On the move, 1.25.2016

PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS

Adams Street Partners has named Ben Hart as a partner and head of business development in Asia. Previously, Hart worked at Capital Dynamics as managing director and chief operating officer of Asia.

Dr. Eric Aguiar has joined Aisling Capital as a Partner. He was previously a partner at Thomas, McNerney & Partners and before that he was a managing director of HealthCare Ventures.

Antares Capital has beefed up its team with four new hires. The middle-market lender named Mary Cecola as chief information officer, Bruce Frank as general counsel, Barry Giarraputo as chief financial officer, and Lisa Jablonski as managing director and head of human resources. Prior to joining Antares, Cecola worked at Federal Home Loan Bank, Frank was at NXT Capital LLC, Giarraputo worked at 40 North Management, and Jablonski was at Calamos Asset Management.

BelHealth Investment Partners LLC has hired Ed Mendham as vice president of finance for portfolio companies. Previously, Mendham worked at Qforma as chief financial officer.

Berkshire Partners named Samantha Adams and Thomas Kuo managing directors.

Robert Toth has joined CCMP Capital Advisors LLC as a managing director. He will be responsible for sourcing new investment opportunities in the industrial and chemicals sectors. Toth most recently served as CEO, president and chairman of Polypore International Inc.

Cerberus Capital Management said David Abrams was appointed senior managing director for Cerberus UK Advisors Ltd in its London office. Abrams was previously with Apollo Management, where he founded and was the managing partner of the Apollo European Principal Finance Funds franchise.

Charlesbank Capital Partners has named John Fiyod as chief financial officer. Previously, Fiyod worked at Berkshire Partners as vice president of finance.

Crayhill Capital Management has named Thomas Wickwire as a managing director. Prior to joining Crayhill, Wickwire worked at Perella Weinberg Partners as a senior advisor and at Carlyle Group as a managing director.

Golden Gate Capital has hired Bernhard Nann as an operating executive for its portfolio companies. Previously, Nann was CEO at Opera Solutions.

Harvest Partners hired Uzair Dossani as managing director. Prior to joining Harvest, Dossani worked at Warburg Pincus.

Sean Murphy has joined Harvest Partners SCF, the non-control private equity strategy of Harvest Partners LP, as a principal. Murphy was most recently a managing director with Angelo, Gordon & Co.

Hellman & Friedman LLC has named Deepak Advani as a managing director. Previously, Advani worked at IBM as general manager of IBM Commerce.

Graham Emmett has joined HIG Capital as a real estate managing director, based in the London office. Emmet previously was an investment partner in the real estate division of Cheyne Capital.

Kainos Capital said Jay Desai has joined the firm as a managing director and head of business development. Desai most recently was senior vice president of strategy at Crossmark.

James Hunt has joined Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors as managing partner and CEO of Middle Market Credit. Hunt was previously the founding chairman, CEO and CIO of THL Credit Inc.

NaviMed Capital has named Thomas Strauss as senior advisor and Ryan Ross and Cyrus Peyrovian as associates. Strauss is the former president and CEO of Summa Health System, while Ross was formerly an associate at Capitala Group and Peyrovian previously worked at Healthagen.

Luis Gonzalez has joined New MainStream Capital as a managing director. He will be principally responsible for the firm’s healthcare services investments. Previously, Gonzalez was a managing director at MBF Healthcare Partners.

North Bridge added Chris Cavanagh as principal and Brendan Gibney as vice president to its growth equity investment team.

Peak Rock Capital has appointed Carsten Beck as a principal. Beck previously worked as a director at Barclays’ investment banking unit in London.

Privateer Holdings named Dante Tosetti its director of treasury compliance. Tosetti was previously a comissioned bank examiner with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

QIC has named Eric Belman as a partner and head of the firm’s infrastructure origination, investment and execution efforts in North America. Previously, Belman worked at GE Power and Water as managing director of business development.

Soundcore Capital Partners has added Feliks Zarotsky as a partner. Previously, Zarotsky worked at Tower Three Partners as a vice president.

Jin-Yong Cai will join TPG as a partner effective February 1. Cai most recently served as the executive vice president and CEO of International Finance Corp.

TSG Consumer Partners has hired Irena Blind as a principal. Previously, Blind worked at Raymond James as a senior vice president.

Eric Albert has joined XPND Capital as vice president of investments. Most recently Albert was executive VP with Stingray Digital Group Inc.

PORTFOLIO COMPANIES

Entertainment Cruises, a portfolio company of Pritzker Group Private Capital, named Kenneth Svendsen its CEO. Most recently, Svendsen served as president of the Walt Disney Travel Company.

Fox Technologies Inc, which is backed by Parallax Capital Partners, has named Bryan Short as vice president of sales. Previously, Short worked at WorkForce Software as vice president of sales and operations.

Denver-based Healthgrades, which is backed by Vestar Capital Partners, has named Scott Booker as CEO and a member of its board of directors. Previously, Booker worked at Hotels.com and Stella & Dot.

Heat Software, which is backed by Clearlake Capital, has named John Ferron as CEO. Ferron was CEO of NetMotion Wireless.

