Weekly People Moves: LPs & GPs

LPs

• Texas-based wealth advisor Americana Partners has recruited Javier Altimari as Founder and Managing Partner of its recently launched international division, Americana Partners International (API). Altimari, who joins from Oppenheimer & Co., will be based in Houston and be part of the API Board, along with Jorge Suárez-Vélez, Founder and CEO of API.

• Caitlin Gubbels has been promoted to Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Private Equity, joining the Senior Management Team at Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments). Gubbels, who joined the CAD 806.7bn ($597.4bn) AUM public pension fund in 2010, will lead the private equity program globally, including the teams dedicated to investments in Direct Private Equity, Private Equity Asia, and Private Equity Funds and Secondaries. She takes over from Suyi Kim, who leaves the plan after 17 years.

• Brisbane-based NGS Super, a superannuation fund for education and community-based professionals, has appointed John Battams as Independent Chair and Brett Lazarides as an Independent Director. Battams will assume the role on January 1, 2025, following the retirement of Dr Geoff Newcombe. Lazarides began his term on September 1, 2024, joining the Investment and Risk, Audit, and Compliance Committees. The AUD 14.0bn ($9.5bn) AUM scheme invests in private equity, venture capital, private debt real estate, infrastructure, natural resources, and hedge funds.

• Texas-based public pension fund TMRS has increased its direct investment capabilities with the recruitment of Philip Hunter O’Brien, Amol Deshpande, and Isidora Stankovic. TMRS currently allocates $19.8bn to alternatives, or 48.8% of its total AUM of $40.5bn, with double-digit allocations to private equity, private debt, and real estate.
  
  O’Brien will join as Managing Director and Head of Private Equity, having previously led technology and consumer direct private equity investments for Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and the North American Direct Private Equity investment practice for the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC), as well as working at LLCP and The Carlyle Group.
  
  Deshpande will join as Managing Director, Head of Direct Investments. He joins from Redesign Health and has also worked in investment roles at Soros Fund Management, Luminus Management, and JLL Partners, and M&A and capital markets advisory at Morgan Stanley.
  
  Stankovic will join as Director of Private Equity, from the Private Equity team at Searchlight Capital Partners in London, where she was responsible for the evaluation, due diligence, execution, and monitoring of investments.

• Wellspring Financial Advisors, a Cleveland-based multi-family office, has appointed Jeff Kadlic as President and Chief Operating Officer. Kadlic joins from Evolution Capital Partners, where he was Founding Partner. He brings over 25 years of professional experience across disciplines, including strategic leadership, operational management, client relations, alternative investments, financial management, and stakeholder engagement.

GPs

• John Lowe, the former CEO of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and currently a board member at White Castle, has founded Amok Consumer Growth Fund, a restaurant and retail-focused private equity fund. The leadership team includes operating partners Rachelle Lynch, Timmy McCarthy, and Ryan Parish. Parish is also CFO. Amok is currently finalizing its two first investments.

• Comvest Partners, which provides equity and debt capital to mid-market firms in North America, has made several promotions within Comvest Credit Partners. Robert O’Sullivan has been appointed as CEO of the Miami-based firm, from his previous role as Managing Partner. Jason Gelberd is now Chief Operating Officer, and Greg Reynolds is Chief Investment Officer. Michael Falk, Comvest’s Founder and CEO, assumes the role of Executive Chairman.

• Los Angeles-based private equity firm Content Partners has launched a private credit investment division, which will be led by Alphonse Lordo. Content Capital Partners will invest in IP-heavy business models across film, television, and music and will invest under various credit structures. It has already completed one deal, providing finance to Media Capital Technologies for a film slate transaction with entertainment company Lionsgate.

• Deal Box Ventures, a retail investor platform for early-stage venture capital investments, has opened a Honolulu office as part of its strategic expansion into the APAC region. The firm has also made its first investment in the region, in Hawaii-based renewable energy firm Kanoa Winds.

• Gaw Capital has hired Jialin Li as Managing Director of Investments. Based in the firm’s Shanghai office, Li will lead industrial acquisitions and disposals in China and explore investment opportunities in the rental housing sector. Before joining Gaw Capital, Li was the Managing Director - Investment Management at Greystar.

• Early-stage venture capital firm redalpine has opened an office in London, which will be led by General Partner Sebastian Becker. The Zurich-based firm, which also has an office in Berlin, closed its sixth early-stage fund, redalpine Capital VII, oversubscribed on $200mn. The firm said the new office would help it to build a stronger on-the-ground presence and to deepen engagement with the local tech ecosystem, particularly in deeptech and AI.

• Los Angeles-based TCW Group, a global asset management firm with $197bn AUM, has opened a new office in Dubai. Wael Younan will relocate from New York to Dubai to lead and grow the new office, working closely with Peter Moore, co-head of TCW’s Sovereign Wealth Group, who will remain in Los Angeles.

• Geneva-based fund-of-funds manager Unigestion has strengthened its global secondaries team with the recruitment of Nick Kavanagh, Satsheel Redkar, and Jin Young Kim. Kavanagh joins as a Principal and will be based in London and has previously worked at Pantheon Ventures and Hamilton Lane. Redkar and Young Kim join the US secondaries team. Redkar joins as a Vice President from Coller Capital, where he worked for three years as a Senior Associate, Secondaries Private Equity and Co-investments, while Young Kim joins as an Associate. Unigestion is currently in the market raising capital for its sixth secondaries fund, which has a €1.5bn ($1.7bn) target.

• Portland-based hedge fund manager Variant Investments has hired Brian Park as General Counsel. Park will be a Member of the Management Committee and report to principals and co-founders Bob Elsasser, Curt Fintel, and JB Hayes. He previously worked as a Fund Finance Attorney for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York, advising private equity sponsors and registered funds on debt and structuring solutions.

• New York-headquartered VSS Capital Partners, which invests in healthcare, business services, and education companies, has appointed David Fann as Senior Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations. He joins from Apogem Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of New York Life Investment Management, where he was a Vice Chairman.

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