Private equity firms

Alternative asset manager Ares Capital Management has named Owen D. Hill and Jonathan M. Shepko as managing directors. Both will be based in the firm’s Dallas office and focus on senior and subordinated debt financing opportunities in the oil and gas sector. Ares Capital Management is the investment adviser for specialty finance company Ares Capital Corp.

The British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association has appointed Tim Farazmand as chairman as of April 2014. Farazmand is managing director at LDC.

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System has named Tom McDonagh acting senior investment officer for real assets. McDonagh will take over the position vacated by Ted Eliopoulos, who has been named interim chief investment officer upon the death of Joe Dear, CalPERS’s chief investment officer. McDonagh is currently a senior portfolio manager in the global fixed income asset class.

Carsten Huwendiek has joined CVC Capital Partners as head of communications. Huwendiek starts at CVC on May 1. His global responsibilities will include investor communications, media relations and branding and events. He previously worked in the same role at Pantheon.

Middle market private equity firm GI Partners has named David Smolen as general counsel and chief compliance officer. Prior to joining GI Partners, Smolen worked at Silver Lake, where he served as senior counsel and chief compliance officer. Smolen will be based in the firm’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California.

Impetus – The Private Equity Foundation, a UK-based venture philanthropy business, has appointed Hanneke Smits, chief investment officer of Adams Street Partners, to its board of trustees.

J.F. Lehman has appointed Thomas M. Dyer to its operating executive board. Dyer founded law firm Dyer Ellis & Joseph, which merged with Blank Rome in 2003. He also served as the co-chairman of Blank Rome. J.F. Lehman is a a mid-market private equity firm focused on the defense, aerospace and maritime sectors.

New York-based private equity firm Oak Hill Capital has hired Brian N. Cherry as a partner. Cherry previously worked at J.H. Whitney & Co, where he served as a senior managing director.

The British investment manager Oxford Capital has appointed Barney Rhys Jones as infrastructure investment director. Rhys Jones, who previously was managing director and chief operating officer at Good Energy Plc, will manage Oxford Capital’s renewable energy and infrastructure asset portfolio and operational aspects of the investment management process.

PineBridge Investments has appointed four new senior professionals to its Americas business development team. The appointments include Stephen Keep, senior vice president, previously of Conning and Wellington Management; Joe Fague, senior vice president, formerly of RS Investments; James J. Smith, senior vice president, formerly of MFS Investment Management; and Gene Guevara, vice president, formerly of Loomis Sayles & Co.

Warburg Pincus has appointed Jacques Aigrain as a senior adviser.  He is currently chairman of LCH Clearnet Group, a global clearing house based in London and is also a non-executive director of the London Stock Exchange Group, Lyondell Basell, Lufthansa and WPP. He is also a member of the financial institutions consultative group of the IMF. Aigrain will be based in the firm’s London office and will support the firm in the identification and evaluation of new investments in the European financial services sector and provide strategic counsel across the firm’s global portfolio.