Toronto-based LifeLabs Medical Laboratory Services, a provider of lab testing, has named Chris Carson vice president of partner relations and transformation. Previously, Carson worked at Trillium Health Partners as associate vice president. LifeLabs is indirectly owned by OMERS Administration Corp.

NetMotion Wireless, which is backed by Clearlake Capital, has appointed Christopher Kenessey as president. Previously, Kennessey worked at The Foundry as chief sales and marketing officer.

Paradigm Precision, a producer of complex fabrication and precision machined components for gas turbine engines, has appointed Steve Croke as president. Previously, Croke was a vice president in the engine and environmental control systems business unit of UTC Aerospace Systems. Paradigm Precision is backed by the Carlyle Group and AeroEquity Partners.

Peacock Foods LLC (fka Peacock Engineering Co), a portfolio company of Charlesbank Capital Partners, named Duncan Lavery president of its Produce and Foodservice Division, reporting to COO Chuck Metzger.

Vista Equity Partners has named Kenneth Frank the CEO of the merged MarketLive Inc and Shopatron. Frank most recently served as COO of Vista portfolio company Aptean. In November, Vista said it acquired and merged MarketLife and Shopatron.

TGI Fridays, a portfolio company of Sentinel Capital Partners, has appointed Robert Palleschi as president and
CEO effective February 8. Palleschi was previously global head of Full Service Brands at Hilton Worldwide.

Trimont Real Estate Advisors, which is backed by Värde Partners, has named Brian Ward CEO. Previously, Ward was president of capital markets at Colliers International.

Enterprise software developer Syncsort, which is backed by Clearlake Capital Group LP, has promoted Josh Rogers from president to CEO.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

Abacus Finance Group, a lender for private equity-backed lower-middle-market companies, has named Sean McKeever managing director and chief operating officer, Aized Rabbani director, and Brian Green and Jonathan Choa senior associates.

Alternative Investment Management LLC has hired Ryan Quinn as a managing director focused on portfolio management and researching hedge fund and private equity managers and investments. Previously, Quinn was a shareholder and director at Canterbury Consulting.

Financial services firm Baird has appointed president Steve Booth as CEO. Booth succeeds Paul Purcell, who remains chairman.

Law firm Cooley has named Steven Tonsfeldt as a partner. Previously, Tonsfeldt worked at O’Melveny & Myers as chair of the firm’s global M&A and private equity practice.

Oak Ridge Investments has hired James Barclay as senior vice president and regional sales director of the U.S. central region. Previously, Barclay worked at Neuberger Berman.

 

PROMOTIONS

Adveq promoted Farah Buckley, Richard Damming, Matt Ma Chang, Daniel Rhoads, Nico Taverna and Ethan Vogelhut to executive director.

BlackArch Partners promoted Johnny Conklin to managing director and Ryan Jackson to vice president. Conklin joined the firm in 2011 while Jackson originally came on board in 2010 and then left to pursue an MBA before returning last year.

The Carlyle Group has promoted Stephen Wise to global head of its health care team. Wise joined Carlyle in 2006 from JLL Partners.

Catalyst Investors has promoted Susan Bihler to principal, Patty Xu to finance director and Isaac Schlecht to senior research/business analyst.

Cyprium Partners has promoted Nicholas Stone to principal. Stone previously worked at Northlight Capital.

Encore Consumer Capital said it promoted Daniel Gross and Kisen Nathu to director.

Eureka Growth Capital promoted Jonathan Chou to partner, Lisa Harris Millhauser to vice president and Brendan Stancato to associate. Chou joined Eureka in 2007, Millhauser came on board in 2014, and Stancato joined in 2013.

Harvest Partners promoted Stephen Carlson to managing director. Prior to joining Harvest, Carlson worked at DLK Merchant Banking Partners.

Hellman & Friedman LLC promoted Zita Saurel and Stuart Banks to managing director. Saurel joined Hellman & Friedman in 2005 and Banks came on board in 2007.

Mercato Partners promoted Alison Wistner to managing director.

Millbrook Capital Management Inc promoted Alan Rivera to president. Rivera previously held the position of general counsel and chief financial officer at Millbrook Capital since 1996.

Montreux Equity Partners has promoted Dr. Michael Matly to managing director. Matly, who joined the investment firm in 2012 as a principal, is the founding advisor to Rock Health.

North Bridge promoted Won Park to principal.

Palamon Capital Partners named Alexandre Rahmatollahi a partner. Rahmatollahi joined the firm in September 2014.

Pritzker Group Private Capital promoted Adam Milakofsky and Ceron Rhee from vice president to principal of the firm’s services and healthcare investment teams, respectively.

Sun Capital Partners promoted Jonathan Borell to managing director.

TA Associates promoted William Christ, Hythem El-Nazer, J. Morgan Seigler and Naveen Wadhera to managing director. In addition, Dhiraj Poddar and Patrick Sader were named director, Jason Mironov was elevated to principal, Clara Jackson was made a senior VP and Daniel Brujis was promoted to VP.

Thoma Bravo promoted A.J. Rohde to partner and Andrew Almeida to vice president. Rohde joined Thoma Bravo in 2010 as vice president after working at the Saban Capital Group. Almeida joined the firm in 2012 from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

VMG Partners promoted Wayne Wu to managing director.

Winona Capital promoted Jason Sowers to partner.