Kim First has over a decade of experience consulting with many of the industry's renowned biopharmaceutical and healthcare companies, executives, and scientists regarding hiring strategy, employee retention, and market intelligence.  Kim is regarded as an expert in the field providing unique perspectives on industry trends and candidate appraisal.  
 
Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, she graduated with honors from UCLA in Psychology and completed additional coursework at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.  Kim joined The Agency in 1999 bringing with her a sophisticated understanding of complex organizations and their diverse business needs which was developed over the years in her roles with both The Walt Disney Company and SONY.  As President and CEO, Kim sets the tone for the company with her extensive knowledge of both the business and scientific needs of The Agency's client partners.  She has established a dynamic, matrix-like environment of search professionals and PhD scientists from around the world who work together to identify and attract the world's leading "passive" talent.

Truly passionate about people and driven to over-deliver for clients, Kim has successfully cultivated lasting partnerships with the industry leaders and has personally closed well over 200 placements for Fortune 500 clients during her tenure with The Agency.  Kim's devotion to The Agency is only second to that of her family and two young sons.

Jeff Appelbaum joined The Agency in 2004 after spending over a decade in the Technology and Entertainment fields.  As EVP & COO, he is responsible for The Agency's business operations including strategy, IT, finance, and HR.  Jeff is a Sacramento native and a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television with a BA in Critical Studies.  He started his career in the entertainment industry and held administrative and creative positions developing prime time programming for the ABC/Walt Disney Company. At the forefront of the cyberspace revolution, he was Director of Post Production for an internet house producing programming for the World Wide Web.  Finally, prior to joining The Agency, Jeff spent three years in a project management role at CCH, Inc. where he spearheaded initiatives to redesign the company’s global suite of software products.  

Jeff’s affinity for the world of technology drives The Agency's innovative culture while his warm and creative personality, combined with his strong leadership, set the positive tone for the organization.

As Group Director, Tamir is responsible for managing key relationships with client companies, mentoring recruiters and conducting searches on senior level positions.  Tamir joined The Agency in 2001 and over the course of his tenure has established himself as a lead recruiter in the biopharmaceutical field with a primary focuses on the global recruitment of leading clinician scientists in the therapeutic areas of Oncology, Rheumatology and Endocrinology.  Energetic and personable, Tamir draws inspiration from “working with people who are changing our lives,” and observes that, “people with the vision to succeed in these fields share the same inspirational energy as some of civilization’s most celebrated artists, it’s a spark that lasts throughout their careers and illuminates every aspect of their lives.”
 
Tamir Halaban was born in New York and graduated from Yale University with a degree in Philosophy.  Upon graduating, he made his way to Los Angeles to work in the entertainment industry. He started his own production company and was also a freelance journalist with regular assignments interviewing people with strange and unusual jobs.  

While not busy networking, Tamir can be found throwing fabulous dinner parties with his wife and teaching his son how to play fun games.

Before settling in Southern California, Dani Gavson hailed originally from Johannesburg, South Africa.  A graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand with a Bachelor of Business Science, Dani is a seasoned search professional who began her recruiting career over 20 years ago in South Africa working for the largest recruitment agency in the country where she specialized in technical recruiting.  She later started her own consultancy which she ran until immigrating to the States.  

Prior to joining The Agency in 2004, Dani was a Senior Consultant at Kforce, where she won Rookie of the Year and also earned a Bronze Club Award each of her the three years with the company.  At The Agency, Dani specializes in identifying top scientists and clinicians for leadership positions with clients around the globe.  Her highly prized international network, combined with her tenacious, results-driven attitude makes her a tremendously successful recruiter.

Dagmar lives and breathes recruiting. She loves meeting new people and is committed to creating connections, which are “ truly advantageous to both my candidates and our stellar clients!”  Dagmar joined The Agency in 1999 and for the last ten years, has spearheaded searches for Research & Development in the European pharmaceutical industry and in the U.S. where she has played a key role in placing high-level research scientists, medical doctors, project managers, manufacturing experts, licensing and business development specialists and many others across all therapeutic areas.

Originally from Germany, Dagmar is fluent in three languages and can “get around” in a few more.  She graduated from California State University, Los Angeles with degrees in English and German Literature. Dagmar started her career as an international correspondent for a global German Bank and later worked as an editor for a German news agency’s Los Angeles bureau.  Her in-depth knowledge of the worldwide community made for a natural and easy transition into recruiting at The Agency.  She stays abreast of trends and developments in the biopharmaceutical world by diligently reading newspapers, journals and internet publications.

An accomplished wife and mother of two, Dagmar enjoys the finer things in life such as travel, literature, art, cooking, hiking and yoga.

