About Excelon Associates
Excelon Associates is a retained executive search and recruitment firm founded in 2007 and headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina. We place leaders in higher education, healthcare, financial services, and government, nationally and internationally, with one mission: exceed your expectations at every stage of the search.
Start a Search Meet Our TeamWhat Is Excelon Associates?
Excelon Associates is a retained executive search and recruitment firm founded in 2007 by Susan Forman, headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina, with offices in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, Florida. The firm places senior leaders at higher education institutions, healthcare organizations, financial services firms, and government agencies across the United States and internationally, and operates an integrated temporary staffing practice across all four sectors.
Our mission is simple: exceed your expectations at every stage of the search. With 45+ combined years of recruiting experience and practical leadership backgrounds in the sectors we serve, we recruit from entry level through the C-suite, and we have built a track record of placing senior leaders who meet or exceed organizational expectations.
Clients today want more than resumes. They want a search partner that acts as a strategic consultant: evaluating leadership teams, advising boards, developing succession plans, and shaping institutional culture. That is the role we play. We do not simply fill roles; we build leadership capacity, and we have been doing it since 2007.
How Did Excelon Associates Begin?
Excelon Associates began in higher education and grew outward, one sector at a time, by applying the same retained search discipline to each new market.
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2007
Founded
Founded in higher education
Susan Forman founds Excelon Associates with a focus on higher education recruitment, placing academic and administrative leaders at colleges, universities, and career schools. Higher education remains the firm's founding and deepest market, with more than 500 institutions engaged since 2007.
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2010s
New Practices
Expansion into healthcare and financial services
The firm builds a healthcare practice staffed with former nurses turned recruiters, and a financial services practice led by active equity and options traders with hands-on digital asset market knowledge.
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2016
Going Global
Expansion into international executive search
Excelon Associates begins placing leaders beyond the United States, building an international search practice that has since completed engagements in the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and South Asia.
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2022
Public Sector
Expansion into government recruitment
The firm extends its retained search model to the public sector, becoming an approved recruitment vendor for government agencies and building a practice serving public sector organizations nationwide.
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Today
Five Practices
Four sectors, five practices, international reach
From offices in Asheville, NC, Boca Raton, FL, and Delray Beach, FL, the firm places candidates across the United States and internationally, with an integrated temporary staffing practice across all four core sectors.
How Does a Retained Search Engagement Work?
Every search we undertake is retained and exclusive. That means our full attention, a dedicated process, and a commitment to your outcome, not a race against competing firms to submit volume. We identify and approach high performers in their current roles, because the best candidates are rarely looking, and we investigate every candidate we submit, going back ten years across cognitive, social, business, and strategic dimensions.
Engagements typically produce a candidate slate in three to five weeks, with a full search cycle, from kickoff through offer and acceptance, of 60 to 90 days. Every active search is fully indexed on Google and proactively marketed online at no extra cost to our clients. To scope an engagement, tell us about your open role and a team member will follow up within one business day.
What Sets Excelon Associates Apart?
Niche Expertise, Not Generalism
We work exclusively in higher education, healthcare, financial services, and government. Our networks and knowledge in these sectors run deep. We are not generalists trying to serve every industry.
Retained, Exclusive, Committed
Every search is retained and exclusive: full attention, a dedicated process, and a commitment to your outcome rather than a race to submit resume volume.
Passive Candidates First
The best candidates are rarely looking. We identify and approach high performers in their current roles, reaching talent that job postings never will.
SEO-Driven Campaign Marketing
We proactively market every search online and ensure full Google indexing of all active campaigns, at no extra cost to our clients. Our candidates find us, and we find them.
Reach Without Borders
Headquartered in Asheville, NC with offices in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, FL, we have placed candidates across the US, UK, Middle East, and South Asia.
Recruiters From the Field
Former nurses recruit our healthcare and nursing program searches, and active equity and options traders lead our financial services practice. Candidates talk to peers, not generalists.
Where Does Excelon Associates Recruit?
Excelon Associates operates five practice areas: four core industry verticals plus an integrated temporary staffing division. Each practice page details the roles we place and how we work in that market.
Who Leads Excelon Associates?
Excelon Associates is led by a four-person leadership team with 45+ combined years of recruiting experience and practical backgrounds in the sectors the firm serves.
Read full team profiles on the Meet the Excelon Team page.
See who we have placed
Browse a selection of completed searches across all four markets in our recent campaigns.
View Recent CampaignsLatest From Excelon Associates on LinkedIn
Active searches, placements, and sector insights from our team, updated as they happen. Follow Excelon Associates on LinkedIn for new roles and recruitment news.
What Results Do Clients and Candidates Report?
Excelon Associates holds a 5.0 rating on Google from clients and candidates across all four service markets. Read the full set of verified reviews on our Google Business Profile.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Excelon Associates?
Excelon Associates is a retained executive search and recruitment firm founded in 2007 by Susan Forman. The firm is headquartered in Asheville, North Carolina, with offices in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, Florida, and places leaders in higher education, healthcare, financial services, and government, with an integrated temporary staffing practice across all four sectors.
Who founded Excelon Associates?
Susan Forman founded Excelon Associates in 2007 with a focus on higher education recruitment. She continues to lead the firm as President and CEO, alongside a leadership team with 45+ combined years of recruiting experience.
What is retained executive search?
Retained executive search is an exclusive, committed engagement in which a firm is retained by a single client to proactively recruit for a leadership role, including passive candidates who are not actively job hunting. Excelon Associates works exclusively on the retained model, typically presenting a candidate slate in three to five weeks, with a full search cycle of 60 to 90 days.
What industries does Excelon Associates serve?
Excelon Associates serves four core industries: higher education, healthcare, financial services, and government. The firm also operates an integrated temporary staffing practice covering contract, interim, and temp-to-hire roles across all four sectors.
Where does Excelon Associates place candidates?
Excelon Associates places candidates throughout the United States and internationally, including the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and South Asia. The firm is headquartered in Asheville, NC, with offices in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, FL.
What makes Excelon Associates different from other executive search firms?
Excelon Associates works exclusively on the retained model in four sectors it knows deeply. Searches are led by practitioners, including former nurses and active traders, every candidate is screened across a ten year background window, and every search is marketed and fully indexed on Google at no extra cost to clients.
How do I start a search with Excelon Associates?
Submit your open role through the Hire Top Talent page or reach out via the contact page. A team member will follow up within one business day to scope the engagement.
Ready to Work With Us?
Whether you are looking to hire a senior leader or exploring your next opportunity, Excelon Associates is here to help. Headquartered in Asheville, NC. Serving clients nationally and internationally since 2007.
Start a Search Contact UsPrefer to talk? Call +1 (828) 417-7094