On the Move

PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS

Allstate Investments has hired Russell K. Mayerfeld as a senior managing director and promoted Peter Keehn to managing director of private equity investing. Mayerfeld is the former managing director of investment banking at UBS and its predecessors while Keehn first joined Allstate in 2003 a director to head the company’s then $450 million alternative assets portfolio.

Battery Ventures has hired Russell Fleischer as a partner. Previously, Fleischer worked at HighJump Software where he served as chief executive.

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice has named John Dineen as an operating advisor to CD&R’s funds. The appointment becomes effective early next year. Dineen is the former CEO of GE Healthcare.

Edward “Ned” J. Kelly III, former Chairman of the Institutional Clients Group at Citigroup, and Ranji H. Nagaswami, ex-Chief Investment Advisor to Mayor Bloomberg’s administration for the City of New York, have joined Corsair Capital as Senior Advisors. Kelly and Nagaswami will help Corsair identify and evaluate new investments.

Middle market private equity firm GI Partners has named Laila Tarraf as head of human resources. Previously, Tarraf worked at Peet’s Coffee & Tea where she served as chief people officer and vice president of human resources.

Oakland-based Illuminate Ventures, which invests in early-stage cloud and mobile startups, announced that Ben Bayat has joined the firm as a senior associate. Bayat was previously head of west coast sales for IBM’s networking clients. In addition, Illuminate also added to its list of more than 40 advisors by naming Leyla Seka, senior vice president and GM of Desk.com at Salesforce, and Gerard Brossard, senior vice president and global head of business planning and operations for Visa, as the newest members of its Business Advisory Council.

Chicago-based venture firm Jump Capital has hired Dr. Garrett Vygantas to head the firm’s new San Francisco office and run its healthcare practice. He has also been named as a partner at Jump Capital. Dr. Vygantas was the founding CEO of NewBridge Pharmaceuticals.

Lux Capital has hired Zavain Dar as a senior associate in its Palo Alto office. Dar will focus on identifying and leading seed and early-stage technology investments and working with emerging entrepreneurs. Zavain was previously an investor at Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors.

Macquarie Capital, the corporate advisory, principal investing and capital markets arm of Macquarie Group, has named Larry Handen as a senior managing director in the U.S. principal transactions group. Prior to joining Macquarie, Handen worked at Insight Venture Partners where he was a managing director.

Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners has hired David Wilton as a managing director. In his new role, Wilton will focus on private equity impact investing. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Wilton worked at International Finance Corp. where he served as chief investment officer and manager of its global private equity arm.

New Enterprise Associates has hired Dr. Carol Gallagher as a partner at its Menlo Park office. Previously, she was the chairman of eFFECTOR Therapeutics, a director at Aragon Pharmaceuticals (which was bought by Johnson & Johnson in 2013) and a venture partner with Frazier Healthcare.

PineBridge Investments has named Justin Pollack as senior vice president and Stacia Rogers as vice president, product specialist. Pollack is a founding member of Newbury Partners while Rogers recently worked in investor relations and marketing at Knighthead Capital and Lazard Asset Management.

Credit investment and private equity firm Oaktree Capital Group LLC appointed Jay Wintrob as CEO, effective Nov. 1. Wintrob previously served as president and chief executive of AIG Life and Retirement, the U.S.-based life and retirement services businesses of American International Group. In addition, Bruce Karsh, president and a co-founder of Oaktree, will join Howard Marks as co-chairman. Karsh will continue as chief investment officer and as portfolio manager for its distressed opportunities and value opportunities strategies.

Onex Credit Partners has hired Stephen Baker, former senior portfolio manager with CQS. It’s not clear what title Baker will have. Onex Credit Partners is establishing a London office to expand its platform into Europe.

Ridgewood Private Equity Partners has hired Michael Albrecht as managing director. Prior to joining RPEP, Albrecht worked at Allstate Investments, where he most recently served as acting global head of infrastructure and real assets.

