A round-up of last week’s people moves at firms providing services to the alternative assets industry

Legal

  • Akin Gump has hired Abby Kohlman as Senior Counsel in the White-Collar Defense and Government Investigations Practice in Washington, D.C. She joins from the US Department of Justice, where she was a Federal Prosecutor in the Fraud Section. Chad Nichols has also rejoined as a Finance Partner in the Special Situations Practice. He was a Partner at the firm from 2020–2023 before joining Gibson Dunn.

  • Bird & Bird has appointed Nicolas Mordaunt-Crook as a Partner in the Financial Services Sector Group. He will be based in Paris and provides guidance on banking, investment, fund management, and insurance services matters. He joins from PwC Société d’Avocats, where he led the Financial Services Legal & Regulatory Practice. He is joined by an Associate, Raphaël Manac’h.

  • Charles Russell Speechlys has hired Gaven Cheong as a Funds Partner in Hong Kong. He was previously Head of Investment Funds at Tiang & Partners and covers investment schemes and regulatory advice. Before that, he was a Partner at Simmons & Simmons.

  • Clifford Chance has hired David Por as an Intellectual Property Partner in Paris. He focuses on clients across the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Consumer Goods & Retail, and Energy sectors, and was a Partner at A&O Shearman. In London, Patrick Scott has joined as a Private Capital Partner. He was previously European Counsel at KKR, overseeing private equity, impact, tech growth, and healthcare growth transactions.

  • Davis Polk has added Jifree Cader and Mark Knight as Partners and Co-Heads of the London Restructuring Practice. They were both previously at Sidley Austin and will be joined by new counsels and associates in the coming months.

  • Dechert has hired Nick Tomlinson as a Partner in the Corporate and Securities Practice group. Based in London, he will enhance private equity and M&A capabilities. Tomlinson previously spent over 24 years at Gibson Dunn, including 16 years as a Partner.

  • Dentons has hired Joanna Dimmock as a Partner in the Disputes, Regulatory, and Investigations team in London. She joins from Paul Hastings, where she was a Partner. Matthew Neumann and Rachel Conner have joined the Energy Practice in Indianapolis as Partner and Of Counsel, respectively. They join from Krieg DeVault’s Energy Practice. John Beck has joined as a Partner in the Restructuring, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Practice, operating out of New York and Texas. He was previously a Corporate and Finance Partner at Hogan Lovells.

  • Haynes Boone has hired Nick Davis as Partner and Co-Head of the London office. He joins from Memery Crystal and will work alongside William Cecil. Other Partners joining from Memery Crystal are Edward Baker, Robert Bines-Black, and Nick Heap, as well as three Corporate Associates.

  • Charmian Aw has joined Hogan Lovells in Singapore as a Partner in the Global Regulatory & IP Practice. She has experience in data protection, cybersecurity, and technology transactions across the APAC region and was previously a Partner at Squire Patton Boggs.

  • Katten has appointed John Collins III as a Partner in the Private Wealth Practice. He will operate out of the Dallas office and joins from PwC, where he led the Tax Consulting and Compliance team as a Principal.

  • McDermott Will & Emery has hired Allison Scher Bernbach as Partner and Head of the US Private Equity Fund Regulatory Practice. She advises investment funds and private equity sponsors through US Securities and Exchange Commission examinations and private fund formations. She joins the New York office and was previously an Investment Management Partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel.

  • Steven Tredennick has joined Sidley Austin as a Partner in the Energy, Transportation, and Infrastructure Practice in Houston. Tredennick joins from White & Case, where he was a Partner in the M&A Practice. Enrique Conde has been appointed as a Partner in the Miami office focusing on cross-border transactions. Conde joins from Softbank, where he was Deputy General Counsel, Tech Hub, and a Partner in the Legal Department.

  • Simpson Thacher has hired Evan Hudson as a Registered Funds Partner in New York, focusing on Real Estate and Capital Markets. He was previously a Partner at Alston & Bird.

