With 20 years of experience serving our private equity clients and their portfolio companies, we understand that the right executives can make or break an investment. We consistently deliver high caliber executives that can drive superior returns by staffing your search with the full power of our team.
Team
Scott Dunklee
PARTNER
Scott Dunklee
PARTNER
Scott is a Founder and Managing Partner of the Lancer Group, a Private Equity-focused executive search firm and human capital consultancy providing private equity clients and their portfolio companies high-impact C-suite talent who drive exceptional value creation. Scott has instilled a culture of exceptional client-focus and search execution at Lancer. He has also been instrumental in the firm’s development since 1998, overseeing over 350 C-suite searches predominantly for private equity-backed software companies. Scott has led Lancer Group’s focus on software, and personally recruited out of more than 100 industry verticals as well as led the firm’s Value Creation Services effort – linking C-suite executives with actionable deal ideas to the firm’s PE clients. Notably, one of those introductions led to a $200 million equity check “in” and over $800 million back to the PE fund.
Prior to founding The Lancer Group in 1998, Scott worked in the Silicon Valley office of Heidrick & Struggles as a member of the firm’s International Technology Practice. Before entering the Search industry, Scott was Director of Business Development for a Mexico City based holding company where he oversaw the company’s equity investments and served in interim management roles for various portfolio companies. Previously, he was a special projects consultant to Ford Motor Company’s Venezuelan subsidiary and a Corporate Development Analyst with FNRS Financial Corporation, a former subsidiary of Wells Fargo Holding Company. He is also the Executive Producer of the Emmy-nominated documentary, The Matador.
Scott received his B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from the University of Southern California in 1988 and his MBA from The Kellogg School at Northwestern University in 1995.
+1 858-551-1001 (Ext. 2865)
Victoria Lakers
PARTNER
Victoria Lakers
PARTNER
Victoria joined The Lancer Group in 2019, after 17 years of experience across finance, sales and marketing, and operations in multiple industries. She previously ran a consulting firm that helped clients scale through better capital strategies, revenue development, and talent alignment, and built and sold two of its own companies. She was previously in capital raising and investor relations for private equity firms, Apollo Global Management and Water Asset Management, where she worked with many of the country’s largest institutional investors. Prior to this, Victoria spent 6 years in sales management roles for large hospitality companies.
She serves as an advisor, mentor, and speaker on investing and entrepreneurship, and sits on the Board of Directors for the San Diego Air & Space Museum and Tech Coast Angels San Diego, the largest chapter of the largest angel investment group in the country. She also co-founded the San Diego chapter of women’s educational series Changemaker Chats. She was named a San Diego Business Journal’s Next Top Business Leader under 40 in 2018 and was a finalist in 2019.
Victoria graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing and Finance.
Dashan Subramaniam
ENGAGEMENT MANAGER
Dashan Subramaniam
ENGAGEMENT MANAGER
Dashan is a Senior Consultant with The Lancer Group and is responsible for successfully placing C-level executives into key leadership roles for the firm’s public and private equity clients. He has worked on numerous C-level searches and competitive intelligence projects while taking an active role in refining research techniques and best practices used by the firm to identify top-tier executive talent.
Prior to joining the Lancer Group, Dashan served as Project Manager in the Mauritian Energy Industry for several years; prior to his time in Mauritius, he was based out of Malaysia where he served as General Manager for a 25-year-old post-press business unit.
Dashan earned a Bachelors’s in Economics from the University of San Francisco and holds an LLB with honors from the University of Hertfordshire. He is fluent in Bahasa and Tamil.
Haydon Knight
SENIOR CONSULTANT
Haydon Knight
SENIOR CONSULTANT
Haydon is a Consultant with the Lancer Group and is responsible for driving the firm’s executive search operations and business development initiatives. He has worked on numerous C-level searches and competitive intelligence projects while taking an active role in refining research techniques and best practices used by the firm to identify top-tier executive talent.
Earlier in his career, Haydon served in the Australian Army as a Commissioned Officer and worked in the Department of Emergency Services & Disaster Management for over 11 years in Brisbane Australia.
