People

AlixPartners promoted Sanjay Bailur, Joel Bines, David Hewish, Elmar Kades, Francois Neveux, Lorenzo Pietromarchi and Adam Werner to positions as managing directors. The appointments were effective Jan. 1. The global business-advisory firm based in Chicago also promoted 25 to the role of director.

Ric Andersen has joined Milestone Partners, a lower mid-market firm in Radnor, Pa., as a partner and a member of the firm’s senior leadership team. He also will serve on the firm’s investment committee. Andersen is a former managing director at Silver Lake Partners.

Gene Bardakjy, Chris Cummings, Michael Greif and Paul Miller are all taking on managing director roles with Empire Investment Holdings. Bardakjy was formerly COO and will lead due diligence on new deals; Cummings, former CTO, will also remain a member of the firm’s oversight and investment committee. Greif, former legal chief, will continue to work on new acquisitions’s transition into the Empire portfolio and Miller, former senior VP of M&A, will continue working on business development and investment decisions.

BB&T Capital Partners, the North Carolina-based investment firm, promoted three of its team members to principal, one to senior associate and another to the role of controller. Jonathan Blanco, Whit Edwards and Scott Snow were all named principals, according to a statement from the firm released Monday. In addition, Brad Burton has been promoted to the role of senior associate and Jennifer Lemons has taken the role of controller.

Former U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh has been named a senior adviser at Apollo Global Management. Bayh represented the state of Indiana, and also served two terms as the state’s governor.

Dolf Berle has joined Oak Hill Capital Partners‘s portfolio company Dave & Buster’s restaurant chain asset as its president and COO, the investment firm announced. Oak Hill Capital initially invested in the chain in May 2010. Berle previously had served as executive VP of hospitality for ClubCorp USA.

Stefanie Birkmann has joined the Boston law firm Ropes & Gray LLP as a partner in its finance group. She will work out of the New York office and will provide services to private equity firms, investment and commercial banks and others involved in mergers and acquisitions. Birkmann, 42, was previously senior counsel at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York.

Paul M. Black has been named as an operating executive at Genstar Capital LLC of San Francisco. Black served with Cerner Corp. from 1994 until his retirement in 2007 as its chief operating officer. He has been a senior adviser with New Mountain Capital of New York since 2007, and he will remain an advisor to New Mountain. Genstar is a middle market firm focused on the life sciences, health care, financial services, software and industrial technology industries.

David Browne has joined New York firm Paine & Partners as a principal. Browne will work on new investment opportunities and alongside existing management teams’ portfolio assets. Browne previously served as a managing director at GSC Group, a private investment firm specializing in control distressed debt investments.

Phillip Burns joined Corestate Group AG of Switzerland as chief executive officer. He will join the company in mid-February. Burns was formerly a financial managing director at Terra Firma Capital Partners. Burns will be based out of Zug, Switzerland.

Bradley Critchell has joined ICAP Plc, an interdealer broker, to lead its secondary markets group, which allows LPs to unload their stakes in private equity funds. He comes from Cogent Partners, where he did similar work, and also worked for Credit Suisse and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

Julien Darmon has joined investment bank Harris Williams & Co. as a managing director in London. Darmon previously worked in the investment banking group of Robert W. Baird. He advised middle market clients on assignments including public and private divestments, mergers and acquisitions, fairness opinions, capital raising and strategic advisory.

B. Christopher DiSantis has been named president and chief executive officer at Latrobe Specialty Steel Co., which is jointly owned by Watermill Group of Lexington, Mass., and Hicks Equity Partners LLC of Dallas. Before joining the Pennsylvania-based specialty metals maker and distributor, DiSantis served as president of Hawk Corp., a publicly traded manufacturer of friction braking products.

Evercore Partners Inc. expanded its Private Funds Group by appointing senior distribution professionals in the United States and Asia. The New York-based firm named Christopher Brand as a managing director, and, subject to regulatory approval, will initiate the Private Funds Group’s expansion into Asia with the hire of William Lee. Brand will be based in San Francisco. Lee will lead the Asia offering, and will be responsible for developing the group’s institutional investor relationships in the region. Brand was previously managing director at Ecotrust Forest Management. Lee joins from Asia Explorer Capital Ltd., a firm he founded to raise assets for Asia-based hedge funds.

First Reserve, the energy investor, has promoted eight professionals, including five members of its investment team. Among those promoted are Jeffrey K. Quake, now a managing director and Edward T. Bialas, Michael G. France, Dod E. Wales and Neil A. Wizel, each directors.

Mark Florman has joined the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association as chief executive, Reuters reported. He replaces Simon Walker, who took the role three years ago. Florman was previously a senior principal at Doughty Hanson & Co. Ltd. He formed Africa-focused fund 8 Miles LLP with Bob Geldof in 2010. Florman will remain involved with 8 Miles after he joins the BVCA.

Nicole Fry has been promoted to managing director in the investment banking group of Imperial Capital, the firm said. Fry is based in Los Angeles, and focuses on the consumer sector, including restaurants and food and beverage companies. Investment banking firm Imperial Capital was formed in 1997 and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Boston and Houston.

