A round-up of the latest private markets people moves globally
South Korea’s National Pension Service has appointed Lee Kyu-hong as CIO. He previously served as CIO of Korea Teachers’ Pension, following roles at NH-Amundi Asset Management and Ascendas Asset Management.
Adams Street Partners has named Alec Kersman as Partner and Global Head of Client Solutions, based in New York. He succeeds Kevin O’Donnell, who will retire at the end of 2026. Kersman spent more than 20 years at PIMCO, most recently as Head of Asia Pacific.
Balderton has hired Luca Bocchio as a Partner focused on early-stage investments. He joins from Accel, where he invested across fintech, consumer, AI applications, defense, and energy.
Barings has appointed Ankit Aggarwal as Head of Global CLO Issuance and Capital Markets, based in New York. He previously led US CLO banking and structuring at Bank of America.
CIM Group has brought Garett Bjorkman back as Principal and Co-Head of Opportunity Zones, based in Phoenix. He spent nine years at the firm and helped launch its Opportunity Zones platform.
US-based cybersecurity investor Crosspoint Capital Partners has added Panos Kozanian as an Operating Partner. He joins from Five9, where he was Executive Vice President of Product Engineering, and also worked at Cisco for more than 14 years.
Houston-based energy investor EIV Capital has hired Kristin Kelly as a Partner focused on its upstream strategy. She has nearly two decades of energy investing, private equity, and transaction experience.
Equitix has appointed Brian DeFee as Managing Director, Head of Americas in its capital formation team. He has more than 20 years of private markets fundraising experience, including roles at Capstone Partners and Top Tier Capital Partners.
Golub Capital has hired Matt Shafer as Managing Director and Head of Golub Equity Continuation Partners, its GP-led private equity secondaries strategy. He joins from Northleaf Capital Partners, where he led capital solutions and US private equity.
HarbourVest Partners has named Tony Ranaldi as Managing Director, Evergreen Portfolio Management, in Boston. He was previously a Senior Advisor at Sixth Street.
Heitman has appointed John Lee as Head of Sales, Korea, based in Seoul. He moves from Koramco Asset Management, where he led the global investment team.
Hunter Point Capital has appointed Bill Sonneborn as President and COO, and promoted Mike Arpey to Vice Chairman. Sonneborn was previously President and COO of TCW Group and has also held roles at KKR, EIG, and the International Finance Corporation.
Mirova has added Candice Brenet as Deputy CEO and Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, and named Karen Kharmandarian as CIO, Listed Assets. Kharmandarian takes the listed-assets role following Mirova’s merger with Thematics Asset Management.
NaviMed Capital has appointed Holly Atallah as CFO and Vice President of Compliance, and promoted Bennett Mears to Principal. Atallah joins from BroadOak Capital Partners, where she led finance and compliance. Mears has more than eight years of private equity and transaction advisory experience.
Partners Capital has named Jennifer Fox Bensimon as Head of Co-Investments. She joined the firm in 2024 after investing roles at Trilantic North America and LNK Partners.
Permira has appointed Julia Liuson as Senior Adviser to its technology team in Menlo Park, California. She spent more than three decades at Microsoft, most recently as President of its Developer Division.
Silver Point Capital has named Alan George as Head of Credit Financing and Leverage Solutions. He joins after nearly 18 years at Golub Capital, most recently as Managing Director and Head of Structured Products.
Sound Point Capital has appointed Victoria Davies as Managing Director and Head of Europe for Global Client Solutions, based in London. She joins from King Street, where she spent more than a decade in investor relations and fundraising.
Strategic Value Partners has named Matt Gibson as President, effective February 2027. He previously led Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s global client business.
Ashurst Perkins Coie has appointed Ben Plotnik as a Partner in its corporate practice in Melbourne. He joins from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, where he led the private capital funds practice in Australia.
Gibson Dunn has added Noah Hansford as a Partner and Terrie Khoshbin as Senior Counsel in Dallas. They join the real estate and digital infrastructure practices, with a focus on data center development.
Hogan Lovells Cadwalader has hired Barbara Schwartz as Head of UAE Tax in Dubai, Morgan Frisoli as a Partner in Boston, and Michael Frese as an antitrust Partner in Brussels. Schwartz focuses on structuring and tax matters for private capital, real estate, and infrastructure. Frisoli joins from Goodwin Procter and advises on compensation and benefits matters; and Frese joins from Skadden and focuses on EU competition law.
Mayer Brown has added Scott Ashton as a Partner and Brian Bates as Senior Counsel in its London capital markets practice. They focus on cross-border private placements and other offerings.
McDermott Will & Schulte has hired Natalie Blanc as a Partner in its transactions practice in London. She focuses on restructuring, distressed M&A, and special situations financings, including work for credit funds.
Orrick has appointed Sumit Indwar as a financial regulatory Partner in London. His practice covers asset and wealth management, private funds, CLOs, asset-backed lending, fintech, and venture capital.
Proskauer has hired Edouard Sarrazin as a Partner in its antitrust group in Paris and Stewart Ross as a Partner in its corporate and fund finance practice in New York. Sarrazin advises on merger control, foreign investment reviews, and EU and French competition matters; Ross focuses on subscription facilities, NAV financings, GP stakes financings, and other fund liquidity solutions.
Sheppard Mullin has added Andrew Kang and Lillian Kim as Partners in its corporate practice. Their work includes international private equity transactions and public M&A.
Weil, Gotshal & Manges has named Kyle Krpata and Michael Lubowitz as Co-Chairs of its corporate department. They have led the firm’s private equity and M&A practices, respectively.
White & Case has hired Sarah Remmer Long as a Partner in New York. She focuses on executive compensation matters arising from M&A and other corporate transactions.
Willkie Farr & Gallagher has added James Grice, Bruce Lowry, Michael McKinley, and Thu Pham as Partners in Dallas. Grice will also chair the digital infrastructure and data center practice.
BancAtlantic Capital has hired Dave Dookie as Managing Director, based in Trinidad and Tobago. He is also Founder and Managing Director of Waterloo Capital Advisors.
JLL has named Paul Morgan as COO and a member of its global executive board. He joined the firm in 2016.
TIFF Investment Management has appointed Andrew Borts as Executive Director in its client CIO group, based in Boston. He joins from Morgan Stanley’s outsourced CIO group, where he was a Senior Portfolio Manager advising endowments, foundations, and corporate trusts.
Technology-focused investment bank Union Square Advisors has hired Eugene Song as Managing Director and Head of Secondaries and GP Solutions. He previously co-founded Madison Bay Capital Partners, where he led structured capital and continuation vehicle transactions.
Los Angeles-based family office and investment adviser Validus Capital has appointed Michael Winn as Managing Director. He has more than 20 years of experience advising founders and family business owners on valuation, liquidity, and succession.
Vistina has hired Adrian Smith as Managing Director focused on structured finance. He joins from Morgan Stanley, where he was Head of Esoteric ABS Structuring.
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