On the Move, January 2015

PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS

American Capital has named Brian Graff as president of private finance. His appointment became effective Jan. 1. Graff is currently a senior vice president and senior managing director at the firm. Prior to joining American Capital, Graff was a principal at Odyssey Investments Partners.

The Carlyle Group has hired Georgette Kiser as managing director and chief information officer. She also will join the management committee. Kiser joins Carlyle from T. Rowe Price Group Inc., where she was vice president and director of enterprise solutions and capabilities for services and technology. At Carlyle, Kiser will lead the firm’s global information technology group.

Cotton Creek Capital has hired Chris Weems as an associate in the Austin, Texas office. Weems joins from general industrials banking group at Raymond James & Associates, where he was an associate specializing in M&A for middle market companies and debt and equity capital raisings for public companies.

Franklin Square, a Philadelphia-based alternative investment funds manager, has named Berta Aldrich as its chief marketing officer. Most recently, Aldrich worked at Vanguard where she served as head of marketing strategy.

Golden Gate Capital has named Jay Parkinson as an operating executive. In his new role, Parkinson will help expand the firm’s focus on the oil and gas sector. Previously, Parkinson worked at Nuverra Environmental Solutions where he served as an executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Golub Capital has hired Kenneth Selle as head of loan trading in its Broadly Syndicated Loans group based out of the Chicago office. Selle will be responsible for sourcing and trading all broadly syndicated loan transactions. Selle most recently worked as managing director and head trader in the Corporate Credit Group at Deerfield Capital Management.

Institutional Venture Partners has hired Tracy Hogan as chief financial officer. Prior to joining IVP, Hogan worked as CFO and chief compliance officer at Elevation Partners for more than 10 years

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has hired Haroun van Hövell as a managing director and the head of its energy team covering Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Van Hövell joins KKR from Riverstone Holdings, where he worked as a managing director. He also worked at 4Gas Holding,The Carlyle Group and Salomon Smith Barney.

Los Angeles-based private equity firm Levine Leichtman Capital Partners has named Wouter Snoeijers as a managing director for its Netherlands office. Prior to joining LLCP, Snoeijers worked at PGGM where he was a director.

Lovell Minnick Partners LLC has hired Michael F. Dura as a senior advisor. Previously, Dura worked at Fidelity Investments where he served as an executive vice president of national financial services.

Star Mountain Capital has hired the York Street Capital Partners team, including co-heads and co-founders Robert Golding and Christopher Layden. Golding and Layden sourced and underwrote more than $750 million of investments over the past decade and participated in more than $4 billion in credit investments during their careers. Golding and Layden join an expanding group of senior partners at Star Mountain.

Technology Crossover Ventures has hired Doug Gilstrap as a venture partner in the firm’s New York office. Prior to TCV, he worked as chief strategy officer for Ericsson in Stockholm and New York.

Terra Firma has hired Christen Thomson as head of communications. Thomson previously worked as deputy chief executive officer and earlier as director of communications for the Alternative Investment Management Association, the global hedge fund association, from 2008 to 2014. Thomson also worked as a journalist at the BBC for 12 years.

Warburg Pincus has named Michael A. Pulick as an industry advisor for its CIS Group. Previously, Pulick worked at Grainger where he served as president of the U.S. and then international business.

PORTFOLIO COMPANIES

AAMP of America, a portfolio company of Audax Group, has hired David A. Klatt Jr. as president and CEO. The appointment became effective January 7. Previously, Klatt worked at Newell Rubbermaid’s global writing segment where he served as president. AAMP is a provider of mobile audio/video products, mobile device accessories and installation and OEM integration solutions.

The Krystal Company, which is owned by Argonne Capital Group, has named Omar Janjua as president and CEO. The appointment becomes effective January 21. Previously, Janjua was CEO of Sonic Industries and president of Sonic Restaurants. The Krystal Company is a quick service restaurant chain.

Lanier Parking Solutions, which is backed by Antarctica Capital, has named Bijan Eghtedari as president. Previously, Eghtedari worked at Park One Holdings where he served as CEO. Headquartered in Atlanta, Lanier is a provider of parking management services.

New York-based b2b media company SourceMedia has hired Marianne Collins as chief revenue officer and Michael Caruso as chief financial officer. Previously, Collins worked at Investcorp where she was an advisory director while Caruso worked at Deloitte/CRG Financial Services. SourceMedia is owned by Observer Capital.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

Adveq has promoted Benjamin Alt, Sven Gasser, Sven Kupferschmid and Hagen Raab to executive director. Prior to joining Adveq, Alt worked at Sal. Oppenheim‘s investment banking division while Gasser worked at a Swiss local government entity where he served as a deputy finance director. Also, Kupferschmid served as a trustee at Vogt & Partner and Raab was an equity financial analyst at BHF-BANK.

Biltmore Capital Advisors has hired Dr. Donald R. Chambers as chief investment officer. Previously, Dr. Chambers worked at Chartered Alternative Investment Association, Karpus Investment Management and The Bank of New York.

Private equity crowdfunding platform CircleUp has appointed Scott Sanborn to its board of directors. Sanborn is the chief operating officer and chief marketing officer at Lending Club.

Investment firm Commonfund has appointed Brian Rondeau as director of risk management and Alex Gurvich as director of Commonfund Asset Management Group. Previously, Rondeau worked at Harvard Management Company where he served as vice president of risk while Gurvich was at The Rockledge Group where he served as a managing partner and quantitative equity portfolio manager.

