On the move, 11.7.2016 – Topps trading cards appoints new CEO

PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS

Advent InternationalTricia Patrick joined the retail, consumer and leisure investment team as a managing director. Patrick most recently was a principal in the consumer, retail and dining sector team at Bain Capital Private Equity.

Altas Partners hired Damon Conway as a principal. Previously, Conway worked at Mill Road Capital and Onex Corp.

Ardian named Mark Brenke co-head of Ardian Private Debt, working alongside Olivier Berment. Brenke worked at Ardian for two years; previously he was responsible for establishing Intermediate Capital Group’s European direct-lending business.

Arsenal Capital Partners appointed David Spaight an operating partner for the healthcare group. Spaight previously was chairman and CEO of WIL Research.

Carmel Partners tapped Liz Tennican senior vice president of investor relations and marketing. She was previously managing director and head of investor relations and business development for Watershed Asset Management.

CenterOak Partners: Joining the middle-market PE firm are Ben Adams as vice president, Carrie Calhoun as senior associate of business development and investor relations, and Josh Weaver as an associate.

CRG named Adam Whitehead vice president of investor relations. Whitehead had been a senior investment analyst at Crestone Capital Advisors.

Leerink Transformation Partners hired Sasha Said as vice president. Said previously was an investor at Waypoint Capital.

Linden Capital Partners named Michael Bernard and Max Gaby vice presidents. Bernard joins from 3i Group and Gaby from GTCR.

Maven Capital Partners appointed Melanie Goward an investment director to its London-based investment team. Goward was previously with Finance Wales, where she worked as fund manager for the Wales Technology Seed Fund.

3TS Capital Partners, the European tech growth capital investor, opened a Washington office and named Sever Totia a partner to head its U.S. operations. Most recently, Totia was a partner at Edison Partners.

Tonka Bay Equity Partners hired Taylor Fish as an associate. Previously, Fish served on the investment banking team at Greene Holcomb.

TPG Real Estate Finance Trust, the real estate platform of TPG, named Peter Smith a managing director and head of originations. Smith had been a managing director at Ladder Capital.

Triloma EIG Global Energy Funds appointed Hope Newsome chief compliance officer. Newsome currently holds that post at Triloma Energy Advisors, the funds’ adviser and secretary.

Warburg Pincus tapped Thomas Carella a managing director for its healthcare and consumer group to identify, evaluate and execute healthcare investments and work with the current portfolio. Carella joins from Goldman Sachs, where was a managing director in the merchant-banking division and global head of the unit’s PE activities in healthcare.

PORTFOLIO COMPANIES

AHS Staffing, the Edmond, Oklahoma, healthcare-staffing-services provider, named Steven Francis executive chairman. Francis is co-founder and former chairman and CEO of AMN Healthcare. AHS, a portfolio company of BelHealth Investment Partners, also named Richard Frankl chief financial officer. Frankl previously was vice president of finance at Carlyle-owned Acosta Sales & Marketing.

Aqua Comms DAC, an Irish subsea fiber-optic network that interconnects New York, Dublin and London, appointed Nigel Bayliff CEO. Bayliff is a former vice chairman of a United Nations joint task force that examined the gathering of disaster-mitigation and climate information from the global web of undersea cable systems. Aqua Comms is backed by Ireland Strategic Investment Fund.

Emergency Communications Network, backed by Veritas Capital, tapped Wain Kellum CEO. Kellum previously was president of Vonage Business Solutions. ECN is the Ormond Beach, Florida, provider of a notification and response software platform for governments, enterprise and small-to-middle-size businesses.

Lemonade Restaurant GroupLarry Kurzweil joined as president and CEO. He previously served as president and chief operating officer of Universal Studios Hollywood. The co-founders of Lemonade, Alan Jackson and Ian Olsen, will assume the roles of chairman and chief culinary officer and chief development officer, respectively. Lemonade is backed by Butterfly Equity and KKR.

