We are Norgay Partners

We know what it takes to succeed because we have not only built our own business but have helped others successfully build theirs.

Mary Gay Townsend

Mary Gay Townsend

Managing Partner

Mary Gay Townsend

Managing Partner

Mary Gay Townsend

Mary Gay is the Founder and Managing Partner at Norgay Partners. She has been in the executive search business for over 20 years and has executed hundreds of searches across secondaries, fundraising, private equity, investment banking, infrastructure, and other subsectors within the financial services industry. Mary Gay has previous experience building out recruitment divisions and was a co-founder of a technology-based financial recruitment firm. Previously she was Managing Director at FSVS, where she was responsible for all aspects of the search process, including new business development, search execution, as well as recruiting and training internal talent. Prior to FSVS, Mary Gay was at Rhodes Associates, a real estate-focused search firm, and Smith Hanley where she helped establish a new division in capital markets. She has actively participated on the boards of Breakthrough NY, a non-profit organization that transforms the lives of children through education, and is part of the Vestry Leadership at St. John’s Episcopal Church Cold Spring Harbor. Mary Gay graduated from The George Washington University and The French Culinary Institute.

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Chandler Holbrook

Chandler Holbrook

Managing Director

Chandler Holbrook

Managing Director

Chandler Holbrook

Chandler is a co-founder and Managing Director at Norgay Partners. She is actively involved in business development, marketing, and search execution across the firm’s fundraising, investor relations, and asset management practice areas. Chandler has been in financial services recruiting since 2010 and has placed candidates across fundraising and investor relations, investment banking, investing, and operations. Throughout her career, she has been intricately involved in all aspects of her team’s growth initiatives, including new business development, marketing, search execution, and operations. Previously, she was a sales consultant for recruiting technology solutions. She graduated with a 4.0 cumulative GPA from The University of Georgia in 2009 and completed a postgraduate fellowship from Princeton University in Hangzhou, China.

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Wendy Norton

Wendy Norton

Managing Director

Wendy Norton

Managing Director

Wendy Norton

Wendy is a Managing Director at Norgay Partners in Los Angeles, where she oversees our West Coast search practice.  Wendy works across alternative investments placing candidates in fundraising, investor relations, investing, finance, and operations roles.  Her clients include public and private real estate companies, private equity firms, and investment banks. Before joining Norgay Partners, Wendy led the talent acquisition team at CIM Group, a real estate and infrastructure fund manager. There, she was involved in all senior-level searches for the Investments, Investor Relations, Finance, Development, and Asset Management groups. Previously, she worked in recruiting at the Westwood branch of Robert Half International. She graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations with minors in French and Business. She studied at the Sorbonne while completing a semester abroad in Paris, France.

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Kylie Hart

Kylie Hart

Director

Kylie Hart

Director

Kylie Hart

Kylie is a co-founder and Director at Norgay Partners. She helps lead Norgay’s private markets investment practice with a strong expertise in private equity secondaries, private credit, and private equity direct and co-investing. She also works with clients in recruiting investment banking talent across all levels. Kylie has been in executive search since Summer 2013, upon graduating from Hobart and William Smith Colleges with a degree in Latin Language & Literature. Previously, Kylie interned at Pershing, a subsidiary of BNY Mellon and a $1 trillion+ asset manager, in the firm’s Segment Marketing Division. Kylie also interned in Brussels, Belgium as an analyst at Harwood Levitt Consulting, a boutique management consultancy. Throughout her career, Kylie has been an integral part of execution teams and has driven marketing, account management, and research initiatives for multiple businesses.

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John Major

John Major

Vice President

John Major

Vice President

John Major

John joined Norgay Partners in 2021 as a Senior Associate and is based in Los Angeles, supporting search execution across all firm practice areas. His focus areas include investor relations, real estate, accounting, finance and operations and has executed searches with private equity firms, investment banks, private wealth management channels and asset managers. John has worked on searches all across the US and has had the opportunity to work with clients in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas and Denver. Prior to joining Norgay, John oversaw Finance and Accounting searches at Atrium Staffing. John is a graduate of Clemson University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a minor in Business Management. John enjoys golfing in his spare time and plays to a +2 handicap.

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Julian Schneider

Associate

Julian Schneider

Julian is an Associate at Norgay Partners in New York, aiding in research and execution with a focus on private equity and credit, investor relations, infrastructure, secondaries, co-investments, and roles within investment banks. Julian has worked in financial services recruitment since 2021, where he covered front-office roles across a spectrum of private equity and credit funds, infrastructure funds and developers, placement agents, investment banks, and alternative asset managers. Before joining Norgay, Julian worked with Rand Thompson and Madison Hunt. He graduated from Hamilton College with a major in Political Science and government and a minor in Francophone Studies; he also had the opportunity to participate in a documentary project that brought him across Australia, India, Southeast Asia, and the United Kingdom. In his spare time, he enjoys photography and marathon running.

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Jamie Townsend

Jamie Townsend

COO and CFO

Jamie Townsend

COO and CFO

Jamie Townsend

Jamie currently oversees Norgay Partners’ Finance and Operations functions and acts as a Senior Advisor to the firm. Prior to joining Norgay, Jamie spent the majority of his career in equity research at SoundView Financial Group. At SoundView, Jamie started out in Institutional Sales and, during his time at the firm, went on to become Head of Sales, President, Portfolio Strategist, and, ultimately, CEO. Jamie left SoundView to relocate to Ketchum, Idaho and launch a small hedge fund. Upon his return to New York, Jamie joined C. E. Unterberg Towbin as Director of Research and Head of Institutional Sales and was later recruited to join Advest Inc. as their Director of Research.

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Meghan Lucas

Meghan Lucas

Executive Assistant

Meghan Lucas

Executive Assistant

Meghan Lucas

Meghan joined Norgay Partners in 2022 as an Executive Assistant supporting our Senior Management team. Meghan assists in orchestrating the day-to-day operations, facilitates calendar management for client searches, and works closely with our marketing team. Prior to joining Norgay, Meghan was an Executive Assistant at Hunter Point Capital and Churchill Asset Management where she supported the Head of Product Development & Capital Raising and IR team. As a scholarship athlete, Meghan is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science in Education.

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Simon Nixon

Simon Nixon

Managing Director

Simon Nixon

Managing Director

Simon Nixon

Simon is the founder of Carpenter Farraday and heads our alternative investments coverage in EMEA. He has over fifteen years’ experience running searches for private equity, alternative credit and infrastructure funds across a range of functions, levels, and geographies. Prior to working in search, Simon spent five years working in risk management and graduated from Coventry University with a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering.

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Gavin O'Donoghue

Gavin O'Donoghue

Head of Wealth & Asset Management

Gavin O'Donoghue

Head of Wealth & Asset Management

Gavin O'Donoghue

Gavin is one of Carpenter Farraday’s directors and has been with the firm since 2011. He leads senior appointments for asset management clients across a range of investment strategies. Gavin is also responsible for driving the growth and development of asset management coverage across Europe. Gavin has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Manchester.

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Tom Upson

Tom Upson

Head of Wealth Management

Tom Upson

Head of Wealth Management

Tom Upson

Tom is one of Carpenter Farraday’s directors and heads up the Wealth Management division. He moved across from commercial sector search to join us in 2009. He covers private banking and relationship management in the UK and other European jurisdictions and works closely with us in expanding our wealth, asset management, and alternative investments client offering in the US. He works with a wide range of institutions, including large US banks, traditional private banks through to private investment and family offices.

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Michael Bergin

Michael Bergin

Director

Michael Bergin

Director

Michael Bergin

Michael leads all senior client searches for European private equity, alternative credit, and real asset sales and investor relations. Prior to joining Carpenter Farraday in 2017 he spent two years in Consultant Relations with Alliance Bernstein and four years with PWC in their Tax Advisory team in Dublin. Michael is a qualified chartered accountant and has a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Dublin.

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