On the move, 12.5.2016 – Public Investment Fund gets new head of PE

PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS

Adams Street Partners named John Amboian to the board, effective in March. He will succeed A. Bart Holaday, who is retiring. Amboian is non-executive chairman of Nuveen Investments.

Cowen Group added Jeff Schiamberg and Theodore E. Tutun to Cowen and Co’s investment-banking team as managing directors. Schiamberg previously was a managing director in the consumer and retail group at RBC Capital Markets while Tutun worked at Jefferies.

Crestline Investors named Frank Jordan a managing director and head of business development and client partnerships. Jordan previously was a partner and head of business development at GoldenTree Asset Management.

Frazier Healthcare Partners hired Rob Kill as an operating partner for its growth buyout team. Kill previously was chairman and CEO of Cogentix Medical.

Highview Capital: Joining the Los Angeles firm, which is backed by Karlin Asset Management, are Brice Baradel and Steve Russell as principals; P.J. Gilbert and Dan Picmann as vice presidents; and Tim Park and Kapish Haldia as associates.

Insight Venture Partners named Ian Sandler chief operating officer. Sandler previously was COO of global equities at Citadel. He is also a former partner, COO and chief legal officer in Carlyle‘s global market strategies division.

Madison Capital added Marcus Meyer as a managing director on its originations team. Prior to joining Madison, Meyer served as a managing director and was responsible for sponsor coverage in the New York region at NXT Capital.

Paine & Partners named Stephen R. Padgette an operating director. Padgette is the former vice president of R&D investment strategy at Monsanto.

Palladium Equity Partners named Justin Green, Daniel Ilundain and Adam Shebitz managing directors and Yue Bonnet, Leon Brujis and Caleb Clark principals. On the finance team, Louisa Dalton becomes vice president and controller; Amanda Hanlon is now assistant controller and Dale Pescatore is an associate. Joe Chang is now a senior associate while Matthew Graziano, Anirudh Sathya and Sam Zakay all were named associates.

Robertson Stephens Asset Management named Ron Resnick chief operating officer. Resnick co-founded CounselWorks and was a managing partner, chief administrative officer and general counsel of Highbridge Capital Management.

Siris Capital Group: Krish Prabhu joined as executive partner. Prabhu most recently was chief technology officer of AT&T and president of AT&T Labs.

Strategic Value Partners appointed Goran Puljic and David Weaver to its advisory council. Puljic is a former partner at Oak Hill Advisors while Weaver is former chairman and CEO of Jefferies International.

Z Capital Group: Joining the alternative asset manager are Sean Maddock and Ashwini Sawhney as managing directors and operating partners; Michael Stanczak as a director and operating partner; Tyler Hendry as an operating associate; David DeMilt as a managing director responsible for corporate development for the firm’s PE and credit funds; and Ian Delehanty and Olivia Guo as associates.

PORTFOLIO COMPANIES

Paragon Bioservices, a Baltimore contract researcher and manufacturer focused on biopharmaceuticals and vaccines, named John Conner senior vice president of GMP manufacturing. Previously, Conner was SVP of operations at CDMO Cytovance Biologics. Paragon is backed by NewSpring Capital and Camden Partners.

PeopleAdmin, the Austin, Texas, provider of cloud-based talent management solutions for education and a portfolio company of Vista Equity Partners, named Jack Blaha CEO. Former CEO Kermit Randa remains on the board. Blaha is former executive vice president and chief operating officer of Aptean.

Scholar Rock, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, biotech company, named Alan J. Buckler chief scientific officer and Jeffrey S. Flier to the board of directors and scientific advisory board. Scholar Rock’s backers include Polaris Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, Fidelity Investments, EcoR1 Capital and Cormorant Asset Management.

Softline, backed by Da Vinci Capital, named Gordon Brooks CEO. Softline is an IT-solutions and -services provider focused on emerging markets. Brooks has more than 30 years of software and services technology experience, including holding the CEO’s position at several companies.

Valet Waste, backed by Ares Management LP and Harvest Partners LP,  named Michael Jacobs chief operating officer. Jacobs is the former senior vice president of manufacturing for Simmons Bedding‘s Eastern division. Valet Waste is a provider of trash and recycling collection services.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

Alantra, an investment bank and asset manager, hired Andrew G. Collina as a managing director. Based in the Boston office, Collina will be in charge of managing Alantra’s financial sponsor relationships in the U.S. He previously was a managing director in the financial-sponsors group at BB&T Capital Markets.

Artivest appointed Stacie Yates director of business implementation and Justin Rooney senior manager of client services. Yates previously was executive director of product development and management at UBS Wealth Management, while Rooney was an associate at Third Avenue Management.

Fidelity Investments Chairman Edward C. Johnson III will retire next month and will be succeeded by his daughter, Abigail Johnson.

LIMITED PARTNERS

Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s main sovereign-wealth fund, tapped several staffers, Reuters reported. Kevin O’Donnell joined as head of global private equity; he previously was managing director of private and opportunistic investments at Kaiser Permanente in California. Named investment professionals at PIF are Marc-Oliver Fischer, an investment banking analyst at Jefferies, and Jacobo Solis, previously an investment-banking associate at JP Morgan. Richard Collins, previously head of risk management at Wood Mackenzie, was hired to build a compliance function at PIF.