People

Patrick Belville has joined the Chicago office of law firm Jones Day as an M&A partner. He previously was a partner with Bell, Boyd & Lloyd LLP.

Jeffrey Branman has joined Hilco Consumer Capital as a managing director, in charge of the business acquisitions team. He previously was president and founder of Interactive Technology Partners, a joint venture capital effort of Comcast Corp. and QVC.

Dave Brown has joined Lehman Brothers as a senior vice president in the firm’s private equity fund marketing group. He previously was a director with New York Life Investment Management, and before that was an NFL quarterback with both the New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals.

J.P. Bruynes and William Sturman have joined the New York office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP as partners in the investment funds/private equity practice. Bruynes previously was with Arnold & Porter, while Sturman joins from Debevoise & Plimpton.

Jonathan Chou has joined Eureka Growth Capital as a senior associate. He previously was with LEK Consulting as an engagement manager in the firm’s M&A and strategic consulting practices.

Leonard Foreman, former CFO of The New York Times Co., has agreed to join Veronis Suhler Stevenson’s board of advisors. VSS is a media-focused private equity firm.

Chris Gammons has agreed to join Citigroup as a managing director covering Asia’s private equity firms. He previously was with Deutsche Bank.

Matt Gullen has joined H.I.G. Capital as an associate. He recently received his MBA from Wharton, and interned last summer at both Evercore Partners and Clearview Capital.

The Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System has named Karl Koch as its new chief investment officer, following the December retirement of Kathy Comito. Koch previously was head of the IPERS private equity program. It remains unclear if the $23 billion system will name a new private equity chief, or if Koch will continue directly managing the assets.

Dow Kim

has resigned from Merrill Lynch, where he had been co-president of global markets and investment banking, effective by year-end. He will form his own firm, which will count Merrill Lynch among its clients.

Craig Lawson and Jim Reinhart have joined the San Francisco office of Harris Williams & Co., while Tim Alexander has joined in Minneapolis. Lawson, director, previously was a principal in the M&A group of Banc of America Securities. Reinhart, vice president, previously was a VP in Goldman Sachs’ tech/media/telecom group. Alexander, director, comes from Lehman Brothers, where he was a senior VP in the M&A department.

Shusaku Minoda has joined Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. as a managing director and co-CEO of the firm’s Japan operations, effective July 1. He previously was with Mizhou Corporate Bank as managing executive officer in charge of global investment banking.

John Morningstar and William Ramsey have joined Wellspring Capital Management as a principal and executive director, respectively. Morningstar previously was with Castle Harlan. Ramsey was a senior operating executive with Honeywell and its predecessor Allied Signal.

Morgan Joseph has named Scott Berman and Peter Olaynack as co-heads of the firm’s financial sponsors group. Berman will continue as head of Morgan Joseph’s exclusive sales group, while Olaynach will continue in his client management and business development role.

Len Nannarone has joined the Boston office of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo as a member of the firm’s corporate practice, with a focus on private equity. He previously was a partner at Greenberg Traurig and in-house counsel to Intel Capital.

Timothy Olson has joined Barker Capital as a managing director and general counsel. He previously was an attorney with Davenport, Evans, Hurwitz, and Smith LLP (Sioux Falls) and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (Chicago). Barker Capital is a Sioux Falls, S.D.–based provider of private debt capital to the media industry.

Mark Ozenick has been named senior vice president of private equity with professional services company Thomas Group Inc. (Nasdaq: TGIS), where he will be responsible for business development and account management to the U.S. private equity market. He previously was COO of Elite Aviation and, before that, was founder and CEO of HeliFlite Shares.

Eric Paley has joined IDG Ventures Boston as a senior advisor. He is the former CEO and co-founder of Brontes Technologies, a former IDG portfolio company that was acquired late last year by 3M.

Donald Richards has joined middle-market I-bank Mirus Capital Advisors as a Boston-based partner. He previously was a partner with NorthShore Capital Advisors, a middle-market transaction advisory firm.

Dan Simon and Karan Kapoor have joined Wedbush Capital Partners as VP of finance/administration and senior analyst, respectively. Simon previously was CFO of DynaFund Ventures, while Kapoor was with Brandes Investment Management. Wedbush also has promoted Ben Wu to associate.

David Sopp has joined Kamylon Capital as a principal. He previously was a principal with Capital Resource Partners.

John Sorkin has agreed to join Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP as a corporate partner in the firm’s New York M&A practice. He previously was a partner in the corporate department of Latham & Watkins LLP.

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP said that former corporate partners Doron Lipshitz and Patricia Perez and restructuring partners Gerald Bender and Michael Sage have taken jobs with O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

Salvatore Tirabassi has joined M/C Venture Partners as a partner. He previously spent the past seven years with Dolphin Equity Partners, where his board seats included: Airband, Epic Cycle, Gomez, MaxPreps (acquired by CBS in 2007), SilverCarrot, The Guild, Vercuity and VitalStream (acquired by Internap in 2006).

Thomas Weisel Partners has promoted Robert Kitts to CEO of I-banking, and both William McLeod and Brad Raymond co-directors of I-banking. Both moves were made in connection to TWP co-founder Blake Jorgensen’s announcement that he is leaving the firm to become CFO of Yahoo.

Mohammad Al Tuwaijri has joined JPMorgan as a managing director and senior country officer for Saudi Arabia. He has spent the past 12 years with SABB-HSBC, an affiliate of HSBC Group in Saudi Arabia, where he was group treasurer.

WestLB has named Neil Colverd as president and CEO of its Brightwater Capital Management business, which manages over $35 billion in structured finance assets like collateralized debt obligations and structured investment vehicles. Colverd previously was WestLB’s CEO for its APAC region, and acting CIO for the bank’s investment management unit. WestLB also has named George Suspanic as CIO of Brightwater, and Gerri Alfino Egler as COO. Suspanic previously was a managing director in WestLB’s portfolio management unit, while Egler joined the bank in 2004 as a managing director overseeing “certain special projects.”

Compiled by Dan Primack