Executive moves, week of March 3, 2008

5AM hires venture partner

has joined 5AM Ventures as a venture partner. He previously was with The Scripps Research Institute, where he served as chair of the Department of Immunology. He also has served as chairman of 5AM’s scientific advisory board since 2002.

In other 5AM news, the firm has promoted senior associates Kevin Forrest and R. Andrew McMillan to principals. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm raised $150 million for its second early stage fund in 2006.

Greenbriar adds three

and Noah Roy have joined Greenbriar Equity Group as managing directors, and Arvind Krishnamurthy has joined the firm as a director. Benvenuti has been an advisory director with New York-based Greenbriar since last year, and previously was president and CEO of Stellex Aerostructures. Roy was previously with Goldman Sachs as head of its aerospace and defense I-banking group. Krishnamurthy was previously with Veritas Capital Management.

Melnick joins CMEA

has joined CMEA Ventures as a principal in the firm’s energy and materials practice. He previously served as chief commercial officer and executive vice president of operations at Assay Designs.

Candover taps Paton to help expansion in Asia

London-based buyout firm Candover Investment has tapped Jamie Paton to lead the firm’s expansion efforts in Asia. Initially, Paton will be based in Hong Kong while he is evaluating options in the region. The firm raised a $4.1 billion fund in 2005.

Avista hires advisor

has joined Avista Capital Partners as an industry advisor, focused on the offshore energy services and marine transportation markets. He is the former president and CEO of Seabulk, which the Avista team invested when it was a part of DLJ Merchant Banking Partners.

Index adds Mitchell to growth fund

has joined Index Ventures as a Geneva-based associate with the firm’s new $600 million growth equity fund. He previously was with Draper Fisher Jurvetson and, before that, with Summit Partners.

Probitas promotes Frieman to partner

Probitas Partners has promoted Adam Frieman to partner in the firm’s New York-based office. Before he joined Probitas, Frieman served as deputy head of U.S. capital markets at UBS.

Bankoff joins Providence

Providence Equity Partners Inc. named P. “Jim” Bankoff as a senior advisor. Bankoff is a former executive vice president of programming and products at AOL. He will advise Providence Equity on new investment opportunities and on certain of the firm’s existing investments in the online and digital media space.

HealthPoint hires Hochschuler

has joined HealthPoint Capital as a senior advisor. He is co-founder of the Texas Back Institute, and is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon.