Ridgemont Equity Partners, a middle market private equity firm, has appointed Justin Lay as partner and Ryan Shanahan as vice president.

Lay has joined Ridgemont’s origination and capital markets practice, the firm’s dedicated effort to building relationships with intermediaries, advisors and industry executives in the M&A community, as well as debt financing partners.

Lay has a background in principal investing and financial services, including his most recent experience as a senior member of the global private finance team at Barings LLC, as an investment and business development professional at HCI Equity Investors and Summit Park, and in investment banking at the former Wachovia Securities.

Shanahan has joined the firm’s tech and telecom team to add additional expertise to Ridgemont’s investment activities focused on software, healthcare IT, telecom infrastructure/networks and IoT. He spent over four years at Court Square Capital Partners and began his career at PwC.