On the move; 05.30.2016

PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS

Blackstone appointed Daniel C. Heintzelman, formerly vice chairman at General Electric, as a senior adviser. Heintzelman will also serve as chairman of the Blackstone private equity portfolio company MB Aerospace, which makes and repairs engine components. He will provide counsel on the aerospace and industrial sectors.

Middle-market private equity firm Calera Capital appointed Bob Bianco as operating partner. Formerly CEO of Menlo Worldwide, Bianco is to assist with investments in transport and supply-chain management, committing $40 million to $200 million of equity per investment.

FPCG LLC, d/b/a FocusPoint Private Capital Group, named Gaurang Vyas a senior managing director. Vyas was also named COO of Landc Investment LLC, FocusPoint’s parent. Vyas was previously a managing director at Enhanced Capital.

Lovell Minnick Partners said Steven Pierson is joining the firm in June as president and partner. Pierson most recently served as head of FIG Investment Banking Americas and global head of financial technology and services at UBS.

Dan Matkin, formerly assistant director at PwC, joined NorthEdge Capital as investment manager, following the recent closure of the firm’s £300 million Fund II. At PwC Matkin worked in the corporate finance and assurance divisions, leading several PE transactions. NorthEdge focuses on investing in northern England.

Norwest Equity Partners and Norwest Mezzanine Partners hired Charles P. Moorse as in-house general counsel. Moorse was previously partner at Lindquist & Vennum, where he worked for more than 30 years and also served as co-chair of the PE group and chair of the M&A practice group.

Nuveen Investments, an operating division of TIAA Global Asset Management, appointed Bill Stout as managing director and head of alternative-investments business development, a new post. Stout was most recently a managing director at Corsair Capital Management.

Private equity firm Orion Energy Partners hired a number of key staffers, including managing directors Rui Viana (head of risk optimization) and Karen Vejseli (chief financial officer). The new executives complete Orion Energy’s initial staffing plan.

Lance Hirt and Jaime Buehl-Reichard launched a New York-based private equity firm, Stonecourt Capital LP. Hirt, formerly a partner at Lindsay Goldberg, will be managing partner of Stonecourt, while Buehl-Richard, formerly a Lindsay Goldberg managing director, will be co-founding partner. PetroLogistics’ partners David Lumpkins and Nathan Ticatch are also joining Stonecourt.

PE firm Trilantic Capital Management LP opened an Austin, Texas, office. Chris Manning, managing partner of Trilantic North America and chairman of Trilantic Energy Partners, will oversee the office along with a partner, Glenn Jacobson. In addition, Andy Hopping, vice president, and Phil Law, associate, have relocated to Austin.

PORTFOLIO COMPANIES

Anaqua Inc., a portfolio company of Insight Venture Partners, appointed Justin Crotty chief financial officer. Crotty, formerly a partner at Oliver Wyman, succeeds Dan Wallace. Anaqua provides intellectual property management software to corporations and law firms.

Curtis Bay Medical Waste Services, a portfolio company of Summer Street Capital, appointed Jack Perko president and chief executive. Perko was formerly managing director of Australia’s Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd. Curtis Bay is a medical-waste-disposal company serving hospitals on the East Coast.

Private equity firm Brynwood Partners appointed Doug Gillespie  president and chief executive of its Harvest Hill Beverage Co portfolio company, known for its Juicy Juice brand. Gillespie joins Harvest Hill from Jarden Corp, where he was president of Jarden Home and Family North America. Brynwood Partners VII LP formed Harvest Hill in 2014 to buy Juicy Juice from Nestle.

Imagine! Print Solutions, a portfolio company of Oak Hill Capital  Partners, named John J. Hans chief executive and a director. Hans, formerly chief operating officer of Restaurant Supply Chain Solutions LLC, succeeds Imagine! founder Bob Lothenbach, who has led the in-store marketing provider since its inception in 1988.

