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Founder / Operator·PPM Roll-Ups

Chris Throckmorton

Chief Executive Officer at EyeCare Partners

St. Louis, Missouri, USA

CT
LinkedIn
Why they matter

Serial PE-backed rollup CEO across four physician/provider platforms (Surgery Partners, IntegraMed, Pivot/Athletico) now running EyeCare Partners, with rare hands-on M&A integration experience in fragmented healthcare services.

Background

Chris Throckmorton is a healthcare executive with more than 30 years of experience running physician- and provider-services rollups for private-equity sponsors. He built his career through operating roles at Select Medical and Surgery Partners before running a string of PE-backed CEO mandates — IntegraMed Fertility, Pivot Health Solutions, and Athletico Physical Therapy — and became CEO of EyeCare Partners in January 2024. He holds a B.S. in Physical Therapy from UNC-Chapel Hill and an MBA in Finance from Georgia State University.

Notable deals

  • 2024
    Named CEO of EyeCare Partners, the country's largest clinically integrated eye care platform (700+ locations, 18 states)
  • 2022
    As CEO of Pivot Health Solutions, led its combination with Athletico Physical Therapy and was named President & CEO of the ~900-location combined company
  • 2017
    As CEO of IntegraMed Fertility, signed an equity partnership deepening a 20-year relationship with the physicians of Fertility Centers of Illinois

Call-prep brief

Chris Throckmorton — CEO, EyeCare Partners

Background

  • 30+ years in healthcare services; physical therapist by training (UNC-Chapel Hill), MBA in Finance (Georgia State)
  • Career path: Select Medical (President, Select Provider Networks) → Surgery Partners (Group President/COO) → IntegraMed Fertility (CEO) → Pivot Health Solutions (CEO) → Athletico Physical Therapy (President & CEO, post-Pivot merger) → EyeCare Partners (CEO, Jan. 2024)
  • Each prior stop was a PE-backed, multi-site physician/provider rollup — he is a repeat operator brought in to run scaled platforms, not a founder-operator

Current focus

  • Stabilizing and growing EyeCare Partners after a difficult 2023 (interim CEO period under Ben Breier, balance-sheet and reporting issues at the KKR-backed platform)
  • Integrating acquired optometry/ophthalmology practices across 30+ markets while defending margins amid payer pressure

What he cares about

  • Clinical quality and physician alignment inside a PE-owned rollup model
  • Operational discipline and integration playbooks (a recurring theme across Surgery Partners, IntegraMed, Pivot/Athletico)
  • Multi-site services scale economics

Recent moves

  • Took the EyeCare Partners CEO role in Jan. 2024 during a period of sponsor and lender scrutiny of the company
  • Prior to that, led Athletico through the 2022 Pivot Health merger integration

Sensitivities

  • EyeCare Partners' 2023 financial/restatement issues are a live topic — approach carefully, don't lead with it
  • He is new to ophthalmology/optometry specifically (background is PT, fertility, surgical facilities) — may be earlier in the specialty learning curve than in prior roles

Questions to ask

  1. What did the EyeCare Partners turnaround/stabilization plan actually involve operationally, and what's still in progress?
  2. How does physician/practice integration differ in eye care versus PT or fertility rollups you've run?
  3. What lessons from the Pivot/Athletico merger are you applying to EyeCare Partners' M&A pipeline?

Outreach draft

Subject
Question on physician-practice rollup integration playbooks
Hi Chris, I lead deal work at a firm focused on physician-practice rollups, and your run across Surgery Partners, IntegraMed, Pivot/Athletico, and now EyeCare Partners is one of the more complete operating track records in the space. We're evaluating a multi-site provider-services platform and would value 20-30 minutes on how you think about integration sequencing, physician retention, and margin discipline post-acquisition — particularly lessons from the Pivot/Athletico combination that might transfer. Happy to work around your schedule and can share more on the specific situation once we connect. Best, [Placeholder Name]

Sources