  • Skadden has added Loren Ponds as a Tax Partner in Washington, D.C. She counsels clients on legislative, regulatory, and other tax policy issues, and was previously at Miller & Chevalier where she Co-Led its Tax Policy Practice and served on the Executive Committee.

  • Seth Kerschner has been appointed as a Partner in Weil’s Regulatory Transactions Group, based in the New York office. He joins from White & Case, where he was a Partner in New York.

  • White & Case has hired Jiang Liu as a Partner in New York. He will operate out of the Global Debt Finance Practice, Financial Services Regulatory Practice, and Global Financial Institutions Industry Group, joining after nearly a decade at Morrison & Foerster.

  • Winston & Strawn has appointed Aparna Sehgal as a Real Estate Finance Partner. She will be based in London, and chair the Structured Finance and Real Estate Finance teams in the UK and Europe. She was previously Head of Dechert’s Structured Finance and Real Estate Finance Practice for Europe.

Consultancy and advisory

  • Bovill Newgate, a financial services regulatory consultancy owned by Ocorian, has appointed Veena Karuthasen as Head of Bovill Newgate in Dubai as it launches in the Middle East. She joins from the National Bank of Fujairah, where she was Head of Business Advisory, Compliance.

  • London-based financial services advisory firm Delta Capita has appointed Stephen Pemberton as Global Head of Account Management. He was previously CEO of software company Coherent and, before that, was Global Head of Direct Custody & Clearing and Broker Outsourcing Product at HSBC.

  • The Risk Advisory Group, a risk management consultancy, has appointed Patrick Lord as CEO. He was previously the European Managing Director of geopolitical advisory firm Horizon Engage, and before that co-founded Diligencia.

  • Stax, a strategy consulting firm, has hired Brad Kuntz as a Senior Managing Director in its New York office. He joins from New Amsterdam Capital, where he was Managing Partner. Before that, he spent 12 years at Parthenon and EY-Parthenon.

Administration

  • Jersey-based Crestbridge Family Office Services has hired Steve Sokić as Chairman, succeeding John Harris, who will take up a role as Senior Advisor. Sokić was at RBC Wealth Management from 2002–2016, before spending three years at the Apex Group as a Managing Director, Corporate & Private Clients. He was Group Head of Private Wealth at IQ-EQ from 2019–2022, before working as a self-employed Independent Advisor for the past two years.

  • Luxembourg-based IQ-EQ has promoted John Legrand to Deputy Group CEO. He joined in 2020 and was most recently Regional CEO, UK, Ireland and Crown Dependencies. The fund administrator has also hired Richard Surrency as Group CCO. He joins from Aviva Investors, where he was CEO, APAC.

  • Jersey-based Zedra has hired Tony DeBiase as Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO). He was previously at Davies, a professional services consultancy for the insurance sector, for 12 years, where he spent the last seven as Group CFO.

Investment bank

  • Houlihan Lokey has hired Angela Hu as a Managing Director in the Financial Sponsors Group, based in Hong Kong. She joins from Barclays, where she was a Managing Director. Before that, she held roles at JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch.

  • William Blair has appointed John Ivey and B.T. Remmert as Co-Heads of Technology Investment Banking, succeeding Pete Dalrymple who is leaving the firm. Ivey will be based in Los Angeles and joined in 2015. Remmert joined in 2020 and is based in Atlanta.

Platform

  • TradingHub, a software provider that offers trade surveillance software, has appointed Bronwyn Hill as a Senior Relationship Manager in Sydney. She was formerly an Associate Partner and Director at Promontory, a business unit of IBM Consulting.

Regulatory body

  • The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has appointed Dr. Birgit Puck as a new Chair of the Markets Standing Committee. She is a Managing Director, Securities Supervision, at the Austrian Financial Markets Authority (Finanzmarktaufsicht).

Procurement

  • US-based Omnia Partners, a group purchasing organization for the public and private sectors, has promoted Scott Miller to SVP, Private Sector Strategy. He joined in 2020 as SVP, Partner Development.

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