May Ling Lai
HEAD OF ANALYTICAL PRODUCTS
May Ling Lai
HEAD OF ANALYTICS PRODUCTS
May Ling is an experienced executive with a demonstrated history of managing teams and working with C-level executives and board members. Her financial services experience includes portfolio management, risk management, research, and operational experience. May Ling’s technological background includes systems development and integration, data visualization, programming, and prototyping. Her experience in analytical tools includes R, SQL, and Tableau.
Simon Villata
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
+1 858 729 2863
Ian Lin
SENIOR BUSINESS ANALYST
Ian Lin
SENIOR BUSINESS ANALYST
Ian is a Senior Business Analyst and is responsible for supporting the firm’s search execution and business development initiatives through research. Additionally, he is tasked with setting research strategies and developing the research organization within the Lancer Group. He has been involved in numerous C-Suite searches for leading private-equity-backed portfolio companies across the tech, software, business services, healthcare, and consumer space.
Ian assists with the development of the human capital assessment, as well as the data strategy and analytics initiatives within the Lancer Group.
Ian graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Cognitive Science with specialization in Human Cognition from the University of California, San Diego. He is fluent in Mandarin and proficient in Taiwanese.
Jordan Mare
SENIOR BUSINESS ANALYST
Jordan Mare
SENIOR BUSINESS ANALYST
Jordan is a Senior Business Analyst with The Lancer Group and is responsible for supporting the firm’s search execution and business development initiatives through research. Since joining The Lancer Group, she has been involved in numerous C-Suite searches for leading private-equity-backed portfolio companies across the tech, software, business services, healthcare, and consumer space.
Jordan graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor of Science in Economics-Management Science as well as a Business Minor. She is fluent in Afrikaans, and proficient in French.
Christopher Thompson
BUSINESS ANALYST ASSOCIATE
Christopher Thompson
BUSINESS ANALYST ASSOCIATE
Christopher is a Business Analyst Associate with The Lancer Group and is responsible for supporting the firm’s search execution and business development initiatives through research. Since joining The Lancer Group, he has been involved in a number of C-Suite searches for leading private-equity-backed portfolio companies across the tech, software, business services, healthcare, and consumer space.
Christopher recently received his Master’s degree in International Affairs from the University of California, San Diego. Christopher studied International Business at San Francisco State University. He is intermediate in Mandarin Chinese.
+1 858 729 2873
Katya Mizin
BUSINESS ANALYST ASSOCIATE
Katya Mizin
Marketing Lead
+1 858-551-1001
Edoardo Amari
BUSINESS ANALYST ASSOCIATE
Edoardo Amari
BUSINESS ANALYST ASSOCIATE
Edoardo is a Business Analyst Associate with The Lancer Group and is responsible for the research portion of the firm’s search engagements. Since his joining of the firm in 2017, he has worked on numerous C-suite searches across many different industries for both public corporations, and leading private equity firms.
Edoardo earned his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, as well as a minor in International Business from the University of San Diego. He is fluent in Italian and proficient in French.
Kenneth Barthelemy
BUSINESS ANALYST ASSOCIATE
Kenneth Barthelemy
BUSINESS ANALYST ASSOCIATE
Kenneth is a Business Analyst Associate with The Lancer Group and is responsible for supporting the firm’s search execution and business development initiatives through research. Since joining The Lancer Group, he has been involved numerous C-Suite searches for leading private-equity-backed portfolio companies across the tech, software, business services, healthcare, and consumer space.
Kenneth is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Business from the University of California, San Diego. Prior to that, Kenneth studied economics at Santa Barbara City College. He is fluent in French and Portuguese.
+1 858 729 2873
D.J. Anderson
MARKETING LEAD
D.J. Anderson
Marketing Coordinator
D.J. is a marketing coordinator responsible for developing promotional campaigns, content creation, and web presence management.
He received his Bachelor’s degree in Modern Literary Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz.
Kayla Hitt
MARKETING ASSOCIATE
Kayla Hitt
MARKETING & ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATE
Kayla is a marketing and account management associate responsible for managing client accounts as well as facilitating various marketing functions, including advertising campaigns and social media management.
Debra Estes
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Tracey Goodman
ACCOUNTANT