Edgewater Strategy Group Supports ZRG on Its Acquisitions of Howard Fischer Associates, Sterling Martin Associates and N2Growth’s Spain Business

ROCHELLE PARK, NJ (September 11, 2026) – Edgewater Strategy Group (“Edgewater”), a boutique advisory firm specializing in M&A, capital raises and Office of the CFO services, today announced that it supported ZRG Partners (“ZRG”), the global talent advisory firm backed by RFE Investment Partners, on three acquisitions announced between April and September 2026: Howard Fischer Associates (“HFA”), Sterling Martin Associates (“Sterling Martin”) and the Spain business of N2Growth, formerly known as Blacksmith.

Headquartered in Rochelle Park, New Jersey, ZRG serves clients across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia with retained search, on-demand talent and advisory services, supported by its data-driven Zi talent platform. RFE Investment Partners, a private equity firm founded in 1979, has backed ZRG since December 2018.

Each acquisition extends the ZRG platform in a different direction. HFA, founded by Howard Fischer more than three decades ago and based in Philadelphia with a presence in Boston and Silicon Valley, advises Fortune 100 companies, high-growth public and private businesses and investor-backed organizations on executive and board appointments; Howard Fischer joins ZRG as a Managing Director. Sterling Martin, founded by David Martin in 2006 and based in Washington, DC, brings specialist executive search for professional associations, trade bodies and mission-driven nonprofits, with consultants in Washington, Chicago and Denver, to ZRG’s Education, Nonprofit & Social Impact practice. The Madrid-based N2Growth Spain team, which had operated under the N2Growth banner since 2023, now forms ZRG’s business in Spain, led by Managing Director Alberto Herrero, marking ZRG’s entry into the Spanish market with an initial focus on financial services and private equity.

Edgewater worked alongside ZRG’s corporate development team as an extension of its deal resources, providing buy-side financial due diligence support across the three transactions. The Edgewater team built financial diligence databooks on the target businesses, prepared standalone-to-pro forma P&L analysis, and maintained the information request lists and seller question trackers that structured the diligence process.

“ZRG is assembling a rare combination in executive search: a global platform with scale, and specialist practices that boards and leadership teams rely on for their most senior hires. Each of these three businesses brings that kind of franchise, whether in the boardroom, across the association and nonprofit world, or in Spanish financial services. Our role was to give ZRG’s corporate development team a clear, consistent financial view of each business, so they could move with pace and confidence. We are proud to support ZRG as it grows.”

William Guillet de ChatellusManaging Partner, Edgewater Strategy Group

Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.

ZRG’s full announcements are available here: Howard Fischer Associates, Sterling Martin Associates and N2Growth Spain.

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