On the move, 5.2.2016

PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS

Adams Street Partners, the Chicago private-markets investment firm managing more than $27 billion of assets, effective June 1 named Brijesh Jeevarathnam a partner, co-head of global venture fund investments, and a member of its Primary Investment Team. Jeevarathnam, 41, who joins Adams Street at its Menlo Park, California, office, previously was managing director and co-head of global venture capital and global emerging markets at Commonfund, the Wilton, Connecticut, asset manager.

AE Industrial Partners hired Jon Nemo as a partner. Nemo joined the firm from Harris Williams & Co, where he led the aerospace, defense and government services group.

Vera Minar has joined Columbia Pacific to oversee the opportunistic strategy at Columbia Pacific Advisors and serve as chief investment officer of Columbia Pacific Wealth Management. Minar most recently was a director at Stanford University endowment, which grew to $25 billion from $14 billion during her tenure.

ORIX USA rehired John Bozalis as a managing director at ORIX Leveraged Finance in the Dallas office. He will be responsible for originating and executing new investments in senior secured, unitranche and second lien/junior capital primarily in support of middle-market private equity groups. Bozalis previously worked at ORIX from 2003 to 2009. Prior to rejoining the firm, he worked as senior vice president at BBVA Compass.

Silversmith Capital Partners said that Mike Lester, Bill Ready and Ashok Subramanian have been named senior advisers. Lester is currently CEO and founder of LifeStance Health while Ready is SVP, global head of product and engineering, at PayPal. Subramanian is co-founder and CEO of Liazon.

Soundcore Capital Partners hired William Berry as an operating partner. Berry will work with Soundcore’s portfolio companies with a focus on specialty distribution and business services. Berry most recently was CEO of American Tire Distributors from 2009 to 2015.

Trive Capital, the Dallas private equity firm managing about $900 million of capital, named Shravan Thadani a vice president. Thadani joins Trive from Sequel Holdings, the Dallas PE firm, where he was a vice president, sourcing, executing and managing investments in food and beverage, agribusiness and plastics.

PORTFOLIO COMPANIES

Agdata, the Charlotte, North Carolina, provider of data-management and analytics solutions for the agriculture and animal-health industries, named Andy Zupsic chief executive and said it acquired Focus Technology Group. Zupsic previously was chief operating officer at Sovos Compliance, where he’d led units for professional services, client support, compliance services and tax research. As Agdata CEO Zupsic succeeds Richard Bettison, who was named a board adviser. Focus Technology will be integrated with Agdata’s Animal Health Division, which provides data-enabled solutions to veterinarians, manufacturers, feed mills and specialty pet markets. Agdata was acquired by Vista Equity Partners, the San Francisco private equity firm, in July 2014.

Contractor Management Services, a portfolio company of Riverside Partners, named Drake Pruitt CEO. Pruitt has been running the company as executive chairman.

Nylon Media, which is backed by Diversis Capital LLC and investor Marc Luzzato, has named Jamie Elden president and chief revenue officer. Elden was previously CRO and head of entertainment at Federated Media, a subsidiary of Media General Co.

Precision Global, a portfolio company of Peak Rock Capital, said April 6 that Victor Martinez has been appointed general manager of Precision Mexico and Precision Venezuela. Martinez previously served as a general manager at Berry Plastics.

Seventure Partners said that Denise Kelly has joined as an investment adviser, while Oxana Kukhaneva has been appointed venture partner. Kelly was previously at Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen, where she was a professor of immunology and microbiology. Kukhaneva was with Inventages Venture Capital, where she was investment manager of the investment team. Seventure is a subsidiary of Natixis Global Asset Management.

Michael Joe has joined STX Entertainment as COO of the motion picture group. Most recently, Joe was a managing director of Seer Capital. STX Entertainment is backed by TPG.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

BlueVine, the Palo Alto, California, provider of working-capital financing to small businesses, named Ana Sirbu vice president of finance and strategy, responsible for financial management and growth strategy, including debt capital financing activity. Sirbu joins BlueVine from Google Capital, Google’s growth equity investment fund, where she was a manager and led efforts in FinTech. Sirbu’s resume also includes tenures at Skrill, the London online-payments firm, Silver Lake Partners and UBS.

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, the New York law firm with some 450 attorneys, named Christian Kleeberg a partner in its M&A and private equity practice, based in Frankfurt. Kleeberg joins Fried Frank from the London law firm Taylor Wessing, where he was a partner. In a statement Fried Frank said Kleeberg focuses on private M&A, mainly for “private equity and other financial investors. He also represents German and international strategic investors as bidders or sellers in auction processes, and has extensive experience advising clients on the purchase and restructuring of large companies in Germany.”

Mizuho Bank Americas named Rich Gallivan managing director and head of technology, media and telecom investment banking for its North American banking business. Gallivan was previously with Barclays, where he most recently served as managing director and head of global software and enterprise solutions.

Signal Hill announced that Dan Graves joined its New York office as a managing director. He joins Signal Hill’s sponsor coverage group and will draw on his relationships in media. Previously, Graves founded Spinnaker Capital Advisors.

Chris Ragazzo has joined Stanwich Advisors as a managing director while Jacob Laub joined as a VP. Ragazzo was previously a partner at Abbott Capital. Laub was a VP at Atlantic-Pacific Capital.

LIMITED PARTNERS

Canada’s second biggest public pension fund, Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, said Andreas Beroutsos would step down as executive vice president, private equity and infrastructure.

PROMOTIONS

Bowmark Capital promoted Julian Masters to senior partner and Tom Elliott and Enrica Dacomo to investment director. Masters, who joined in 2008 from European Capital, leads Bowmark’s business and financial services and media practices. Elliott joined the firm in 2014 from PwC and Dacomo joined in 2015. She previously worked at CDC Group.

Halifax Group, the Washington private-equity firm, named three of its principals as partners and members of the investment committee: Scott Van Duinen, Scott Plumridge and Chris Cathcart. Van Duinen and Plumridge source and manage investments while Cathcart heads the firm’s business development. Halifax is investing out of Halifax Capital Partners III LP, which closed in 2012.