people_09_22_03

Montgomery Law Group LLP hired law veteran Roger Royse to focus on tax and corporate planning for new companies, international transactions and partnership structures, including venture fund formations.

Robin Kovaleski was named executive director of the Florida Venture Forum, a support group and event planner for Florida-based entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. She recently served as president of Tampa-based PR firm The HPC Group.

John Turner, chairman of Hillcrest Capital Partners, was appointed to the reconstructed board of directors at Conseco Inc., which is emerging from bankruptcy protection.

Adam Berger joined Advanced Technology Ventureís West Coast office as an associate. Berger was most recently at AsenQua LLC, a San Francisco-based hedge fund and was placed at ATV by Glocap Search LLC.

Donald MacKenzie was named COO and administrative principal at Atlas Venture in the firmís Waltham, Mass. Office. He comes to Atlas following a vice presidential and CFO stint with Weigh-Tronix LLC. In other Atlas personnel news, the firm promoted Eric Hjerpe to principal and named Ahmet Ozalp an associate.

Avihu Bergman was named executive vice president of sales with Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (Nasdaq: GILTF). He most recently served as a VP with Ascend Technology Ventures.

Mark Cohen has been named a managing director with Ryan Beck & Co., where he will work within the firmís financial institutions group. Cohen most recently served as a partner with Adams Cohen Venture Capital LLC.

Hans Ostmeier joined The Blackstone Group as a senior managing director. He will serve as a senior advisor and head of the firmís new office in Hamburg, Germany, where he will focus on private equity investment opportunities. Ostmeier spent several years with Boston Consulting Group.

Greylock appointed Asheem Chandna as venture partner. Chandna, previously a senior executive with Check Point Software Technologies, will work on software and systems investment opportunities in Greylockís Bay Area offices.