American Surgical Assistants — The portfolio company of Great Point Partners named Tom Kirk chief executive officer. Kirk, who stepped in on June 3, succeeds Zak Elgamal, American Surgical’s co-founder and president, who will remain on the company’s board of directors. Kirk was previously president and chief executive of prosthetic maker Hanger Inc.


B.C. Ziegler & Co. — The Chicago investment bank hired Sarkis Garabedian for its western region banking team. Garabedian joins from Piper Jaffray & Co., where he was a vice president in the healthcare group. Ziegler specializes in the senior living sector.


Baker & McKenzie LLP — Amar Budarapu was elected chairman of the Chicago law firm’s North America corporate and securities practice. He succeeds Marc Paul, who will continue advising clients on private equity and venture capital transactions. Budarapu, who will continue as chair of the global capital markets practice, was previously managing partner of the firm's Dallas office.


Bank of Montreal Ellen Costello (pictured) is retiring as head of U.S. operations for the $555 billion-asset Canadian company. Chris Begy, the chief auditor, is set to succeed Costello in her roles, which include U.S. country head, president and chief executive of BMO Financial in Chicago. Costello, 58, joined Bank of Montreal in 1983 and has held leadership positions in Toronto, New York and Hong Kong. In 2006 she became the first woman to lead the company's Harris Bank unit. In 2011, when Harris acquired the $52 billion-asset Marshall & Ilsley in Milwaukee for $4.1 billion, Costello's role was expanded to U.S head, where she oversaw governance and regulatory matters for all of the Canadian bank's U.S. businesses. Begy takes over officially on Aug. 1. Costello has been honored numerous times by Mergers & Acquisitions’ sister publication American Banker as one of the Most Powerful Women in Banking. Outside of the bank, Costello is the chairman of United Way of Metropolitan Chicago and sits on the board of several organizations including the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Financial Services Roundtable.


Gleacher & Co. — The bank appointed Christopher Kearns from Capstone Advisory Group as Gleacher's chief executive and chief restructuring officer. He will remain employed by Capstone while serving in his new position at Gleacher, which retained Capstone to help it with its restructuring process. Kearns has been an executive director and manager at Capstone since co-founding the firm in 2004. Before that, he was a senior managing director at the Policano & Manzo legacy practice of FTI Consulting and a predecessor firm from 1991 to 2004.


Investec Specialist Bank — Grant Davidson has been appointed to Investec Growth & Acquisition Finance where he will focus on sourcing deals for both entrepreneurs and private equity firms. He will report to Ed Cottrell, head of Investec Growth & Acquisition Finance. Grant was previously finance director of LGC Standards, a division of Bridgepoint Capital-backed LGC, which he joined in in 2011 and went on to assist in the acquisition of four bolt-on businesses. Prior to that, he spent eight years at Lyceum Capital where he was an associate partner, and two years with Societe Generale’s London-based M&A team.


Marcum Cronus Partners LLC — The midmarket investment bank hired Elgin Thompson as a managing director specializing in digital media and Internet technology. Thompson was vice president of corporate development for GridNetworks Inc., a venture-backed online video technology provider. Prior to that, he was with Bear Stearns & Co.'s media investment banking group. He began his career as a corporate attorney at DLA Piper and is on the advisory boards of Sprezzat, a mobile technology company, and CyberSynchs, a data synchronization provider.


Robert W. Baird & Co. — Martin Luen has joined the Milwaukee financial services firm as a director. Prior to Baird, Luen was at London-based advisory arm Hawkpoint and, before that, Deloitte. He will be a part of Baird’s investment banking team in London.


WestBridge Capital — The private equity firm has appointed Pascal Wittet as senior investment manager. The announcement follows the firm’s recent move to new offices in London where Pascal will be based.

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