Silverfleet Capital said Monday that Jean Châtillon has joined the firm in Paris as a Principal. Benjamin Hubner and Jennifer Regehr have also joined Silverfleet in Munich as Associates. Châtillon was previously at Cobalt Capital, while Hubner worked at McKinsey & Company in Munich and Regehr was at UniCredit Bank.

Investment management firm Spears Abacus has hired William W. Marden III as principal and portfolio manager. Previously, Marden worked at First Republic Investment Management where he served as a managing director and portfolio manager.

Vortus has named Brian Hansen as a principal for its investment team. Previously, Hansen worked at Pioneer Natural Resources Company where he was a senior executive.

Warburg Pincus has hired three people as executives-in-residence in the healthcare group. David Kirchhoff, former chief investment officer of Weight Watchers International, Philip Gioia, president of North America at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Richard Hassett, formerly president and CEO of NovaSom, will work to explore investment opportunities in the healthcare industry.

PORTFOLIO COMPANIES

Aasonn, which is backed by LLR Partners, has named Randy Womack as CEO. Previously, Womack worked at Castlight Health where he served as chief operating officer. Aasonn is a global HR strategy, tech and outsourcing firm.

Agari, a San Mateo, Calif.-based provider of real-time, data-driven security solutions, has appointed Martin Brauns to its board of directors. Brauns is the former chairman and CEO of Interwoven. Agari is backed by Alloy Ventures, Battery Ventures, First Round Capital, Greylock Partners and Scale Venture Partners.

Restaurant chain Black Angus Steakhouse, which is backed by Versa Capital Management, has named Christopher P. Ames as president and CEO. The appointment became effective September 15, 2014. Previously, Ames worked at Benihana Restaurants where he served as chief operating officer.

Delphinus Medical Technologies, which is backed by Arboretum Ventures and Beringea, has hired Chris Sanders as vice president of engineering. Previously, Sanders worked at Toshiba Medical Research Institute, USA, where he served as director of ultrasound research and development. Delphinus is maker of SoftVue, a whole breast ultrasound system.

Heritage Golf Group, which is backed by Tower Three Partners, has appointed Davis Sezna as co-managing partner. He will be serving alongside founder Bob Husband. Most recently, Sezna was the president and CEO of The Cliffs Communities. Heritage is an owner and operator of golf properties across the U.S.

San Francisco-based Voxer, a provider of push-to-talk and multimedia messaging, has hired Paul Reilly as vice president of engineering. Previously, Reilly worked at Memeo where he served as vice president of engineering. Its backers include Institutional Venture Partners, Intel Capital, SV Angel and CrunchFund.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

Access Point Financial has hired David Wahl as managing director of portfolio management. Previously, Wahl worked at Trimont Real Estate Advisors. Formed by APF management and Stone Point Capital, APF is an Atlanta-based lending and advisory platform.

Financial services firm Aequitas Capital has named Brian Rice as executive vice president and partner. He has also been appointed president of Aequitas’ wealth management division. Prior to joining Aequitas, Rice worked at KeyBank, where he served as the regional president for Oregon, Washington and Alaska.

Bethesda, Maryland-based investment management firm Calvert Investments has hired John Streur as its next CEO. Streur will join the company on October 27, 2014 and “assume full responsibilities” on January 1, 2015. Currently, Streur is the president, director and principal of Portfolio 21.

Capital One Bank has hired Terry O’Grady as managing director and head of the Midwest Region for Capital One Business Credit. O’Grady will focus on business development and building a team to work on asset-based lending in the Midwest. He will be based in Chicago and report to Dan deBrauwere, head of Capital One’s Business Credit unit. O’Grady was most recently commercial executive and head of the Midwest Region for HSBC’s Commercial Lending Group. Before that, he worked as managing director at CIT and was a founding member of BMO Harris Bank’s asset bank group.

China Information Technology has hired Robin Yang as chief financial officer. The appointment is effective immediately. Previously, Yang worked at Harbert Management Corp. where she served as director of research. Headquartered in Shenzhen, China, China Information Technology is a provider of cloud-based software as a service for the Chinese new media sector.