Jeffrey Granoff joined Clairvue Capital Partners of San Francisco, Calif., as a principal. Granoff previously worked for Prudential Real Estate Investors as a principal of the Merchant Banking Group. He will open Clairvue’s New York City office. Granoff will focus on sourcing and executing investment opportunities for Clairvue Capital Partners I.

Hewlett Packard Co. of Palo, Alto, Calif., named five new board members. The new directors include Booz & Co. CEO Shumeet Banerji, General Atlantic LLC Special Advisor Gary Reiner and Alcatel-Lucent’s former CEO, Patricia Russo. AXA Private Equity’s CEO Dominique Senequier and eBay Inc.’s former president and CEO, Meg Whitman, were also appointed as board members. All five new directors will stand for re-election at the next annual meeting in March. The additions raised the director count to 17. The size will be reduced to 13 members after the shareholder meeting.

Charles Horn has joined the law firm Morrison & Foerster as a partner in its financial services group. Horn will work in the firm’s Washington, D.C., offices and will represent financial services firms on a wide swath of regulatory matters. He will also advise financial institutions on transactional matters, including offerings and acquisitions, the firm said. Horn was previously a partner at Mayer Brown.

Michael Kaplan has been promoted to the role of managing director at Littlejohn Management Holdings LLC. He joined the Greenwich, Conn.-based investment firm in 2005 and has served as a principal since 2008. Before joining Littlejohn, Kaplan was a senior associate at Ripplewood Holdings LLC, where he evaluated, structured and monitored private equity investments in several industries.

Stacy Kincaid joined the private capital solutions group of Madison Williams & Co. that will be based in Los Angeles. Kincaid will lead the origination, due diligence and project management efforts for the firm’s global fund placement business. She was a managing director of fund portfolio of VinaCapital Group before joining the New York-based capital markets and investment banking firm.

John “Jack” McGovern has joined Tatum LLC as managing partner in its New York practice. McGovern will help clients address strategic and operational challenges, such as IPO readiness, liquidity, raising capital, planning and transaction support. He previously worked for Bridgehead Partners LLC, a professional management services firm he founded. Tatum is an executive services firm based in Atlanta.

Charles McIlvaine

has been hired by Avista Capital Partners to lead investment opportunities for the firm in the consumer sector. McIlvaine, former head of Deutsche Bank’s consumer group, also will serve as a director of Armored AutoGroup, an Avista portfolio company comprising the Armor All and STP automotive aftermarket brands.

Monroe Capital LLC

named Daniel M. Duffy a managing director and Sara E. Mongerson as director of institutional relationships and investor relations. It named Seth B. Friedman as operations manager, Jeffrey K. Williams as a vice president and Jeffrey M. Cupples as assistant vice president. Kyle A. Asher was hired as an associate. Monroe also promoted Alex Franky to director and principal. Monroe is a Chicago, Ill.-based specialty finance company providing senior secured and junior secured debt to mid-market companies.

Peter Sarnoff, co-chairman of Bertelsmann Inc. and president of Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, is joining Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. where he will be a senior adviser. Sarnoff will also become a director of BMG Rights Management, a joint venture between KKR and Bertelsmann AG, and will serve on the board of Weld North. Sarnoff, according to a statement, will work closely with KKR to identify and pursue new investments, especially in the media sector.

Jason Sambanju was promoted to managing director Paul Capital and was named co-head of its Asian operations, a role he will share with Managing Director Lucian Wu. Sambanju joined Paul Capital in August 2007 as a director in the firm’s Hong Kong office. Paul Capital also hired Todd Miller as a New York-based principal on the firm’s secondary investments team. Miller will be responsible for sourcing, analyzing, structuring and closing secondary private equity transactions. He was previously a partner at AEP Capital, which is an affiliate of Alpine Capital.

Summit Partners, the Boston-based private equity firm, announced four promotions. Mark deLaar and Alex Whittemore were promoted to managing director positions and Jason Glass and Len Ferrington were promoted positions as principals at the firm.

Thoma Bravo promoted a pair of its principals to partner positions. Seth Boro and Holden Spaht, who each joined the firm in San Francisco in 2005 as vice presidents and were each promoted to principal roles two years later, have been named partners.

Jeffery S. Thompson, the chairman and chief executive officer of Advanced Bio-Technologies Inc., has been appointed to the board of publicly traded Anika Therapeutics Inc. Thompson is an operating partner at Tampa, Fla.-based HealthEdge Investment Partners, a private equity firm focused on the health care industry, which has as a portfolio holding Advanced Bio-Technologies, a Georgia-based biopharmaceutical company specializing in the treatment and management of scars.

Chris Wasinger has joined Prospect Mortgage, a portfolio company of Sterling Capital Partners, as district manager in Orlando, Fla. Wasinger was previously at Mercantile Bank, where he was responsible for the growth of market share in Florida. He will have a similar role at Prospect Mortgage.