D.A. Davidson & Co. has hired Steven Gilbertson and Tim Sznewajs as managing directors of the firm’s new Denver office. Previously, Gilbertson worked as an executive director in Oppenheimer & Co.’s energy investment banking team while Sznewajs was co-head and senior managing director at FMI Capital Advisors.

Law firm Dorsey & Whitney is expanding its private equity practice by adding Genna Garver to its team. Garver will serve as chair of the firm’s investment regulation group. Previously, Garver served as of counsel and co-chair of the investment regulation group at Greenberg Traurig.

Dow Schofield Watts has promoted Keith Benson and Gregg Pendlington to associate director. Benson joined Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance in 2012 while Pendlington first came to the firm in 2013 from Haines Watts where he worked as a corporate finance partner.

Frazier Healthcare, which provides growth financing to healthcare firms, has added Bob Lefton and Bob Zollars to its growth buyout team. Zollars will serve as an operating partner while Mr. Lefton becomes a senior advisor. Lefton is co-founder, executive chairman and a director of DSI Renal. And, Zollars is the chairman of the board of Vocera.

International law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson has hired Mark Lucas and Daniel Oates as partners in the M&A and private equity practice in the New York and London offices, respectively. Previously, Lucas worked at Goldman Sachs where he served as vice president and associate general counsel in the legal department while Oates was a partner at O’Melveny & Myers and head of the M&A practice in London.

Morgan Creek Capital Management has hired Michael Forstl as a managing director and head of intermediary distribution. Forstl is a former senior vice president and head of independent and regional broker dealer distribution at ING Investment Management.

Ropes & Gray has hired Matthew Posthuma as a partner for its private investment funds practice in Chicago. Previously, Posthuma worked at Mayer Brown.

Healthcare-focused investment bank Ziegler has hired three executives from Contemporary Healthcare Capital to launch a healthcare private equity practice. Ziegler hired Eric Smith, former partner at Contemporary Healthcare Partners, which he co-founded in 2006, as managing director; Chris Claps, former senior vice president at Contemporary, as senior vice president, and Dan Contardi, former vice president at Contemporary, as vice president. 

PROMOTIONS

Berkshire Partners has promoted three people, Dave Bordeau, Marni Payne and Raleigh Shoemaker, to managing directors effective Jan. 1, 2015. They join a team of 19 current managing directors. Bordeau joined Berkshire in 2006 and has experience with the firm’s consumer products, retail and business services companies. Payne joined Berkshire in 2000 as an associate and returned to the firm in 2004 after business school. She works with the firm’s consumer products and retailing companies. Shoemaker joined the firm in 2006 focusing on business development activities. He became director of investor relations in 2013.

Carrick Capital Partners has promoted Alex Mason to managing director and Steve Unterberger to managing director of operations. Mason was formerly a director at Carrick and a member of the founding team, Prior to Carrick, Mason worked at Accel-KKR as a vice president. He also worked at Technology Crossover Ventures. Unterberger had formerly been chief technology officer at Carrick, prior to which he held several positions at Exult, Inc.

Frog Capital has promoted Joe Krancki from principal to partner. Before joining Frog Capital, Krancki worked at Jefferies in London.

Genstar Capital has promoted Rob S. Rutledge, Anthony J. Salewski, and Eli P. Weiss to managing directors. Also, the firm has promoted David J. Golde to principal. Genstar targets investments in the financial services, software, industrial technology and healthcare sectors.

Harvest Partners has promoted Jay Wilkins to senior managing director. Prior to joining Harvest Partners, Wilkins worked at DLJ Merchant Banking Partners.

Institutional Venture Partners has promoted Somesh Dash and Eric Liaw to general partners. They join Todd Chaffee, Norm Fogelsong, Steve Harrick, Jules Maltz, Sandy Miller and Dennis Phelps as general partners. Dash joined IVP in 2005 and focuses primarily on later-stage investments in Internet, software, mobile and technology-enabled services. He led the firms’s investments in Business Insider, Klout, Pure Storage, SoundCloud and Woven. Liaw joined in 2011 and focuses on working with growth companies across sectors like enterprise software, Internet and mobile.

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners has promoted Michael Weinberg to partner. Weinberg, who joined the firm in 2008, joins existing partners Lauren Leichtman, Arthur Levine, Robert Poletti,Steven Hartman, Stephen Hogan and Aaron Perlmutter. Prior to Levine Leichtman, Weinberg worked at FriedbergMilstein, BNP Paribas and Ernst & Young.

Riverside Partners has promoted Michelle Noon and Max Osofsky to partner. The company has also promoted Craig Stern to principal. Prior to joining Riverside, Noon worked at Thoma Bravo and Morgan Stanley while Osofsky was at Summit Partners where he served as a vice president. And before joining Riverside, Stern was at Nextag where he worked as a vice president of corporate development.

Signal Hill has promoted Robert Berstein, Christine Peacock and Franklin Staley to managing director. Also, the firm has promoted Frank Cordek and Jane Santini to vice president. The promotions became effective January 1.

TA Associates has promoted 13 investment staff members in the Boston, London, Menlo Park and Mumbai offices. Promotions included Ashutosh Agrawal, who moved to managing director from director out of the Menlo Park office; Roy Burns, who was made managing director from director in the Boston office; Mark Carter, who was promoted to managing director from director in Boston and Jason Werlin, who was made managing director in the Menlo Park.