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The Chartis Group
The Chartis Group was established in 2001 by Ken Graboys and Ethan Arnold, launching first as a strategic advisory firm to major U.S.
The Chartis Group
The Chartis Group was established in 2001 by Ken Graboys and Ethan Arnold, launching first as a strategic advisory firm to major U.S. health systems and academic medical centers before developing its own dedicated investment arm. Graboys and Arnold, both former Booz Allen Hamilton partners, designed the firm around the thesis that healthcare organizations — burdened by complex regulatory, operational, and reimbursement dynamics — require advisors and investors who understand the sector from the inside. The advisory practice grew rapidly on mandates tied to clinical transformation, margin improvement, and merger integration for large integrated delivery networks. The firm allocates across the healthcare ecosystem through Chartis Capital, its in-house investment platform. Asset classes include growth equity, buyout, and structured capital, with a heavy emphasis on healthcare services, digital health, and healthcare IT. The advisory business provides what the firm describes as proprietary market intelligence, generating a pipeline that mixes company-level opportunities with operating insights. Known portfolio exposures include GoHealth Urgent Care, a national operator of urgent care centers, and Kyruus, a patient-provider matching and provider data management platform (per public record). Investment activity spans North America, with deal flow concentrated in the United States, though the advisory practice has extended into international healthcare system engagements. Chartis employs a professional staff drawn from top-tier strategy consultancies, healthcare operators, and investment banks. The firm maintains offices in Chicago, Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Nashville, with the latter placing it near the country's for-profit hospital and healthcare services corridor. Beyond its core advisory and investment businesses, Chartis operates Chartis Digital, specializing in digital transformation consulting for health systems, and Chartis Clinical Quality, focused on patient safety and high reliability. In October 2023, the firm announced the acquisition of Jarrard Inc., a healthcare strategic communications and M&A advisory firm, expanding its service offering for health systems navigating mergers, acquisitions, and reputational challenges (per public record). Chartis operates a structure where the flow of non-public operational data and C-suite relationships from its consulting work can, in theory, reduce investment blind spots — a sourcing model that distinguishes it from generalist private equity firms or pure-play consultancies. The advisory arm serves over 1,000 healthcare organizations (per firm's official communications), creating a network effect that surfaces deal opportunities and operational benchmarks. Succession risk is concentrated in the two co-founders, who remain actively involved as managing partners, though the firm has expanded its partnership ranks to include leaders who joined through organic growth and acquisition. This hybrid advisory-capital model functions as a competitive moat in healthcare services, where regulatory and reimbursement knowledge compounds faster when tested daily across hundreds of provider and payer engagements.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2001
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Chicago
Corporate office
Chicago, IL, United States
Additional offices
Boston · New York · San Francisco · Nashville
Principals
Ken Graboys
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Ethan Arnold
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at The Chartis Group?
Investment decisions are run through Chartis Capital, the firm's internal investment platform, under the leadership of the firm's managing partners and a dedicated investment committee. Co-founders Ken Graboys and Ethan Arnold sit at the top of the investment approval hierarchy, though the firm has built a partner group that includes senior investment professionals with backgrounds in healthcare private equity and operations. The specific composition of the investment committee is not disclosed publicly.
How does The Chartis Group source proprietary deal flow?
The firm leverages its advisory business, which serves over 1,000 healthcare organizations (per the firm's official communications), as a primary sourcing engine. The constant flow of engagements with health systems, academic medical centers, and payers provides early visibility into industry trends, operator pain points, and emerging companies. This model generates proprietary deal flow that is less reliant on broad auction processes and more grounded in relationships with healthcare executives who are also Chartis advisory clients.
Is The Chartis Group a consulting firm, an investment firm, or both?
It is both. The Chartis Group operates a healthcare strategic advisory practice serving health systems, payers, and digital health companies alongside Chartis Capital, a dedicated investment arm. The advisory business delivers strategy, operations, digital, and clinical quality consulting, while Chartis Capital makes control and minority investments in healthcare services and technology companies. The firm considers the two halves to be complementary, with advisory relationships informing investment decisions.
Does The Chartis Group invest exclusively in healthcare?
The firm has a pure-play healthcare mandate. Both the advisory and investment businesses serve and invest exclusively within healthcare services, healthcare technology, digital health, and healthcare IT. The firm does not allocate to other sectors such as financial services, industrials, or consumer goods. This sector concentration is central to its strategy of compounding deep healthcare-specific operating and investment expertise.
What investment stages does The Chartis Group typically target?
Chartis Capital targets growth equity and buyout opportunities, with a preference for companies that have achieved commercial traction and are scaling within the healthcare ecosystem. The firm looks for management teams that can benefit from the operational insights and C-suite relationships generated by the advisory business. It does not operate a venture capital practice targeting pre-revenue or seed-stage healthcare companies as a general rule.
Does The Chartis Group co-invest alongside external GPs?
The firm's known posture favors direct investment through Chartis Capital rather than participating as a limited partner in funds managed by other general partners. Its advisory-driven sourcing model provides sufficient proprietary deal flow to support a direct-investment strategy. However, the firm has not publicly disclosed a strict prohibition on co-investment, and it is possible that opportunistic co-investments alongside trusted partners occur on a deal-by-deal basis.
How is the advisory business separated from the investment arm?
While the firm describes the two units as complementary, the specific information barriers, compliance protocols, and conflict-of-interest policies that separate the advisory and investment businesses are not publicly detailed. The consulting arm advises health systems that may be acquisition targets or competitors of portfolio companies, creating inherent structural tensions. How the firm manages these potential conflicts — through disclosure, separate engagement teams, or restricted advisory roles — is a material diligence question for allocators and healthcare clients alike.
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