Citizens Commercial Banking has added Ross Eldridge and Tom Case to its healthcare finance team. Both will focus on middle-market cash flow financings in the $60 million to $1 billion range. Previously, Eldridge was a director at GE Capital Healthcare Financial Services while Case was a vice president at CIT Healthcare. Citizens Commercial Banking is the commercial banking unit of Citizens Financial Group.

Deliv has hired Ingrid Bekkers as vice president of marketing. Previously, she was a marketing executive at Diageo and Constellation Brands. Headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif., Deliv is a provider of same-day delivery services. Its backers include Upfront Ventures and RPM Ventures.

Dick LeBlanc was named President of Flow International Corp. effective immediately. LeBlanc will report directly to the Waterjet Holdings President & CEO David Savage. LeBlanc most recently served as the EVP of Global Sales and Marketing for Flow, which develops and makes industrial waterjet machines for cutting applications. Waterjet Holdings, which is backed by American Industrial Partners, acquired Flow in January.

International law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson has appointed Graham White as head of the firm’s private equity practice in Europe. He has also been named partner in Fried Frank’s corporate department and managing partner of the firm’s London office. Prior to joining Fried Frank, White was a senior partner in the London office of Kirkland & Ellis.

Hawthorne Global Aviation Services has appointed David C. Hurley as vice chairman of its board of directors. Hurley is the founder of Flight Services Group. Based in Charleston, SC, Hawthorne is a general aviation services provider. Moelis Capital Partners and Hawthorne Corp. launched Hawthorne in 2010 to pursue an FBO acquisition strategy.

Toronto-based Keek, a free social video platform provider, has appointed David Birnbaum to its board of directors. Birnbaum is the president of Broadway Video Ventures, the corporate strategy, investment and acquisition arm of Broadway Video Entertainment. He is also a former investment professional at Apax Partners.

Morgan Lewis has hired Tim Corbett as a partner in its business and finance practice in London. Corbett, who was previously in the corporate practice group of another large international law firm in London, focuses on public and private equity and debt offerings, M&A and venture capital financings. He works with companies in the life sciences, technology and media sectors, including in biotechnology, Internet, e-commerce and digital media, as well as semiconductor design and manufacturing.

Asia-based financial services group Nomura has expanded its investment banking division with 15 senior appointments. Among the hires are Frank Kinney who joins Nomura as a managing director and head of industrials, Americas; Michael Rintoul, who is now managing director and head of business services; and Christopher Harned, who has become managing director in M&A, specializing in consumer products.

Sikich Investment Banking has hired Ryan Hampton as a director on its capital markets team. Previously, Hampton worked at Clark Dodge & Company/Advanced Equities where he served as vice president of investment banking. He is also a former vice president at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Stonegate Global said Tuesday that William Chong, a former senior executive at HSBC Alternative Investments, is now heading its West Coast operations. Based in San Francisco, Chong is an SVP and Head of Alternative Fund Services at Stonegate. Atlanta-based Stonegate Global provides domestic and offshore fund formation and fund administration services to investment management professionals, family offices, and other large institutional clients.

TIAA-CREF‘s Covariance has hired Kevin Nee as CEO. Prior to joining Covariance, Nee worked at Wilshire Private Markets. He is also a former managing director at BlackRock Alternative Advisors.

TMF Custom House Fund Services, a fund administration services provider for the alternative investment sector, has hired Kevin Walsh as chief operating officer for fund services. Previously, Walsh, who is based in Dublin, worked at HSBC Securities Services.

UBS Global Asset Management has named Ned McNally as a director and national sales manager. McNally will focus on business development efforts in the firm’s U.S. financial institutions group. Previously, McNally worked at JP Morgan Asset Management where he served as an external client advisor.

Zeus Capital has hired Adam Pollock as head of corporate broking from Panmure Gordon and Michael Allen as a research director. Allen previously worked as an executive director at Panmure Gordon.

PROMOTIONS

Abigail Johnson has taken another big step toward being the next leader of Fidelity Investments after the company said she will add the title of chief executive to her duties.