Ironshore Pharmaceuticals (America) Inc, the U.S. subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Highland Therapeutics Inc., appointed Craig S. Lewis president. Lewis, formerly senior vice president at Assurex Health, remains a director of IPA. Highland is backed by Eastern Capital Ltd, which led a $50 million financing in June 2015.

Insurance broker and consultant NFP, which is owned by Madison Dearborn Partners, promoted Kim Davis to executive vice president and chief HR officer. In addition to heading NFP’s internal human-resources programs, Davis led the company’s expansion in HR consulting. She previously co-founded a benefits-procurement consortium specializing in private equity that NFP acquired in 2012.

PsiKick named Philip J. Carmack chief executive. Brendan Richardson, PsiKick’s founding CEO, becomes vice president of business development. Carmack was CEO of Aptina Imaging Corp until it was sold to ON Semiconductor in June 2014. PsiKick is backed by investors including New Enterprise Associates.

Revenue Management Systems, a Mercator company, named Dan Whelan chief executive. Whelan previously served as general manager of Data Fusion Technologies. Mercator, which is backed by Warburg Pincus, acquired RMS in April.

Spirox Inc, which is backed by KKR, named Neil Hattangadi president and chief operating officer. Hattangadi, a medical doctor, most recently served as business leader-peripheral vascular at Royal Philips.

Daniel A. Pelton was named chief executive of W.F. Taylor LLC. He succeeds Jack Raidy, who resigned. Dominus Capital owns a controlling stake in W.F. Taylor.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

Law firm Cooley LLP added three new partners to its global private equity group: in New York, Ron Hopkinson from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft; in Palo Alto, Eric Schwartzman from Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and in London, Stephen Rosen from Olswang. With offices in the United States, China and Europe, Cooley serves private company clients across the tech and life sciences sectors and handled more than 200 M&A deals in 2015.

Credit Suisse added Eric Varvel to its international wealth management division. Varvel will succeed Bob Jain as global head of asset management, reporting to Iqbal Khan, chief executive of international wealth management. A 25-year veteran of Credit Suisse, Varvel has held several senior roles at the company, including in the Asia-Pacific region.

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP named Brian Miner a partner in the M&A and PE practice. Miner, previously a partner at Reed Smith, will join the firm’s Washington office.

Brad Critchell has joined Hycroft as a managing director. Critchell was most recently a managing director at Stanwich Advisors.

Alternative asset management firm JMP Group LLC hired Don More as a managing director in the investment banking division of JMP Securities. More, formerly a managing director at Signal Hill, will focus on the cybersecurity sector from the firm’s New York office.

Lending Club said it accepted the resignation of its chairman and chief executive, Renaud Laplanche. Scott Sanborn will continue as president and becomes acting CEO. Hans Morris, a Lending Club director, assumed the new role of executive chairman. Lending Club said Laplanche’s resignation followed an internal review of sales of $22 million in near-prime loans to a single investor, in contravention of the investor’s express instructions as to a non-credit and non-pricing element, in March and April 2016.

Maxim Integrated Products Inc. said Chairman Kip Hagopian  retired and would be succeeded by a current director, William P. Sullivan. Hagopian, a general partner and founder of private equity and venture capital firm Brentwood Associates, was a founding investor in Maxim, which provides analog integration services to industrial and data-driven businesses.

Pinetree Capital Ltd appointed Susan E. Fox chief financial officer. Fox has served as CFO at several small and medium-sized companies. She succeeds Carmelo Marrelli, who resigned. Marrelli Services Ltd will continue to provide accounting services to Pinetree.

Quarton International named Kim VanCleef vice president, to focus on financing advisory and M&A. Quarton, based in Birmingham, Michigan, is an international middle-market investment bank serving PE firms as well as closely held and publicly traded companies.

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP added Bijal N. Vira as a corporate finance partner in the firm’s New York office. Formerly of Winston & Strawn, Vira advises credit and special opportunity investment funds. The firm said Vira will boost its leveraged-finance practice.