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Spencer Stuart Welcomes Three New Biopharma Consultants

October 2024

NEW YORK, Oct. 2, 2024 – Spencer Stuart, a leading global executive search and leadership advisory firm, today announced that three new consultants are joining its global Healthcare practice in the Biopharma sector:

  • Inge Berneke (Copenhagen)
  • Kara Coluccio (Boston)
  • Alyse Forcellina (San Francisco and New York)

“We are thrilled to welcome Inge, Kara and Alyse to Spencer Stuart and the Healthcare practice,” said Alexis Stiles, leader of Spencer Stuart’s global Healthcare Practice and member of the Board and CEO Practice. “They each have a wealth of experience with identifying and developing innovative leaders, which is critical at this time of significant industry transformation.”

“Collectively, Inge, Kara and Alyse will further strengthen our talented Biopharma team by bringing deep industry expertise, passion and proven track records as trusted advisors helping healthcare leaders address their most pressing leadership needs,” added Lynn LaPierre, leader of Spencer Stuart’s global Biopharma practice.

Inge Berneke joins Spencer Stuart’s Copenhagen office with more than 20 years of executive search and leadership advisory experience. She focuses on C-suite recruitment, CEO succession, board services, executive assessments and development across lifescience, medical technology, medical services and biosolutions in listed companies, private equity, enterprise foundations, family- and founder-led companies, the government sector and more. Previously, Berneke was a consultant and partner in another global executive search firm for more than a decade. More recently, she was part of the leadership team for one of Denmark’s largest lifescience foundations and business owners. Berneke is a non-executive board member of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art’s two enterprise foundations, a non-executive board member of the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies and a member of the Committee of Representatives at Nykredit, one of the Nordic region’s largest financial institutions. She has a master’s degree in political science from Copenhagen University and an M.B.A. from INSEAD Business School in Fontainebleau, France.

Kara Coluccio brings to Spencer Stuart more than 20 years of experience recruiting for the biotech industry. She joins the firm’s Boston office as a consultant in the global Biopharma and Boards practices, specializing in board, CEO and other C-suite placements. Coluccio’s previous role at a Boston-based boutique firm gave her the opportunity to partner with paradigm-changing biotech companies across a spectrum of early-stage private, newly or well-established public and commercial states, helping them build the right leadership teams as they scaled. After launching her career in healthcare policy in Washington, D.C., she spent several years at a global executive search firm in the Lifesciences practice supporting global biotech and large pharma companies, and at a New York-based boutique recruiting advisory firm worked closely with companies and investors accelerating scientific innovation and driving the exponential expansion of the biotech industry. As an active member of multiple networks of women biotech leaders, Coluccio currently serves as a member of the board of advisers for Life Sciences Cares Boston. She has a B.A. in history and sociology of science from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Bioethics from University of Pennsylvania Medical School.

Alyse Forcellina joins Spencer Stuart’s San Francisco and New York offices as a consultant in the Healthcare practice with a focus on helping CEOs, boards and executive teams build high-performing organizations. With 30 years of experience in the strategic, financial, operational and organizational issues facing global healthcare institutions, she advises clients on the capabilities and talent required for the near and longer-term future. Previously, Forcellina led the North American leadership advisory and health practices for a global executive search firm, where she focused on serving global healthcare clients' talent needs across the healthcare spectrum, with a particular focus on CEO, C-suite and board placements, along with team development, board development and executive coaching. Prior to that role, she worked at the New York office of McKinsey & Company serving global lifesciences and healthcare services companies, with a focus on growth strategy. Forcellina began her career on Capitol Hill as a Senate staffer, with a focus on healthcare policy. She currently serves on the board of two nonprofits based in Park City, Utah: USA Nordic Sport and The People’s Health Clinic. Forcellina has a B.A. from Yale College and earned an M.B.A. from the McCombs School of Business and a Master of Public Affairs (MPAff) from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, both at the University of Texas at Austin.

About Spencer Stuart

At Spencer Stuart, we know that leadership has never mattered more. We are trusted by organizations around the world to help them make the senior-level leadership decisions that have a lasting impact on their enterprises, on their stakeholders and the world around them. Through our executive search, board and leadership advisory services, we help build and enhance high-performing teams for select clients ranging from major multinationals to emerging companies to non-profit institutions.

Privately held since 1956, we focus on delivering knowledge, insight and results through the collaborative efforts of a team of experts — now spanning more than 60 offices, over 30 countries and more than 50 practice specialties. Boards and leaders consistently turn to Spencer Stuart to help address their evolving leadership needs in areas such as senior-level executive search, board recruitment, board effectiveness, succession planning, in-depth senior management assessment and development, and many other facets of culture and organizational effectiveness, particularly in the context of the changing stakeholder expectations of business today. For more information on Spencer Stuart, please visit www.spencerstuart.com.