Weekly People Moves: LPs & GPs

January 15, 2024 (Preqin News) – A round-up of last week's people moves at LPs and GPs:

LPs

• California State Teachers' Retirement System’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Christopher Ailman, has announced his retirement. Ailman, who has served as CalSTRS CIO since October 2000, will continue in the role until June 30, and will serve as an advisor to his replacement in a transition period until the end of 2024. The CalSTRS Board has announced that it will immediately begin a global search for his successor.  

• Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board has announced three new executive roles. Stephen McLennan is appointed CIO, Asset Allocation responsible for oversight of the pension fund’s asset mix, management of portfolio risks, and approach to governance and investment practices. Mclennan, who joined Ontario Teachers in 2003, had most recently been serving as Acting Head of Investments since September 2023, following the departure of former CIO Ziad Hindo. 
  
  Gillian Brown has been appointed CIO, Public & Private Investments. Brown joined the fund in 1995 and has been head of the Capital Markets department since 2018.  
  
  Jonathan Hausman is appointed Chief Strategy Officer, a newly established, cross-enterprise role. He will oversee Ontario Teachers’ Sustainable Investing activities and continue to lead its Global Investment Strategy (GIS) department, a position he has held since 2017. He joined the fund in 2004.  

• Outsourced investment office Partners Capital has announced eight promotions, comprising one new Partner and seven new Managing Directors. Edmondo Barletta, with the firm since 2013, is named Partner. He has headed up the firm’s Continental European business since 2019. Prior to joining Partners Capital, he worked at Bain Capital Private Equity in London, and at Bain & Company in Paris. 
  
  London-based Senior Principals Joe Basrawy, Matt Libling and Louisa Saunders have been promoted to Managing Director (MD), as has Niccolò Frigieri in Paris. In the US, Boston-based Chris Bunzel, Pamela Haddad, and Steve Kaplan, have also been promoted to MD. 

• Mitsubishi HC Capital America has announced that Anand Rao has joined the firm as Managing Director, Private Credit in its Structured Finance division. Rao was most recently Senior Vice President at Audax Private Debt. He previously held leadership roles in distressed credit and leveraged loan portfolio management at GE Capital.  

• Evercore Wealth Management has appointed Sean Brady as Managing Director, Wealth and Fiduciary Advisor, based in New York. He joins from Clarfeld Citizens Private Wealth, where he worked for 14 years as a senior advisor. 

GPs

• Blackstone has promoted Ken Caplan, current Global Co-Head of Real Estate, and Lionel Assant, European Head of Private Equity, to newly created roles as Global Co-Chief Investment Officers (CIOs). Assant joined Blackstone in 2003 and has run the firm’s European Private Equity business since 2012. Caplan joined Blackstone in 1997 and led its European Real Estate business from 2012-2015. He was Real Estate CIO from 2015–2017 and has co-headed Global Real Estate alongside Kathleen McCarthy since 2018.
  
  Nadeem Meghji, Head of Real Estate Americas, succeeds Caplan as Global Co-Head of Real Estate. He joined Blackstone Real Estate in 2008 and has overseen its real estate business in the Americas since 2017.

• Ares Management has announced the appointment of Stefano Questa as Partner and Co-Head of Europe for Alternative Credit. He was most recently Partner and Portfolio Manager for Private Credit at Hayfin Capital Management. Previous roles include Managing Director at Sixth Street Partners, and positions at Goldman Sachs, where he spent more than 10 years in its investment banking and principal investing divisions. Questa will serve as Co-Head at Ares alongside Eli Appelbaum.

• Nordic investment and asset manager Taaleri has appointed Ilkka Laurila as the Group’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and a member of its Executive Management Team. He was most recently a business management consultant and CFO of Plugit Finland. He was previously at Terveystalo, where he was CFO and member of the management team from 2015 to 2022, and Head of Treasury and Finance, Head of Procurement from 2012. He is a member of the boards of Musti Group and Nightingale Health. He will take up his position on February 6, 2024.

• Global alternative asset manager ICG has appointed Lauren Korosec as a Principal based in Toronto. Korosec joins from BlackRock, where she spent nearly seven years, most recently as Vice President covering Canadian clients. Prior to BlackRock, she worked at Ipsos Reid as a Senior Research Manager.

• Berkshire Partners has announced the appointment of former Visa Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Alfred F. Kelly Jr., as an Advisory Director. Kelly will serve on portfolio company boards and provide C-suite support and guidance to portfolio companies. Prior to Visa, he was President and CEO at Alphabet-backed technology and digital media firm, Intersection. He previously spent 23 years at American Express, including as President from 2007 to 2010. His new role is effective from March 2024.

• Private equity firm Broadstreet has appointed former Lieutenant Governor and State of South Carolina legislator, André Bauer, as Senior Advisor. Bauer was Lt. Governor from 2003 to 2011 and was a State Senator for District 18 from 1999 to 2003 and a state representative for District 87 from 1996 to 1999.

• GCM Grosvenor veteran Jason Howard has launched alternative investment firm New Catalyst Strategic Partners. The firm, founded with support from Apollo including a cornerstone investment, has recruited Managing Director Demetrius Sidberry, a former Managing Director and Direct Equity Investment Committee Member at Hamilton Lane. He is joined by Senior Advisor and Operating Partner Scott Darby, who previously held senior operating roles with TPG and Vista Equity Partners. Howard, who is Managing Partner of the new firm, spent almost 14 years at GCM Grosvenor and Credit Suisse, and was most recently Managing Director and Co-Head of GCM Grosvenor’s Private Equity Diverse Manager investment platform.

• Asset management firm Fiera Capital Corporation has appointed Maxime Ménard as President and Chief Executive Officer of Fiera Canada and Global Private Wealth. Ménard previously spent 20 years in leadership positions at Jarislowsky Fraser, including as President, CEO, and member of the Board of Directors and Management Committee for the last five years. He will be based in Montreal and join Fiera Capital's Executive Committee.

