain a long term client."
Jack Lief, Co-Founder, Chairman, President and CEO
Arena Pharmaceuticals
"
I retained Bente Hansen and Associates when I was running Amylin Pharmaceuticals. Bente and her team helped me to recruit and place some of the highest potential senior management team members we had. The ability of the Hansen team to quickly and accurately grasp the unique Amylin culture was key to our success in identifying candidates that were not only highly-qualified technically, but that were well-suited to the personality of the organization. This meant that each hire contributed significantly to Amylin’s success.
Each member of the staff at Bente Hansen and Associates understands the biotech industry at the cellular level. The company is highly respected and well connected. Each member of the firm with whom I was associated had a high level of integrity and worked tirelessly to meet the needs of our organization."
Ginger L. Graham
Former President and CEO
Amylin Pharmaceuticals
San Diego, CA
“Bente Hansen & Associates recruited several members of Aperio’s executive team, including our CFO, COO and VP of Global Life Science. Bente also recruited a long-standing member of our board of directors. All of these individuals have had a major impact on our company. Bente and her team were knowledgeable, responsive and professional and we look forward to continuing to work with her organization to fill critical leadership positions.”
Dirk Soenksen, Founder, President and Futurist
Aperio
"Bente Hansen and her team of professionals have the innate ability to assess your situation and bring forward candidates that are relevant and of the highest caliber. Amylin has benefitted greatly from their expertise over the years."
Dan Bradbury
"I have worked with Bente on a wide range of searches over the years. In addition to delivering candidates with the necessary job skills and experience Bente also focuses on cultural fit which is often just as important for success on the job. I have always found Bente flexible, easy to work with and thorough. Her proven approach has produced excellent results in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors."
Martin R. Brown
Executive Officer, Amylin Pharmaceuticals (retired)
Director, Equinox Center
“Bente Hansen & Associates does an outstanding job of really getting to know a company, and of identifying and vetting exceptional, appropriate candidates for a broad spectrum of executive positions within the biopharmaceutical industry.”
William R. Shanahan, Jr., M.D., J.D.
Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer
Arena Pharmaceuticals
"I have worked with Bente and her staff for over 10 years as the EVP and COO of a midsized Biotech company, as the COO of a start up Biotech company and as CEO of both a large generic injectable company and a small Diagnostic start up. I have always enjoyed working with Bente Hansen and Associates. They are true professionals and go out of their way to help me as a client find the right individual for the right position. I would strongly recommend engaging them as a search firm."
Thomas H. Silberg
President and CEO
GenWay Biotech, Inc.
"Bente Hansen and Associates did an outstanding job helping Amylin fill two very key senior management positions during a critical stage of our company's growth. She and her team spent the time to fully understand our business need and the hard technical requirements for the jobs, as well as our company culture before initiating the searches. She quickly built a pipeline of qualified candidates and kept in constant communication to ensure that the process ran smoothly from beginning to end. The follow-through and professionalism of Bente Hansen and Associates is top notch and I would not hesitate to recommend her for tough executive searches."
Roger Marchetti
Executive Vice President, Human Resources
CareFusion
Formerly Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Information Management
Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Octavio Diaz, Senior Vice President Vince Mudd,
CEO FibroGen Formerly Vice President,
Pharmaceutical Development Bo E. H. Saxberg, MD, PhD Geoffrey T. Mather David Dreyer Joseph D. Panetta "For the past four years I have had the pleasure of knowing and doing business with Bente Hansen. Her integrity, working to understand your business and putting the right people with the right company is the best I have seen. Our product line is used in many diverse markets from High Technology to the Craft Industry. Bente Hansen & Associates did a fantastic job of finding the right people to manage our business in these diverse markets. I highly recommend Bente Hansen & Associates for your personnel needs." Kevin Mulvihill Steve Kenney Novo Research "At Bente Hansen & Associates, their persistence, market-knowledge, objectivity, and sensitivity to our needs got us a top-notch executive with the equally important ability to get things done in our organization. There's no question that we will use Bente's services again as our company grows." Rick Day Co-Founder and Board Member South Coast Yachts and limited Partner in Moore Venture Partners "We have been very impressed with the ability of Bente Hansen & Associates to locate an outstanding executive to lead our growing company; he is a great match for our needs. All aspects of the search were facilitated in a timely and astute manner. I highly recommend Bente Hansen & Associates." Kurt O. Lund, Ph.D. Jackie Townsend Chief Marketing Officer, BioSurplus Formerly, CEO,
Townsend Inc. "Bente Hansen & Associates was successful in developing a slate of highly qualified candidates for both a VP-Clinical Affairs and a VP-Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance for Provasis Therapeutics. We hired two exceptional candidates with 20 years of directly relevant experience in our market." Terrance J. Bruggeman Executive Chairman of BioTork, LLC, Executive Chairman of Entovia, LLC Chairman of Evolugate, LLC Formerly President and CEO of with Provasis Therapeutics Mark J. Gergen "Spend a few minutes with one of the partners at Bente Hansen & Associates, describe your immediate and future needs, then sit back and get ready for the array of possibilities! Near term, long term, interim, permanent, Bente Hansen & Associates will save you time and money." Palmer Ford "Bente Hansen doesn't just fill a job opening for you — she works to build your team. I knew that our hire of a senior sales and marketing executive would be our most critical hire, and I built a position spec that was very hard to fill! And yet, Bente found us a person who truly made it all happen for us. Our senior executive has not only been our most valuable asset but he turned out to be a partner for a lifetime." Vicki Marion Raleigh Wilson Warren Parker
"We partner with Bente Hansen Inc. because they take the time to understand
our vision and corporate culture. I am confident that part of our success
is due to the high quality people we have been able to recruit working with Bente Hansen Inc."
