About Us

About Us

About Us

Having the right people, in the right roles, at the right time is critical to the success of any business strategy.

I founded Afton with one clear purpose: to help life sciences companies hire the Regulatory Affairs leaders who move programs forward, and to help exceptional regulatory professionals find the opportunities where they can make the greatest impact.

After more than 20 years in talent acquisition—leading global TA functions for Fortune 500 companies and partnering with life sciences organizations at every stage—I realized that regulatory hiring demands something different: deep expertise, precision search execution, and a true understanding of what’s at stake.

At Afton, we specialize in Regulatory Affairs executive search because we know that every milestone matters. Whether you’re preparing an IND submission, scaling for NDA readiness, or building your first global regulatory team, the right hire changes everything—timelines, team performance, investor confidence, and ultimately, patient outcomes.

That’s the difference we bring at Afton Consulting Group:
 Focused expertise. Precision matching. A high-touch partnership model built entirely around you.

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Learn more about us

PROFESSIONAL AND COMPETITIVE

We help you create and implement a sustainable strategy for your internal recruiting team

Executive Search Services
Having the right people, in the right roles, at the right time is critical to the success of any business strategy. Afton Consulting Group has both executive search and corporate recruiting experience. This combination allows us to combine the tenacity of a headhunter with the savvy of a corporate recruiter to create and execute specialized solutions for your unique challenges.
Human Resources Consulting
Afton Consulting Group, a Global Human Resources Consulting firm specializing in Talent Acquisition. Our service offerings include Advisory, Analytics, and Training, focused on People, Process, Technology, and Metrics.
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Founder & Managing Partner

John Ricciardi

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Regulatory Affairs Search Partner. Global TA Leader. Executive Talent Strategist. 

I’m the Founder and Managing Partner of Afton Consulting Group, where we help life science companies hire Regulatory Affairs leaders who drive programs forward — not just manage them.

With over 25 years of experience in global talent acquisition (both in-house and agency), I’ve led teams across 11 countries, overseen 5,000+ hires, and built scalable recruitment strategies for Fortune 500s like Tyco and ARAMARK.

If you’re hiring for a regulatory milestone — and need a partner who understands the function, the science, and the urgency — let’s talk.

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Partners

Afton Consulting Group has identified a few key partners to help us create and deliver the very best solutions for our clients!

PROFESSIONAL AND COMPETITIVE

We help you create and implement a sustainable strategy for your internal recruiting team

Executive Search Services
Having the right people, in the right roles, at the right time is critical to the success of any business strategy. Afton Consulting Group has both executive search and corporate recruiting experience. This combination allows us to combine the tenacity of a headhunter with the savvy of a corporate recruiter to create and execute specialized solutions for your unique challenges.
Human Resources Consulting
Afton Consulting Group, a Global Human Resources Consulting firm specializing in Talent Acquisition. Our service offerings include Advisory, Analytics, and Training, focused on People, Process, Technology, and Metrics.
Testimonials
Curious about what people say about us & our services?
"John is a strong leader with the passion to strengthen any organization through the creative sourcing of top industry talent and the inherent ability to understand the needs of an organization in great detail."
Patrick WicksDirector, Talent Acquisition
Patrick Wicks
"John is a true professional with a strong work ethic and business acumen. John was well respected by his peers, customers and management. I fully endorse John as he will be a tremendous asset to any organization."
Steve KoehlerPresident & CEO
Steve Koehler
"John's ability to provide necessary results in filling critical open positions comes from his strength in getting to know exactly what his clients needs are and then laying out a strategy to get to the desired goals. He always lays out a clear game plan to achieve necessary hiring quotas. John has a very ejoyable personality and is fun to work with, which seems to make the process easier for all involved."
John PeaceSr. Global Talent Acquisition Consultant
John Peace
"John has always been dedicated to providing the best service to his clients. Underselling and over producing has been the hallmark of his style. Always organized and an asset to any organization he has been a part of."
Christopher CordozaVerizon
Christopher Cordoza
"John leads by example, he is a hands on manager who is always available to offer guidance and trusts his employees to complete any task given to them. He has demonstrated exemplary managerial skills through constant coaching and mentoring. He continually challenges his direct reports to be the best they can be in their role and is motivated by their accomplishments. John is committed to leading the organization he works for to success as well driving his team to be at the top."
Radha PatelDirector, Talent Acquisition
Radha Patel
"John is an exceptional person and one of the most knowledgeable professionals I know in the pharmaceutical staffing industry. Everyone I meet that knows John, loves him. John has a calming way about him that makes him a great partner during those stressful recruiting and hiring times. He knows how to get the job done and I hold him as one of my closest allies in the 'war for talent'."
Chad HenslerVP of Sales & Marketing
Chad Hensler
"Personable and professional, John is always on the move, listening to the needs of his clients and translating those needs into action that his team can deliver on. John is a huge pleasure to work with. He maintains a track record of success that speaks to his leadership and solid service."
Mike JarvinenVP Marketing
Mike Jarvinen
"John is a Talent Acquisition Mastermind who can empathize with every aspect of end to end recruiting from the “for profit” operators lens, recruiting leader and candidate experience perspective. John embodies growth mindset in how he engages his clients by wanting everyone to succeed, finding curve balls the ultimate challenge while persevering and seeing every opportunity as a chance to learn while differentiating his own toolkit."
JEN MOYERVP Human Resources
JEN MOYER
"Following a busy but fruitless job search, I had the pleasure of being introduced to John, who was able to immediately come through and provide me with my first solid opportunity. He is personable, knowledgeable, professional, and highly communicative. Our conversations were always very informative and personalized for the unique role I was applying for."
Melissa MullaLab Manager
Melissa Mulla
"I worked with John as a candidate for a senior biotech position he was retained to fill. I was very impressed with his thoroughness, professionalism, and diligence. I've worked with recruiters from many of the big name biotech & pharma recruiting firms, both as a client looking to fill a position, and as a candidate. John is easily the best I've had the pleasure to work with!"
Ross DurlandSr. Vice President, Development
Ross Durland

Afton Consulting Group is a global human resources consulting firm with a specialty in Talent Acquisition

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