On the move

FirmsPatrice Etlin, a managing partner of Advent International, has been elected chairman of the Latin American Private Equity & Venture Capital Association. Etlin succeeds Eduardo Elejalde, founding partner of Latin America Enterprise Fund Managers, who served as chairman from 2006.

Avenue Capital Group said that Stephen Trevor was named a senior managing director focused on distressed-for-control investments. Trevor was previously co-head of the private equity business at Morgan Stanley Investment Management as well as co-head of Morgan Stanley Merchant Banking and Asset Management.

Michael Moran, a managing partner at Brockway Moran, intends to transition out of future funds, according to a statement by the firm. Moran intends to remain active in funds currently under the firm’s management. The firm did not give any reason for the changes and calls were not immediately returned.

Jory Crowell and Dan Gustafson have joined Brookwood Financial Partners in the acquisition department of the Beverly, Mass.-based real estate private equity firm. Monique Hilton has joined Brookwood’s accounting department.

The Carlyle Group’s Middle East head, Walid Musallam, is leaving the firm following disagreement over the company’s strategy in the region, two sources told Reuters. Musallam, who joined Carlyle in November 2006 as its managing director and head of the Middle East and North Africa fund, was instrumental in setting up offices and raising a $500 million fund to invest in the region.

Global investment manager Fortress Investment Group CEO Daniel Mudd has resigned from the company and its board of directors. Fortress had previously announced that Mudd had requested and been granted a leave of absence from his role as chief executive officer of the company. Randal Nardone, Fortress principal and co-founder, will continue to serve as interim CEO.

Investor General Atlantic has named David Topper, a former vice chairman of J.P. Morgan, as a special adviser to the firm. He will work with General Atlantic’s portfolio companies on various projects, the firm said.

J.F. Lehman & Co. announced that David Gorton has joined as a vice president. Also, Michael Friedman and William Hanenberg were promoted to senior associate at J.F. Lehman, while David Thomas, James Michaud and David Silberstein were named associates. Gorton joined J.F. Lehman in January from Tailwind Capital.

Vincent Policard has joined Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. as a director in the firm’s infrastructure team. Policard, who will be based in London, will be responsible for originating and executing transactions in the European infrastructure sector. He joins from Morgan Stanley, where he was part of the infrastructure fund team.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. has named Ali Satvat as a director in its Menlo Park, Calif., office. Satvat joined from Apax Partners, where was a principal on the health care investment team.Seattle-based GenNx360 Capital Partners has added Jerod Pierce to its management company’s operating team. Pierce worked previously at the investment banking firm of D.A. Davidson & Co. GenNx360 focuses on buyouts of industrial business to business companies in the middle market.

Jeff Sangalis has joined ORIX Corporate Capital as a managing director of mezzanine and private equity co-investments. Sangalis was the founder and managing partner of Capital Point Partners.

European mid-market firm Palamon Capital Partners has appointed Hans-Joachim Körber to its board of advisers. Körber was formerly president and CEO of global retailer Metro AG and is currently on a number of international boards, including the boards of Air Berlin and Esprit Holdings Ltd on which he is chairman.

Warburg Pincus is hiring two new managing directors, the firm announced. The new hires are Mazin Al Khatib, who was previously a managing director at Investcorp Bank, and Somit Varma, who will work on energy deals and was previously global head of the natural resources group of the International Finance Corp.

WestSummit Capital, a private equity firm with offices in Palo Alto, Calif., and Beijing, has added David Lam as a managing director, and promoted Elise Huang to partner. WestSummit focuses on growth-stage technology companies with a presence in China.

Portfolio Companies

European retailer Carrefour has picked retail veteran Georges Plassat as its next boss, Reuters reported. Plassat, the 62-year-old head of private equity-backed retailer Vivarte, replaces Lars Olofsson, who had faced mounting criticism over a series of profit warnings that hammered the French group’s shares down 43 percent over the past year, Reuters wrote. Blue Capital owns about 16 percent of Carrefour.

EOS Climate has named Kathleen McGinty to its board of directors. McGinty is a senior vice president and managing director at Weston Solutions, where she leads the green development division. McGinty is also an operating partner at Element Partners, a growth stage private equity firm. EOS Climate is based in San Francisco.

London-based Footwear retailer Office, backed by European private equity firm Silverfleet Capital, has appointed Allan Leighton as non-executive chairman. This is the second senior appointment to the board after Ian Findlay joined as finance director in September.

Penton Media, a business to business media company providing content, insight and marketing to 17 industry sectors, has appointed David Kieselstein, previously CEO of TNS North America, as Penton Media CEO. He will also join the Penton board of directors. Kieselstein will be based in New York. Penton is owned by MidOcean Partners and U.S. Equity Partners II, an investment fund sponsored by Wasserstein & Co. and its co-investors. Penton is headquartered in New York City.

