On the Move, June 10, 2019: Siris taps Tracy Harris; Silver Lake names Karr, Intel’s Anderson

PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS

Crestline Investors appointed Michael Aingorn a managing director. He previously was a partner at American Industrial Partners.

BelHealth Investment Partners promoted Jonathan Spero to vice president from senior associate. He joined the healthcare-focused PE firm in 2015.

Siris hired Tracy Harris as a partner in IR and product strategy. She will help manage the firm’s relationships with LPs and prospective investors as well as evaluate new-product opportunities. She most recently was at StepStone, where she was a partner and a senior member of the small buyout, growth and VC teams. She also led StepStone’s ESG efforts.

Silver Lake named Laura Anderson a managing director and head of communications in the Menlo Park, California, office. Anderson joined the firm from Intel, where she headed global communications. And the firm named Barrett Karr head of government relations, the Wall Street Journal reported. Karr is currently House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s chief of staff.

Yukon Partners named CFO Corey Peters to the additional post of COO.

Graycliff Partners: Brian O’Reilly joined the credit team as a managing director. O’Reilly co-founded CVC Credit Partners’ U.S. middle-market lending platform.

SK Capital Partners: Ben Dillon joined the firm as a managing director focused on IR and fundraising. Dillon was previously a managing director at Partners Group.

Bertram Capital promoted Zoey Armstrong to chief compliance officer. Prior to joining the firm in 2013, she was responsible for the compliance program at Blum Capital Partners.

Northleaf Capital Partners hired Sophia Damianou as managing director, business development in EMEA, based in the London office. Damianou was previously director of marketing and investor relations at CapeView Capital, the U.K. hedge fund manager.

Pine Brook named Joseph Kopilak CFO. Kopilak is also chief compliance officer and a partner at the firm.

Abraaj: Khawar Mann, CEO of a $1 billion healthcare fund previously managed by the Dubai PE firm resigned, an internal memo to employees said, according to Reuters. The departure came after TPG took over management of the fund, renaming it Evercare Healthcare Fund. Andrew Currie assumes leadership of the fund’s day-to-day activities. Abraaj had been the MENA region’s largest buyout fund until it collapsed last year after a row with investors, including Gates Foundation, over the healthcare fund.

General Atlantic: Michael Spence, the economist and Nobel laureate, joined as a special adviser. Spence, currently professor of economics at New York University, is an expert in macro- and microeconomic growth. Separately, Pedro Parente will join the firm as chairman for Brazil. Parente is currently chairman and CEO of foods company BRF.

Bertram Capital promoted Ivy Ono to CFO from controller. And Ingrid Swenson, a partner and managing director, retired in early June.

Wynnchurch Capital added U.S. Army Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Joe Anderson to its executive advisory board. Anderson previously was deputy chief of staff operations, plans and training for the army.

Pamplona Capital Management named Olaf Tensen country partner for Benelux. Tensen for 16 years was a partner at AAC Capital.

Gallant Capital named Jamie Kim head of business development. She previously was VP corporate development and strategy at Presto.

HarbourVest Partners named Bill Royer a managing director and chief compliance officer. Royer had been CCO at Vanguard Global Advisors.

Merida Capital Partners, the New York cannabis-focused PE firm, named Tom Harrison and Pamela Galassini senior operating partners. Harrison is a former Omnicom Group executive while Galassini is an ex-Medco Health Solutions executive.

Z Capital named Erik Hirschbein managing director, finance. He joins from BlackRock.

Grain Management, a PE firm focused on the global communications sectors, promoted Paul Licursi to COO and Jeannie Jones to CFO. The firm also hired Jenny Zhang as vice president; she’d been with Morgan Stanley, advising clients on M&A.

Carlyle Group promoted Ruulke Bagijn, co-head of AlpInvest Partners’s primary funds investment team, to lead the investment solutions platform. Bagijn formerly managed an alternative-investments portfolio at Dutch pension manager PGGM. Carlyle’s solutions group includes AlpInvest and Metropolitan, which focuses on real estate investments.

Blackstone launched an impact investing platform that will target health and wellbeing, financial access, sustainable communities and green technology. The platform will be led by Tanya Barnes, former managing director in Goldman Sachs’s merchant banking division. The impact platform will sit within Blackstone’s secondaries group, Strategic Partners.

PORTFOLIO COMPANIES

Artivest, a digital platform for alternative funds, named Paul Nobile chief marketing officer. He had been chief marketing and communications officer at Willis Towers Watson. Artivest is backed by Aquiline Capital Partners, Genstar Capital, KKR and Thiel Capital.

Provation named Rick Jennings CTO and Erin Surprise SVP of professional services. Provation, backed by Clearlake Capital, provides procedure documentation and clinical decision support solutions.

StayOnline, a portfolio company of Huron Capital, named Mark Panico CEO. Panico had been president of Legrand‘s data communications division.

Mitel named Vanessa Kanu CFO. Kanu, currently senior vice president of finance at the Ottawa provider of business communications, succeeds Steve Spooner, who is retiring. Last year, a group led by Searchlight Capital Partners acquired Mitel in a $2 billion deal.

Marketron, the Hailey, Idaho, provider of enterprise revenue management and digital software solutions, named Jim Howard CEO and Jimshade Chaudhari SVP of product. Howard is an ex-operating partner at Diversis Capital while Chaudhari worked at Sling TV. Marketron is owned by Diversis Capital.

Opus Agency, a marketing adviser to brands, named John Trinanes chief creative officer. Trinanes was SVP- creative at George P. Johnson. Opus is a portfolio company of Growth Catalyst Partners.

Western Industries Plastic Products, backed by Littlejohn Capital, named Richard Haueter CEO. Haueter is former CEO of DeltaTech Controls.  Western is the Winfield, Kansas, producer of large blow-molded products.

Think Project! the Munich cloud-based common data environment provider for construction and engineering, named Gareth Burton CEO. Burton is former CIO of Laing O’Rourke. Think Project! is a portfolio company of TA Associates.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

Eaton Partners named Steve Eaton head of EMEA, based in the placement agent’s London office. Eaton had been a partner and head of the New York office.

Sidley Austin hired a PE team from Cooley. Mehdi Khodadad leads the team. Other members of the law firm’s team include Partners Josh DuClos and Eric Kauffman, Counsel Stacy Crosnicker and several associates. Khodadad, DuClos and Kauffman are based in Sidley’s Century City, California, office while Crosnicker is in Washington.

William Blair named Maarten Meurs a managing director in the financial sponsors group. Meurs was previously with ABN Amro Bank in Amsterdam.

Morrison & Foerster named Zeeshan Ahmedani a partner in the law firm’s private funds group.

EA Markets, an investment bank focused on arranging capital, appointed Fouad Onbargi as managing director. He joins from KGS-Alpha.

Wilshire Phoenix named Harlan Milkove a partner. Milkove is a co-founder of Reonomy.

Willkie Farr & Gallager added Gavin Gordon and David Arnold to the law firm’s PE platform. They had been partners at Kirkland & Ellis.

Evercore ISI: David Palmer joined as a senior managing director covering food producers and restaurants. He previously held positions at RBC Capital Markets and UBS.