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

Legal

  • Sean Conway has rejoined Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld as a Partner in the telecom, media and technology practice in Washington, DC. He previously served at the US Department of Commerce, where he was Deputy Chief Counsel for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Mary Alexander joins as a Tax Partner in Washington, DC from Vinson & Elkins. In London, Natasha Kaye joins as a Tax Partner from Cooley, where she was a Partner.

  • Alston & Bird has hired George Silfen as a Funds Partner in New York. He spent over 13 years at Kramer Levin and before that held roles at Schulte Roth & Zabel and Morgan Stanley.

  • Clifford Chance has appointed Bryan Luchs as a Partner in its Corporate M&A practice. He will operate out of the New York office and joins from White & Case, where he spent 12 years as a Partner.

  • Davis Polk has added Michael Diz as a Partner in its M&A practice. He advises private equity firms, public and private companies, and special committees on M&A transactions. He previously spent over 20 years at Debevoise & Plimpton, where he was latterly Partner and Co-Chair of M&A.

  • Daniela Drexler has joined Dentons as Europe Chief Financial Officer (CFO), based in Munich. She was formerly CFO of Continental Europe at Freshfields, where she worked for 12 years.

  • DLA Piper has appointed Chris Jessup as a Partner in the Litigation and Regulatory practice. He joins the Belfast office from A&L Goodbody, where he was a Partner and Co-Head of the FinTech Group.

  • Haynes Boone has hired Lesley Gregory as a Partner in its London office. She will focus on private and public M&A, alternative capital raising strategies, and international deal structuring. She spent over 40 years at Memery Crystal, latterly as Chairman and Partner.

  • Norton Rose Fulbright has hired Jessica Li as a Partner in its Banking and Finance practice in Hong Kong. She was formerly a Partner at Ashurst, advising Chinese and international financial institutions on debt capital markets in the Greater China region.

  • Perkins Coie has appointed Arpita Bhattacharyya and Robert McCauley as Partners in the Intellectual Property and Patent Litigation practices. They will be based in Palo Alto, California, and both join from Finnegan, where Bhattacharyya co-led the firm’s AI working group and McCauley co-led the Trade Secrets Litigation group.

  • Ropes & Gray has opened its first office in Paris and appointed Fabrice Cohen as Office Managing Partner. Thierry Arachtingi and Emmanuel Mimin also join as Partners. It has also appointed a group of Counsel and Associates, bringing experience in private equity, infrastructure, banking, and finance transactions.

  • Michael Malfettone has joined Sheppard Mullin as a Partner in the Energy, Infrastructure, and Project Finance team. He is based in New York and represents infrastructure funds and other institutional and strategic investors in mid-market M&A, and sponsored and management-led buyouts. He joins from Troutman Pepper Locke.

  • Travers Smith has added John Daghlian as a Senior Consultant in its Asset Management sector group. He previously spent four years as a Partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and, before that, over 15 years at O’Melveny & Myers.

Consultancy and advisory

  • Iron Road Partners, a US regulatory consulting firm, has appointed Jennifer Conwell as a Director. She was previously an Examination Manager in the Division of Examinations, Private Funds Unit of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

  • Commercial real estate advisor and service provider Newmark has hired Justin Shepherd as Co-Head and Vice Chairman of its US Healthcare Capital Markets practice. He will work alongside Ben Appel, Jay Miele, and John Nero and will be based in the Irvine, California office. Shepherd was previously a Director at real estate investment bank Eastdil Secured.

  • US-based Viking Mergers & Acquisitions has hired Rob Flack to lead its new Baltimore office, its 16th in the US. He was previously CEO of IndySoft, and also held roles at Transcat, ADG Creative, and Tektronix. Viking provides M&A advice to small and middle-market business owners.

Administration

  • New York-based Gen II Fund Services has promoted eight individuals to Principal in its Client Services team. The new Principals are Gauri Brar, Andy Braudo, Kyle Derkacz, Camille Kiwior, Petr Korobov, Amy Lin, Ryan Navaira, and Ali Sheikh.

  • UK-based Langham Hall has promoted four individuals to Partner. Promotions include Richard James, who is also Head of UK; Maria Thorsted and Christian Mohr in Luxembourg; and Joseph Hindi in the US.

  • Jersey-headquartered Ocorian has appointed Andy Bailey as Head of Private Client in Guernsey. He was formerly Group Head of Private Wealth at Belasko, and before that was a Client Service Director at Rothschild & Co.

  • US-based Petra Funds Group has hired John Beczak as CFO, based in New York. He joins from minerals and metals-focused investment firm Resource Capital Funds, where he spent the last four years as CFO.

  • Dublin-based Waystone has promoted Elaine Chow to Country Head for Hong Kong. She joined 13 years ago and was an Executive Director before her promotion.

Investment bank

  • US-based Centerview Partners has hired Reince Priebus as a Senior Advisor. He was White House Chief of Staff for the first six months of President Trump’s first administration and was formerly Chair of the Republican National Committee.

  • US-headquartered Raymond James has hired James Chapman-Andrews and Simon Roberts as Managing Directors in London. They will both be focused on the IT services space. They join from Alantra, where Chapman-Andrews was Global Head of Technology and Roberts was a Managing Director and Head of IT Services for Europe.

  • Wealth manager and investment bank Oppenheimer Europe has hired Ernest Bell as Managing Director and European Head of Public M&A and Wealth Management. He will be based in London and joins from boutique Hannam & Partners. Giles Fitzpatrick joins as Vice Chairman and Managing Director of European Investment Banking, and Richard Clarke as a Senior Advisor, also from Hannam & Partners.

  • Sweden-headquartered SEB has promoted Mats Torstendahl to Country Manager of SEB UK, succeeding Anders Engstrand, who will become Head of Private Wealth Management & Family Office. The promotions are effective as of August 25. Torstendahl is currently Deputy President and CEO, and has worked at SEB for 16 years.

Association

  • The Managed Funds Association has promoted Jillien Flores to Chief Advocacy Officer, a newly established position. She was previously EVP, Head of Global Government Affairs, and has been at the firm for four years.

Platform

  • Credit management and intelligence company Pepper Advantage has appointed Vlad Botic as Group Chief Operating Officer (COO), Gary Stockley as Group Chief Information Officer, and Kelli Riding as Director of UK Transformation. Botic was previously interim COO at the firm, while Stockley served as Head of European Systems since 2019. Riding was previously Head of Transformation and first joined in 2020 as a Project Manager.

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