Global services company Sapient has appointed Robert Rosen to the company’s board of directors. Currently, Rosen serves as director to the private debt group Ares Capital Corp. and as operating partner of Ares Management, a $50 billion diversified asset management company. In addition, he serves as managing partner to RLR Capital Partners, which invests in the securities of publicly traded North American companies.

Sun Products Corp., a North American manufacturer and marketer of fabric care and household care products, has named Jeffrey Ansell, currently president and CEO, to the additional post of chairman of the board. Sun Products is backed by majority shareholder Vestar Capital Partners.

The Weather Channel Cos., based in Atlanta, have brought aboard David Kenny as chairman and CEO. Kenny was previously president of Akamai, the enterprise-focused cloud platform. Kenny also co-founded and served as managing partner of VivaKi, the combined worldwide media and digital arm of Publicis Groupe, and was chairman and CEO of Digitas Inc., the brand agency. The Weather Channel Cos. are owned by Bain Capital, The Blackstone Group and NBC Universal.

Service ProvidersBaird, an employee-owned, international investment banking, private equity, wealth and asset management firm, has appointed Paul Bail as a managing director to its investment banking team in London.

Niklas Johansson has joined Cogent Partners, a private equity-focused investment bank, as a senior adviser in Europe. He will assist with expanding Cogent’s relationships in the Nordic region. Johansson is the founder of NJ Capital Advisors AB.

FICO, a provider of analytics and decision management technology, has appointed William J. Lansing, a 30-year veteran in the technology industry and a current member of the FICO board of directors, as chief executive officer of FICO. Lansing succeeds Mark N. Greene, who is retiring. Lansing previously served as CEO and president of ValueVision Media. He also served as a partner of General Atlantic Partners, a global private equity investment firm.

The New York-based investment bank Houlihan Lokey has hired Sean Windsor as a director. Windsor, previously a senior managing director at FTI Consulting, as well as a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, is the latest hire to join Houlihan Lokey’s Transaction Advisory Services practice.

The Chicago-based insurance broker Willis North America has hired William Monat as a senior placement specialist for transactional solutions products in its national M&A practice. Monat has worked previously for Equity Risk Partners, Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP and Aon Corp.

PromotionsAnaCap Financial Partners, a specialist European financial services private equity firm, has promoted Justin Sulger and Fabrizio Cesario, respectively head of credit opportunities and mergers and acquisitions, to partner. Sulger joined AnaCap in July 2006, shortly after the firm’s inception, as part of the business services team. Cesario joined the firm in May 2010 and has more than 18 years of experience, advising leading European financial institutions and executing M&A transactions on both the buy and sell side.

The Carlyle Group has promoted Can Deldag and Firas Nasir to co-heads of Carlyle MENA Partners. Deldag, based in Istanbul, is head of Carlyle’s investment team in Turkey and Nasir, based in Dubai, is head of Carlyle’s investment team in the GCC. Deldag and Nasir, who succeed Walid Musallam, begin their duties immediately.

The Carlyle Group, which has filed to go public, has promoted 41 professionals to senior positions. Thirteen Carlyle executives were made managing directors and 28 were promoted to principal/director.

FFL, a private equity firm focused on investments in mid-market companies, has appointed Jack Scott as operating partner—human capital and David Crussell as operating director. Prior to joining FFL in 2010, Scott spent 20 years as an executive search consultant recruiting senior executives in multiple industries. Most recently, he was a managing partner with Heidrick and Struggles where he ran the San Francisco office. Before joining FFL in 2007, Crussell served as chief operating officer for SumTotal Systems, a provider of enterprise software.

The Minneapolis-based investment bank Green Holcomb & Fisher has promoted three employees: Matt Greeson, Amir Berenjian and Mark Horvick. Greeson, now a principal, joined the bank in 2004 and worked at U.S. Bancorp prior. Berenjian, newly promoted to vice president, joined the bank in 2010 from Chartwell Capital Solutions. Horvick, also promoted to vice president, joined the bank last year from Kirkland & Ellis.

Steve Judge was named president and CEO of the Private Equity Growth Capital Council. Judge succeeds Douglas Lowenstein, who stepped down last year. Judge has served as interim president and CEO of PEGCC since August. The appointment is effective immediately.

TA Associates has announced global promotions of eight staff members. M. Roy Burns, Mark H. Carter, Hythem T. El-Nazer and Harry D. Taylor were promoted to director from principal. Birker B. Bahnsen, William D. Christ, J. Morgan Seigler and Jason P. Werlin were promoted to principal from senior vice president.