Ampersand Capital Partners, a healthcare-focused, middle-market private equity firm, announced the addition of Cecil Kost as an operating partner. Kost will work with the Ampersand investment team to identify and evaluate new platform opportunities as well as assist on the existing portfolio.

Kost has more than 30 years of healthcare operating experience in Ampersand’s target investment segments including laboratory/diagnostics products, pharmaceutical services and medical products. Most recently he served as president and CEO of Precision Dynamics, a manufacturer of patient identification solutions. Prior experience includes serving as CEO of MedManage Systems and president/COO of Oncor. Kost began his career at Curtin Matheson Scientific, where he spent nearly 20 years serving in senior management roles building the company into an industry leading distributor of lab products and clinical diagnostics prior to its acquisition by Fisher Scientific.

“We are excited to have Cecil join Ampersand,” said Herbert Hooper, managing partner at Ampersand. “Cecil’s experience in our core investment segments is highly complementary to our team. I am confident that Cecil will be able to leverage his years of operational experience to identify quality healthcare businesses that can benefit from Ampersand’s unique expertise, and then help them achieve their goals.”