• Asset manager PPM America has appointed Bob Meikleham to its Global Distribution team as Managing Director, Insurance. Meikleham joins DWS, where he was responsible for the sale and distribution of alternative and traditional investment solutions to insurance clients and prospects. Previous roles include Vice President, US Institutional Business Development at Unigestion and sales positions at Columbia Threadneedle Investments.

• Real estate investment manager BGO has announced that the CIO of its Canadian business, Christina Iacoucci, has been appointed as Head of Canada. In addition to leading the firm’s Canadian Investment Management business, she will have expanded responsibility for the firm’s property management and leasing services business in Canada.

• Food chain-focused private equity firm Paine Schwartz Partners has expanded its Investment Team with the addition of Helis Zulijani-Boye as a Managing Director. Zulijani-Boye was most recently at Newlight Partners and its predecessor, the Strategic Investments Group at Soros Fund Management, where she focused on global middle market private and growth equity investment. Previous roles include positions at Charterhouse Group, J.P. Morgan, and in the structured credit group at The Carlyle Group.

• Private equity firm Bridge Growth Partners has appointed Angelo Gordon’s former Global Head of Investor Relations, Garrett Walls as a Senior Advisor. Walls, who was with Angelo Gordon from 2010-2022, was previously Head of the Institutional Client Group for Trust Company of the West. Other previous roles include Managing Director and CEO of the Institutional Americas business at JPMorgan Asset Management, and senior management responsibilities at IBM Corporation. He is currently an advisor to the Public Employees Retirement System of Idaho.

• Life sciences venture capital firm Cure Ventures has appointed two new Partners. Jeff Jonas, M.D. was most recently CEO of incubation platform, ABio-X, and was previously CEO of Sage Therapeutics, where he developed several advances in central nervous system treatments. Meanwhile former Chief Scientific Officer at Sage, Al Robichaud, PhD., joins the firm. He has previously held leadership roles at large pharmaceutical companies focused primarily on neuroscience, and is the primary discovery scientist, and principal inventor of Caplyta, an approved drug for the treatment of bipolar depression.

• Fengate Asset Management has announced the appointment of Jennifer Pereira as Managing Director, Group Head of Private Equity. Pereira was previously Managing Director, Private Equity, with Fengate, and will now leads the firm’s private equity business. Before joining Fengate she was Managing Director, Private Equity, with CPP Investments, prior to which she was with the Boston Consulting Group.

• RAM Realty Advisors has announced the arrival of Amy Thiessen as Head of Capital Formation, based in Florida. She was most recently a Senior Advisor with Keel Harbour Capital. Prior to Keel Harbour, Amy held capital formation roles at HQ Capital, Park Madison Partners, FocusPoint Private Capital, and AEW Europe.

• Technology and healthcare-focused private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe has appointed founding President of Moody's Analytics, Mark Almeida, as an Operating Partner in its Technology Group. Almedia, who spent over 30 years at Moody’s Analytics, will support the firm's information services, data, analytics and software activities.

• Private equity firm Attain Capital has announced that Ted Davies has joined the firm as Managing Partner, responsible for leading the company's private equity investments in the government technology and services market. He was most recently CEO for Altamira Technologies Corporation and President, Federal Systems at Unisys Corporation.

• Middle market-focused private equity firm Gainline Capital Partners has announced that Terrance Kennedy has joined the firm as its Director of Business Development. He joins from Prospect Capital Management, where he was Vice President and Head of Business Development. Previously he was Director of Business Development at MTN Capital Partners.

• Venture Capital firm New Enterprise Associates has appointed Tiffany Luck as a Partner on its technology investing team based in New York. She joins from GGV Capital where was a Partner focused on investing in enterprise software. She was previously at Morgan Stanley where she worked on the Technology Investment Banking team.

• Natixis Investment Managers affiliate, Flexstone Partners, has appointed Samira Boussem as Managing Director & Head of Sustainability. Boussem, who was most recently Head of ESG at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions, will be based in Paris. She joined Natixis Group in 2005 and held the position of Senior Risk Manager within the investment bank and at Natixis AM. She was subsequently a consultant at Natixis Investment Managers’ Portfolio Consulting Group.

• Angel Oak Capital Advisors has named Namit Sinha as CIO. Sinha, who was co-CIO overseeing the firm’s private strategies, will lead the firm’s public and private investment strategies alongside Angel Oak Capital Co-CEO and Group CIO Sreeni Prabhu. At the same time, Senior Portfolio Manager, Clayton Triick, becomes Head of Portfolio Management of Public Strategies. Both appointments are effective March 31, 2024. The moves come ahead of the planned departures of Sam Dunlap, co-CIO overseeing public strategies, and Senior Portfolio Manager, Colin McBurnette, both of whom will leave Angel Oak in the second half of 2024.

• Principal Financial Group has named Kamal Bhatia as President and CEO of Principal Funds and Chairman of Principal Funds Board, effective February 10. He replaces Pat Halter who retires in April after 40 years with the company. Bhatia joined Principal in 2019 as President and CEO of Principal Funds before becoming COO for the asset management business in 2020, and Global Head of Investments in 2023. Before joining Principal, Bhatia held senior roles at OC Private Capital, Oppenheimer Funds, TIAA-CREF Asset Management, Mellon Asset Management, and Citigroup.

• Peng-Wei Tan has been promoted from Managing Director to Senior Managing Director at Blackstone’s Real Estate arm in Singapore. Tan previously worked at Morgan Stanley and Apollo Real Estate Advisors, before joining Blackstone 2012, where he has accumulated 12 years of experience as Managing Director. 

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