NEED TO MEET SOLVEIGH MARCKS Managing Director, The Denali Group

Marcks points to two big trends in executive recruiting—the expansion of marketing and investor relations teams at buyout shops, along with the ongoing hiring of investment teams by start-up firms as well as by established firms launching anciallary funds, such as SBICs.

With money tight, fundraising has become a whole lot tougher, and even firms with long track records may feel they need more firepower to raise money and to keep their current limited partners informed and happy. Many firms, because they are newly registered as investment advisers with the Securities and Exchange Commission, also have to devote time and attention to making sure their marketing and investor relations activities comply with SEC rules. Firms that use a placement agent, Marcks said, need someone on staff to manage that relationship and to handle ongoing IR.

On the marketing and IR side Marcks points to a number of recent hires. These include Chicago-based Z Capital Partners hiring Irene Hong earlier this year as a managing director responsible for fundraising and corporate development. It’s a new position for the firm. Hong had previously been a vice president of investor relations at New York-based turnaround firm KPS Capital Partners and before that she worked in the fund placement division of Jefferies & Co.

Also earlier this year The Riverside Company, with offices in Cleveland, New York, and elsewhere, tapped Erick Bronner to head up the firm’s investor relations department, taking over for Christine Croissant, who moved into a part-time role in IR. Bronner had most recently been a founding partner, along with a number of other former Merrill Lynch executives, at placement agency Mercury Capital Advisors.

Other firms to recently hire marketing or IR executives, Marcks said, include Cowen Healthcare Royalty Partners (Carlos M. Almodóvar, VP-investor relations), First Reserve Corp. (David A. Posner, responsible for international fundraising and investor relations) and KRG Capital Partners (Reidan Cruz, director of investor relations).

Marcks, one of seven executive recruiters at her firm, founded in 2002, said that the hiring of marketing and IR professionals isn’t necessarily a new trend. But it’s one that’s been accelerating, especially among buyout and turnaround firms.

Phone: 212-317-1960

E-mail: smarcks@denali-group.com

Web site: http://www.denali-group.com/