People

Private equity firm Actis has promoted four directors to the post of partner: Mumbai-based Sanjiv Aggarwal and Shomik Mukherjee; and Beijing-based Tao Sun and Dong Zhong. Aggarwal joined Actis in 2008 and focuses on infrastructure investments. Mukherjee joined in 2007 and focuses on the consumer and retail sectors. Sun joined in 2008 and focuses on consumer and retail investments. Zhong, who joined in 2001, also focuses on consumer and retail investments. London-based Actis has $4.7 billion under management.

Gerald Brady has joined the board of directors of Schroder Private Equity Fund of Funds III. Brady replaces Jonathan Quigley, who resigned from the board in November. Brady was most recently a country head of Northern Trust in Ireland, and was previously a managing director of CFG Ireland. Schroder Private Equity is based in London.

Beth Burras has joined the Atlanta-based private equity shop Navigation Capital Partners in the newly created post of director of investor relations. Burras will manage fund-raising and relationships with all limited partners. She has worked previously in various roles at Apax Partners and Science Capital. Navigation has roughly $294 million under management, and focuses on lower middle-market private equity deals.

Paul Deninger has joined New York-based Evercore Partners as a senior managing director in its investment banking business. Deninger will focus on advising companies in the technology and clean technology sectors. Deninger was previously vice chairman at Jefferies, and earlier was chairman and chief executive of Broadview International, a technology investment banking boutique firm.

William Eisenbeis

has joined the New York-based Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe in the post of senior industry executive. At the firm, Eisenbeis will focus on financial technology and services investments, helping source deals, conducting due diligence and monitoring portfolio companies. Eisenbeis previously was head of principal strategic investments group at Citadel.

William Geoppinger, the former president and CEO of Sara Lee Foods, has joined the investment committee of Chicago-based Stockwell Capital. Geoppinger has advised the firm for several years as a member of its executive network, a group of roughly 40 industry professionals who provide advice to portfolio companies.

James Guddy has joined Cleveland-based Linsalata Capital Partners as vice president. Guddy joins Linsalata from Symmetry Advisors, a firm he created. He has also worked as head of strategy and finance for a subsidiary of Cleveland-based GrafTech International. Linsalata Capital was formed in 1984, and is currently investing from its $425 million sixth fund.

Glenn Harrison has been promoted to the post of managing director at Praesidian Capital, and James Heyer has been promoted to vice president. Harrison has been with the firm for three years, and has worked on investment sourcing, due diligence, and structuring. Previously, he was vice president at Merrill Lynch Middle Market Finance. Heyer joined Praesidian two years ago, and has focused on financial analysis, due diligence and execution of new investments. Based in New York, Praesidian has more than $400 million under management.

Thomas Hassen has joined Australian investment bank Macquarie Group as chairman of its oil and gas investment banking group, Reuters said. Hassen was most recently at buyout shop Irving Place Capital. In the new post, Hassen will be based in New York.

Paul Kappelman

has been named division president of LHP Hospital Group, which is backed by private equity firm CCMP Capital Advisors. Vance Reynolds was named CEO of its Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. Kappelman is the former CEO of Northwest Medical Center in Tucson, Ariz. Reynolds was previously CEO of Mississippi-based River Region Health System. LHP Hospital Group is based in Plano, Texas.

David Leblanc has been named chief operating officer of Avioserv San Diego, a private equity-backed company that sells and leases commercial jet engines and engine parts. Cameron Burr was named executive vice president of corporate development and marketing. Previously, both Leblanc and Burr worked as partners at JetCapital, a firm that focused on aviation-related investments. Los Angeles-based Vintage Fund Management owns Avioserv, having acquired the San Diego-based company in 2007.

Hiroshi Matsumoto

, who leads the Japanese operations of Advent International, is retiring from the company, Reuters reported. Yoji Anzai, a partner at the firm, will take on Matsumoto’s responsibilities on a temporary basis, Reuters said. Advent opened its office in Tokyo nine years ago, and closed its first Japan fund in 2008 with $718 million.

Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive of Blackstone Group, will move to Europe early next year to better manage his firm’s international growth, Reuters reported. Schwarzman reportedly will live abroad temporarily, for a period of months, and has already spent more than half of 2010 overseas. Blackstone recently raised a $15 billion private equity fund, a significant part of which will likely be invested in Asia. It is also raising a yuan-denominated fund for China, Reuters said.

Mark Scully has been named a managing director at Chicago-based private equity firm Green Courte Partners. Scully, who has worked with the Green Courte Partners since 2008, will focus on acquisitions of land-lease communities and parking properties, the firm said. Scully has worked previously for firms including Equity Office Properties.

Marc Spilker has joined Apollo Global Management in the newly created post of president. Spilker retired from Goldman Sachs in May, after serving as the co-head of the investment management division. In his new post at Apollo, Spilker will run day-to-day operations at the firm, and will sit on the company’s executive committee. Apollo has more than $54 billion under management across private equity, credit-oriented capital markets and real estate funds. The firm has offices in New York, Los Angeles, London and Hong Kong, among other cities.

Michael Viracola has been named head of business development at Dallas-based Equity Risk Partners-Texas, which provides insurance and risk management services to private equity firms in the Southwest. He joins from Pepperwood Partners, where he was a managing partner focused on developing funding relationships with pension funds, private equity funds and high-net-worth individuals. ERP-Texas is a joint venture between insurance brokers Equity Risk Partners and Lipscomb & Cathey.