People in the news, March 5, 2007

Elevation’s Riccitiello rejoins EA

John Riccitiello has been hired to replace Larry Probst as CEO of Electronic Arts, beginning April 2. Riccitiello, who previously served as EA’s president and COO, left the video game publisher in 2004 to co-found Elevation Partners, a private equity firm focused on media and entertainment deals. Probst will stay on as executive chairman of EA.

Riccitiello co-founded Elevation with U2 lead singer Bono and Silver Lake Partner co-founders Roger McNamee and Mark Bodnick, former Apple Computer CFO Mark Anderson and former Blackstone Group executive Bret Pearlman.

Zarur joins Kodiak

Kodiak Venture Partners announced last week that former BioProcessors President and CEO Andrey Zarur has joined the firm as a general partner. Waltham, Mass.-based Kodiak, a seed and early stage venture firm, invests in IT and life sciences.

Kodiak says that Zarur will spearhead Kodiak’s investment efforts in the area of the intersection of life sciences and IT. Most recently, Zarur was founder and CEO of BioProcessors in Woburn, Mass. He currently serves on the scientific advisory boards of BioProcessors and Cambridge Devices.

ITU hires strategist

Leslie Bider has joined ITU Ventures as chief strategist, according to The Wall Street Journal. He is the former chairman and CEO of Warner/Chappell Music, and most recently was with Elevation Partners as an executive-in-residence.

Robertson retires

Bill Robertson has retired as a consulting partner with Kirtland Capital Partners, but will continue to serve on the firm’s advisory committee. He joined Cleveland-based Kirtland in 1997 as a managing partner, and transitioned into a consulting partner role in 2005. He previously had been president of National City Corp.

Lang steps down from TA

David Lang has stepped down as a managing director of TA Associates, where he focused on the health care and the health care IT market. He will remain with the firm as a senior advisor. —PE Week staff