Heather Burns is a Managing Director for ZRG Partners working with top life science and healthcare companies across the US. She brings over 20 years of experience placing executives across many functional areas, including C-Suite, R&D, commercial, Human Resources, manufacturing, and other senior management positions within biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices, life science tools, and digital health. Heather is passionate about bringing testing and diagnoses closer to the patient in an effort to improve care and patient outcomes. With this goal in mind, she quickly discerns client requirements to find best-in-class talent for key executive roles.

In 2010, Heather was a founding member of Toft Group, now a part of ZRG where her client list spans venture-backed startups to Fortune 500 corporations. She has helped her clients accelerate getting novel products to market, thereby changing the future of medicine. Heather joined ZRG from Sanford Rose Associates – San Francisco, building on a life science recruiting focus that she began honing earlier in her search career. Previously, she served as Senior Recruiter for executive search and coaching firm Ratliff & Taylor, and before that, as a Clinical Research Recruiter focused on technical and scientific professionals for major clients such as Pfizer, Abbott Labs, Ethicon Endo-Surgery, and Procter & Gamble.

Heather holds a BS in Public Health Education from the University of Toledo. She has been honored with “Top 5 Consultants” and “4 Star Producer” awards for her outstanding search performance within the entire SRA International network. Heather successfully completed some of her most challenging searches for clients in recent years, bringing A-players to many of California’s leading life science companies.