Executive moves, week of July 14, 2008

Advent adds Chalfen, promises more changes

European mixed stage venture capital firm Advent Venture Partners has hired Mike Chalfen as general partner. Previously, Chalfen was a partner on Apax Partners’ European team. At Advent, Chalfen will invest in tech companies alongside General Partners Peter Baines and Martin McNair and Partner Frédéric Court. The London-based firm said that hiring Chalfen completes “the process of generational change” in the technology team and that it was planning to further expand the team later this year. The firm most recently raised a $220 million balanced stage fund in 2004.

Powell joins cleantech firm

Jay Powell

has joined Global Environment Fund as a managing partner. Powell was co-founder of Severn Capital Partners, a private equity firm that focused on specialty finance and investments in industrial companies. Before that, Powell was a partner with The Carlyle Group.

First Round adds two principals

Christine Herron

and Kent Goldman have joined First Round Capital as principals in its San Francisco-based office. Herron was a director at Omidyar Network. Most recently, Goldman was a member of the corporate development team at Yahoo.

Sequoia staffs up

Sequoia Capital has made three new hires, according to its updated website. Warren Hogarth will focus on VC investments in the cleantech and energy space, after having recently received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Queensland. Christopher Lyle will focus on public market investments, and is a former associate with Brookside Capital. Michael Dixon will focus on the systems and software sectors, after having worked for Fidelity Management & Research Co.

Celtic House hires new partner

Pierre-André Meunier

has joined Celtic House Venture Partners as a partner, where he will lead the firm’s activities in the Ottawa-Montreal region. He previously was a partner with venture firm GTI Capital and, before that, was president and CEO of Codagen Technologies, a maker of automated software development tools.

Valhalla adds two to team

Early stage venture firm Valhalla Partners has named Saj Cherian principal and Leon Zilber research analyst. Cherian previously was an executive with NBC Universal, where he focused on scaling the company’s mobile advertising business. Zilber was a senior analyst at Alliance Bernstein. The Vienna, Va.-based Valhalla is investing from its second fund, a $264 million vehicle that closed in 2006.

Bunker to Early Stage

Mike Bunker

has joined Cleveland-based Early Stage Partners to lead life sciences investments. Bunker joins the firm after a five-year stint at C.R. Bard, where he was director of corporate business development. Early Stage raised $44 million for its first fund, which closed in 2002, and has so far raised $22 million for its second fund.

CVC names Wei head of Beijing office

CVC Capital Partners, a Luxembourg-based LBO firm, has hired Zhu Wei as a managing director to head its newly opened Beijing office. Zhu was previously a managing director of Goldman Sach’s Shanghai investment banking team.

ABS Capital promotes Tobin

ABS Capital Partners promoted Rob Tobin from senior associate to vice president. Tobin focuses on media and communications at the Baltimore-based late stage investment firm.