Kellie Woodworth is a Southern California native with a degree in Advertising from San Diego State University. Kellie began her career in education with oversight of staffing, admissions and curriculum as the Assistant Principal for The Carden School prior to discovering recruiting. “The common denominator in both industries is really just people. I enjoy the opportunity to speak and interact with intelligent and interesting people on a daily basis.” Kellie joined The Agency in 2003 and quickly became a leading recruiter, sourcing talent across the value chain from research and development to commercialization. In 2008, she took on additional responsibilities as Account Director for a number of The Agency’s high profile biotechnology clients. Kellie is proud to work for a company that holds ethics and performance in high regard and relishes the opportunity to offer candidates a better opportunity and clients the talent needed to develop top therapeutics contributing to better health. Kellie is currently focused on filling global leadership roles in Quality & Manufacturing, Development and Commercialization.  A large majority of her recent success has been on the commercial side, filling roles in product management, healthcare strategy, DTP strategy, managed care marketing, competitive intelligence and market analytics. 
 
When she’s not changing the world of science as a recruiter, Kellie enjoys spending quality time with her husband, little boy and friends. She loves the beach, movies, books, traveling and most of all laughter!

Elliott Williams is originally from Seattle and grew up on the East Coast where completed his BA with a concentration in Marketing and Sales from Howard University. Elliott started his career with GE as a manager in financial services and then transitioned into pharmaceuticals. In 2005, he joined The Agency bringing with him a wealth of knowledge and experience directly from the pharmaceutical industry, where he worked closely with thought leaders in the fields of gastroenterology, women's health, and psychiatry first as a salesperson and then in management. As a successful salesperson with the ability to turn around lagging sales, Elliott was consistently in the top 5% of his sales force and received awards for top tier producer and trainer.  Always an advocate of patients, Elliott believed the impact he could make in patient care by placing quality scientists was greater than that of selling the medications and therefore was spurred to executive recruitment. “If the scientists I placed could make the quality of a medication better, then more patients would have better options and better relief.”  After approximately 10 years of business-to-business sales experience, Elliott is now making his mark as a highly regarded Executive Recruiter in the biopharmaceutical and healthcare arenas. Elliott's personable and easy-going style allows him to make quick connections with both clients and candidates in his core areas of Health Economics/Outcomes Research and Commercial Business Related roles.

When Elliott is not acting as one of the stars of our office, he finds time to have impromptu performances with his daughter, “where I sing and she improvises dance routines.”  Elliott also enjoys taking road trips with his family to places they've never been before.

Susan Shoemaker earned her PhD in Biochemistry from UC San Diego after obtaining a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Having worked in both industry and academia, Susan brings more than 20 years of research and teaching in the life sciences arena to The Agency. In her role as Director of Research, Susan leads a team of dedicated individuals who perform many diverse functions, from strategic sourcing to educating the recruiters of The Agency on the deep technical aspects of our searches and helping them better understand the technical needs of our clients. As a trained scientist, her expertise and wide array of scientific knowledge is an important piece of the puzzle and contributes immensely to the success of The Agency. Susan also happens to be an excellent referral source for good movies and books and creates magnificent homemade treats to the delight of her coworkers.

Keith Brown, PhD joined The Agency in 2005 because “it gave me the opportunity to merge my love of diversity projects and my science background.” Keith was born in Louisiana and attended Grambling State University in the biology major where he was an undergraduate researcher in the Minority Biomedical Research Support program. Successful in science early on, he further stoked his passion, first as a summer Medical Research Training Fellow at Baylor College of Medicine, and then as a Minority Undergraduate Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology. Keith did not stop there, he went on to complete a PhD in Developmental Biology and Genetics at Caltech and was awarded the Dean's Award for outstanding contributions to Caltech's community. Keith's commitment to community and minority development is clear in both his professional and personal life. At The Agency, his focus on diversity sourcing impacts our ability to present clients with diverse candidate pools. With a warm personality, a smile that lights up the room and a passion for making a difference, Keith is endeared by many. He has a broad network within the leading universities graduate programs and is actively involved in numerous professional diversity affiliations on the national and local levels.
 
When he's not reading science journals or helping clean up the community, Keith tears up the dance floor, performing the Salsa, Swing and Rumba at clubs around the town.

Andrew Kelsey grew up in a small town south of Los Angeles and completed his B.A. in Speech Communication with a minor in Theatre at Cal State Long Beach. After graduation, Andrew moved to San Francisco where he embarked on his recruiting career in a large-national technical search company. He quickly moved up to branch manager where he co-wrote an official company wide training manual for successful technical recruiters. Andrew made a record number of placements in 2005 and generated ground breaking revenue for the firm. “What I enjoy most about this process is the excitement of when a deal finally comes together for clients and candidates and the long lasting relationships you form with people that you otherwise may never have crossed paths with.” His passions in recruiting are only second to his love of music. In 2004, Andrew came back to Los Angeles to follow his music dreams and realized that he could not stay away from the world of recruiting either. He found himself at The Agency leading the strategic sourcing efforts for the development and commercialization team. His insight as a former technical recruiter has proved to be well matched to The Agency’s highly scientific environment.

In his free time, Andrew sings, writes lyrics and plays guitar and bass in a band called “Uncle Charlie”. A true Californian, he also loves camping, fishing, playing baseball and surfing the waves.