On the move, 1.22.2018 – former White House deputy chief of staff joins Berkshire Partners

PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS

Aurelius named Peter Wood a principal for its London office. Prior to joining the pan-European middle-market investor, Wood was an investment director at Next Wave Partners.

Berkshire Partners of Boston named Blake Gottesman and Sam Spirn managing directors. Gottesman is a former deputy chief of staff at the White House and was special assistant and personal aide to former President George W. Bush. Spirn joins Berkshire from Summit Partners.

Blackstone Group hired Chris Blunt as a senior managing director and CEO of Blackstone Insurance Solutions, a new business that provides the firm’s investment management expertise and products to insurance companies. Blunt is the former president of New York Life’s investments group.

Chiron Investments, the Los Angeles family office, named John Low chief operating officer. Low’s background includes tenures at Goldman Sachs, Hitchwood Capital and Karsh Capital. He was named a principal at Chiron in Q1 2017.

Growth Catalyst Partners named Connor Dawson vice president. His work background includes stints at UBS Investment Bank and Wind Point Partners.

Harvest Partners: Steven Duke and Sean Murphy were named partners in the structured-capital business. They will co-lead the strategy, Harvest said. Duke and Murphy were formerly managing directors. The firm named Campbell MacColl a partner to focus on business development and investor relations. He most recently was a managing director at Credit Suisse. And Harvest named five new partners: Stephen Carlson, Paige Daly, Uzair Dossani, Nick Romano and Marc Unger.

Hirtle Callaghan, the West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, investment firm, named Jim Morris senior client engagement director. Morris spent more than 30 years at SEI Investments,  including tenures as senior vice president in both the SEI institutional asset management group and SEI private bank unit.

KKR created Blue Sprig Pediatrics, a platform of clinics that offer applied behavior analysis for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Keith Jones, former COO of PSA Healthcare, will serve as CEO of Blue Sprig.

Pappas Capital, the life-sciences investor, named Kyle Rasbach a partner. Rasbach previously was a vice president at T. Rowe Price.

Perella Weinberg Partners opened a new office in Chicago and named Brennan Smith, a partner in the firm’s advisory business, to lead the office.

Siris Capital Group: Bethany Mayer joined as an executive partner. Mayer was most recently senior vice president of Keysight Technologies and president of Keysight’s Ixia Solutions group.

VMG Partners named Robin Tsai a managing director. Prior to joining VMG in 2009, Tsai worked at Boston Consulting Group.

Wind Point Partners hired Trish Gilbert as chief talent officer. She previously was vice president of human capital at Edgewater Funds.

PORTFOLIO COMPANIES

American Hometown Publishing, a media company, hired David Arkin as chief strategy officer. Arkin previously was chief content officer at Local Media Association. AHP is backed by West End Holdings.

Angel Island Capital, an alternative-investment adviser and credit manager, appointed Lynette Vanderwarker chief strategy officer. She previously led the credit-strategies group as a managing director at KKR. AIC is a portfolio company of Golden Gate Capital.

BenefitMall, the Dallas provider of employee benefits and payroll services to small and medium-sized businesses, named Scott Kirksey CEO. He succeeds Bernard DiFiore, who remains chairman and will be a key adviser. BenefitMall is owned by Carlyle Group.

ComForCare, a home-care franchisor, named Steven Greenbaum CEO. Greenbaum is former CEO of PostNet. ComForCare is backed by Riverside Co.

Convenience Valet, a portfolio company of Weinberg Capital Group, named Steve Jungmann president and CEO. Jungmann previously was president of sales at Richelieu Foods. Convenience Valet is the Melrose, Illinois, distributor of branded products sold in small-portion packages.

Coveris, a global packaging manufacturer, named Markus Petersen chief financial officer. Petersen previously was CFO of Aenova Group. Coveris is a portfolio company of Sun Capital Partners.

Diamond Wipes International, the Chino, California, wet-wipe manufacturer, named Jessica Lum president. Lum previously was chief operating officer. Prior to joining Diamond Wipes, she was vice president of operations at Texen Topline. Diamond Wipes is backed by Nolan Capital.

Pelican Products: Pelican BioThermal, a division that provides temperature-controlled packaging, named Dominic Hyde vice president of Crēdo on Demand. Hyde is a former managing director at va-Q-tec and chief operating officer at Envirotainer. Pelican Products is backed by Behrman Capital.

Ruby Tuesday, the restaurant chain owned by NRD Capital, named Ray Blanchette CEO. Blanchette was previously president and CEO at Au Bon Pain.

TAT Technologies, an Israeli provider of products and services for the commercial and military aerospace and ground defense industries, appointed Jeff Lambert president of its Piedmont Aviation subsidiary. And Michael Chen was named president of the Turbochrome subsidiary. TAT is backed by FIMI Private Equity Fund.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

FIRSTavenue named Derek Dietrich a partner in the New York office of the placement agent and investment adviser. From 2011 to 2014 Dietrich was a partner at the firm before he started his own placement business, Bridge Haven. He is also a former managing director at Fortress Investment Group.

MTS Health Partners, a healthcare-focused investment bank, hired Kazuki Kusaka as a partner. Kusaka previously led the healthcare practice at Lazard for 10 years.

Russel Metals, the Mississauga, Ontario, metals distribution company, named Annie Thabet to the board. Thabet is a partner at Celtis Capital, an M&A services provider. She is also a director of Jean Coutu Group and Transcontinental Inc.

Sadis & Goldberg added Paul J. Marino as a partner. Marino advises national and multinational hedge funds, private equity funds and corporations. Also joining the law firm are Robert Cromwell as counsel and Nick Federici as associate. Cromwell focuses on purchases, sales and recaps of private companies, VC startups, PE deals, and registered and unregistered investment companies. Federici concentrates on investment-fund formation and related deals.

PROMOTIONS

Carrick Capital Partners promoted Paul Zolfaghari to managing director of operations and Chris Wenner to director. Prior to joining Carrick, Zolfaghari was president of MicroStrategy while Wenner worked at Perella Weinberg Partners.

Eureka Growth Capital promoted Alexandra Oswald to principal from vice president. She joined the Philadelphia PE firm in 2009.

GMB Mezzanine Capital promoted Judd Stevens to principal. Prior to joining GMB in 2013, he worked at TripleTree Investment Bank.

Monument Group, a private fund placement agent, promoted Karl Adam, Molly Diggins and Patrick MacCurtain to partner. Adam joined the firm in 2015, Diggins came on board in 2011 and MacCurtain joined in 2006.

TA Associates: Patrick Sader was named a managing director, while Max Cancre, John DiCola, Lovisa Lander, Alex Melamud and Amara Suebsaeng were each promoted to senior vice president.