Service providers

CTPartners has named Jefferey DeFazio as a partner in the firm’s consumer and retail practice. DeFazio, who moved from another major search firm, will be based in CTPartners’ San Francisco office. Headquartered in New York, with offices all over the world, CTPartners is an executive search firm that serves a wide variety of sectors, including private equity and venture capital.

Duff & Phelps, a financial advisory and investment banking firm, has appointed David Lu as managing director and head of the firm’s investment banking practice in China. Lu and his team, who will be based in Shanghai, join Duff & Phelps from Cowen Group where, most recently, he served as head of Asia investment banking.

J. Michael Evans, a vice chairman and global head of growth markets at Goldman Sachs, has decided to retire at year’s end after more than two decades. Evans will become a senior director after his retirement. Evans joined Goldman Sachs in 1993 in the investment banking division in London and was named partner in 1994.

The Guidelines Monitoring Group, a body established to review the private equity industry’s conformity with the Walker Guidelines, has appointed Nick Land as chairman and Glyn Parry as an independent member of the group. Land is a non-executive director on the boards of the Financial Reporting Council, Vodafone Group, Alliance Boots, BBA Aviation and the Ashmore Group. Parry is the director of group financial control at BT Group with executive responsibility for the group’s financial reporting obligations.

Investec Specialist Bank has appointed Alexandre Neiss to its corporate lending business. Reporting to Callum Bell, head of specialist corporate capital, Alexandre will play a key part in originating, structuring and arranging finance solutions for financial sponsors and corporate clients. UK-based Investec Fund Finance, part of Investec Specialist Bank, has appointed Steve Berry to its team. In his new role, Berry will focus on lending to credit and hedge funds and enhancing the team’s strategy in this area. He will report to Simon Hamilton, global head of Investec Fund Finance.

Corporate law firm Lowenstein Sandler has named Edward S. Nadel as senior counsel to its investment management group. Prior to joining the firm, Nadel worked at Star Mountain Capital, where he served as general counsel and chief compliance officer.

Law firm McCarter & English has expanded its investment management practice with two new hires. Laura Anne Corsell has joined the firm as a partner while Don E. Felice is now special counsel. Corsell and Felice, who are both based in the firm’s Philadelphia office, previously worked at Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads.

Monroe Capital has appointed Andrew Cozewith as managing director in its Atlanta office and will lead the firm’s national media practice. Prior to joining Monroe, Cozewith worked at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, CIT Group and GE Capital, where he was responsible for transaction sourcing, structuring, deal execution and monitoring of portfolio companies.

Global law firm Proskauer has added Steven M. Peck to its corporate department and private equity and M&A Groups. Peck has served as a guest lecturer on corporate and private equity law at Harvard Business School and the MIT Sloan School of Management.

S. Scott Parel is to join Sidley Austin in Dallas as a partner and member of Sidley’s global private equity and M&A practices. Parel is joining eight of his former colleagues from Weil Gotshal & Manges who have recently moved to Sidley, two of whom also are members of the firm’s private equity practice.

The Small Business Investor Alliance has named a dozen private equity and venture capital executives to its new board of governors at the National Summit for Middle Market Funds. Among them are Charles McCusker, managing partner of Patriot Capital, who was named chairman of the board and Carolyn Galiette, senior managing director of Ironwood Capital, who was named treasurer. Based in Washington, D.C., SBIA is an organization for lower mid-market private equity funds and investors.

Chicago-based investment banking firm Verit Advisors has hired four senior advisers. They are Joe Alexander, Cindy Flanders, Bob Barnett and Stan Slabas. A retired army lieutenant colonel, Alexander currently runs Alexander Consulting. Flanders is the founder and CEO of Skipjack Partners. Slabas recently retired from S&C Electric Co while Barnett is a principal at Wexford Capital Advisors.

Russian investment bank VTB Capital has appointed Dimitrios Kavvathas as head of global markets for Asia Pacific. Kavvathas recently retired from Goldman Sachs where he was promoted to partner in 2008 and held several senior positions from 2001 to 2013. He will be based in Hong Kong.