Liquid Web, a portfolio company of Madison Dearborn Partners, appointed Amar Patel as head of global sales and solutions. Previously, Patel was vice president of global sales at Rackspace. Liquid Web is the Lansing, Michigan, web-hosting and managed- cloud-services provider.

Original Cakerie, a Canadian maker of frozen desserts, named Paul J. Lapadat CEO. Chris W. Rogers has been named chief financial officer for the company’s holding company while Doris Bitz will become Original Cakerie’s president. Original Cakerie is a portfolio company of Gryphon Investors.

Situs hired Christian Bearman as CEO of Situs Europe, effective Feb. 1. Bearman also joins the Situs Group executive management team. Bearman was previously head of corporate development and operations at Valad EuropeStone Point Capital owns Situs.

Social Solutions Global, a portfolio company of Vista Equity Partners, tapped Kristin Nimsger CEO. Nimsger previously was CEO of MicroEdge. Social Solutions Global is the Baltimore provider of impact and performance-management software for human services.

Topps, a portfolio company of Madison Dearborn Partners, named Michael Brandstaedter CEO. Brandstaedter joined the company in 2009 as general manager of the global confectionery business; he most recently served as Topps’s president and COO. Topps makes confectionery, sports cards and entertainment products.

ZafinNancy Langer has joined as president and chief operating officer. Langer was previously executive vice president and chief product officer for Fidelity National Information Services. Zafin is backed by Kayne Partners.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

Amherst Partners expanded its restructuring advisory and investment banking team.  James Morden joined as a restructuring advisory managing director, and Matthew Feldman was named director of investment banking. Morden had been a director in the corporate restructuring group at Alvarez & Marsal, while Feldman was a vice president at Moelis & Co.

Baird hired Lydia Xu as managing director and head of China investment banking in Shanghai. Xu previously was a managing director at BDA Partners .

G2 Capital Advisors appointed Christopher Casteleyn a vice president and Connor Grogan an associate. Previously, Casteleyn was vice president at Antares International Partners while Grogan was an associate at Stout Risius Ross.

Global Access LLCAndrew Shuster joined as a managing director in New York. Shuster previously spent 23 years with the investment banking division of Barclays Bank.

Mizuho Americas hired Jason Fertig as managing director and head of healthcare investment banking for its North American banking business. Fertig previously served as managing director and co-head of Americas healthcare investment banking at Nomura.

MotaWord, the New York collaborative translation platform, hired Ali Reza as chief operations officer. Reza joins from TPG Capital‘s operations group.

OurCrowd, the equity crowdfunding platform, added Alec Allison to its advisory board. Ellison is former vice chairman of Jefferies LLC.

Opus Bank named David King to the board. King is managing director of Fortress Investment Group‘s credit funds business.

Sixpoint PartnersJoan Tan becomes managing director and head of Asian distribution. Tan was previously managing director and head of China at Diamond Dragon Advisors.

SouthCrest Financial Group named Daniel G. Broos to the board. Broos is founder and managing member of Brighton Partners, an Atlanta private equity firm that invests in small businesses with $10 million to $50 million in revenue.

LIMITED PARTNERS

Diversified Trust, a wealth-management firm with offices in the U.S. Southeast, named Selden S. Frisbee II, a principal, to its PE team. Frisbee previously worked with the firm’s operations and client services strategy team. He joined the company in 2012.

PROMOTIONS

D.A. Davidson & Co. promoted Monte Giese to president of its equity capital markets group. Giese first joined the investment firm in 1995.

GCA Altium promoted Dominic Orsini and Adam Sivner to directors and Mark Smith to assistant director. Orsini first joined the company in 2012 while Sivner came on board in 2008. Smith has been with GCA Altium since 2014.

Linden Capital Partners promoted Michael Farah to partner and Kam Shah to principal. Farah joined Linden in 2014 and Shah in 2009.