EMD Chemicals Inc.,
An affiliate of Merck KGaA
"Over the past 3 years, I have been on the search committees of 5 boards that have hired new executives. I have had the opportunity to work with a number of professional search firms. By a wide margin, Mary Colacicco and her team at BenteHansen have proven to be the most thorough, principled and helpful firm I have had the pleasure of dealing with. If I could distill my impression of our interactions it would be this: BenteHansen gets it. They make the vetting, selection and interview process feel fresh and effortless while yielding the desired result – a candidate selection that everyone loves. I would recommend Mary and her team to any organization looking to find that "perfect" candidate."
San Diego Office Interiors
"Bente Hansen recently completed an international executive search for us resulting in the timely placement for a key position. She invested in understanding my requirements at the very beginning, and provided complementary attributes that proved to be critical. Her expertise and professionalism transcended international networks to deliver multiple highly qualified candidates."
Michael J. Martinelli
Vice President, Technical Development,
Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
"Bente Hansen & Associates have been very helpful, diligent and successful in regards to filling senior management job positions in entrepreneurial companies I have worked with as board/advisory member. Bente brings an excellent understanding and experience of matching people to people and organizational cultures, and is quite personable to work with. I have also found Bente helpful to me in the identification and establishment of network opportunities. I would look forward to working with Bente Hansen & Associates for our next executive search, and recommend her highly to you."
Pres., DDO Strategic Services, LLC
"Bente was a tremendous help in filling a tough executive/senior management position. She took the time to understand our corporate culture and the specific hard and soft requirements for our position before she began her search. She has is a very open communicator who brings a unique combination of professionalism, positive energy and a sense of humor to her executive searches. I will use her again and recommend her highly for future placement needs."
President & CEO
PhDx Systems, Inc.
"Bente placed me into probably the most pivotal position and company experience in my career development, allowing me to advance from Corporate Controller, to Operating Division CFO, to Chief Accounting Officer, to Corporate CFO. Thanks Bente, it turned out to be a good career move".
Chief Financial Officer
AMN Healthcare
"Your knowledge of BIOCOM's realistic needs, your vision for the organization and your experience within the local business community resulted in hiring the right individual for the right job and at the right time. Thank you for your professionalism and for your important contribution to improving the level of our professional staff at BIOCOM/san diego. Your effort will pay dividends to our membership in the quality of service they receive in the future."
President and CEO
BIOCOM/san diego
President & CEO
Wilshire Technologies
"eStudySite retained Bente Hansen & Associates to conduct a comprehensive national search for a senior clinical manager with very specific skill sets and experiences. With highly specialized qualifications, a demanding schedule and challenging objectives, Bente Hansen & Associates was able to successfully present five highly professional, qualified candidates for extensive interviews to our company. We are very pleased with the professionalism and results oriented strategies Bente Hansen & Associates developed for our company and look forward to a long relationship as we grow."
President/CEO
Formerly President & CEO, eStudySite
Formerly President/CEO
Daycom Systems, Inc.
President & CEO
Applied Chemical & Engineering Systems, Inc.
"Bente Hansen & Associates goes the extra mile to learn your culture and will look for solutions, not just people, to help your business grow. Finding the right talent is important. Finding the right talent at the right time is critical. Bente Hansen & Associates does both."
"Bente Hansen & Associates did an outstanding job of recruiting a senior level corporate development professional for Advanced Tissue Sciences. They quickly provided a number of highly qualified candidates that met our requirements. We are very happy with the service and result we obtained."
Executive Vice President, Amylin Pharmaceuticals
Formerly with Advanced Tissue Sciences, Inc.
Formerly Managing Director
SAIC - VCC
Formerly President and CEO, Viadux
"Having been on both sides of Bente's recruiting business, as an employer looking for a specific candidate and as a candidate placed into one of her searches, I can truly say that Bente Hansen & Associates is one of the best in the business. Bente is a very thorough, professional recruiter that I would highly recommend for your most important executive placements."
CEO, Altec Lansing
Formerly with Rivet International and JABRA Corporation
“There is great value in working with people who really know the industry and have an extensive network of senior level contacts. Bente Hansen & Associates understand factors shaping the future of the sector and the capabilities required to compete in this evolving context.”
Chief Executive
Landcare Research
New Zealand