Updated 11:32 am, Monday, Oct. 29, 2012

Allegiance Capital Corp. — Max Safavi has joined the firm’s Dallas headquarters as managing director. Prior to joining Allegiance, Safavi served in roles as chief financial officer at Microdyne and Divisional Chief Financial Officer at UNC Inc. Most recently he served as chief operating officer at EF Johnson Technologies. He also held the title of CFO prior to becoming COO.


Duff & Phelps Corp. (NYSE: DUF) — The investment bank hired Chad Burns as a managing director and member of the firm’s transaction advisory services. He is based in San Francisco office. In this position, Burns provides clients with a broad range of advice regarding the financial, tax, benefits, information technology, commercial and operational aspects of the due diligence process. Prior to joining Duff & Phelps, Burns was a senior vice president in Houlihan Lokey’s San Francisco office, where he established and led the firm’s west coast transaction advisory services practice. Before that, Burns was a director at KPMG in New York.


Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP — The private equity firm strengthened its Southeast Asia presence with a new office in Singapore. The opening establishes KKR's seventh office in Asia Pacific, with the Singapore office serving as the regional hub for Southeast Asia and will be dedicated towards its investment activities throughout the region. The Singapore office builds upon KKR's model of marrying deep market knowledge of experienced local hires with KKR's global network for the benefit of its investors and portfolio companies. KKR's Southeast Asia team is led by Ming Lu (pictured), member and regional leader of Southeast Asia, and includes Directors Kabir Mathur from Singapore and Ridha Wirakusumah from Indonesia.


Mondelez International Inc. (Nasdaq: MDLZ) — Patrick Siewert is joining the board of directors of the Northfield, Ill.-based food company. Since 2007, Siewert has worked with Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm the Carlyle Group.


Perella Weinberg Partners — The advisory shop brought in Joseph Gatto, a 25-year investment banking veteran, as a partner. Gatto was most recently the chairman of investment banking at Barclays plc (LON: BARC) until retiring a year ago. Before that, he was at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) from 1994 until 2005 when he joined Lehman Brothers as chairman of global M&A at Lehman in 2005. Among the deals he has taken on include, Unilever $25 billion purchase of Bestfoods, Pepsi’s $3.3 billion purchase of Tropicana and 3G Capital’s $4.2 billion buyout of Burger King.


Providence Equity Partners Inc.Julie Richardson (pictured), who has been managing director at the private equity firm since April 2003, will be taking on a senior adviser role. Richardson joined Providence from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., where she was vice chairman of the investment banking department and chairman of the telecom, media and technology group. Before that, she was at Merrill Lynch & Co. as a managing director in the telecom and media group.


Public Financial Management Group — The firm opened an office in Portland, Ore. that will be managed by recently-hired directors Ken Rust and Eric Johansen, previously the city’s chief administrative officer and treasurer, respectively. Up until July 2011, Rust held various positions, including the city’s chief financial officer, as well as senior managing consultant at PFM an economist with CH2M Hill. Rust is also former president of the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada. Johansen worked as Portland’s debt manager, before overseeing the city’s debt, banking and investments as treasurer, a position he held until April. Prior to working for Portland, Johansen worked as a financial advisor with PFM and as an investment banker with Shearson Lehman Brothers. He is chair of the GFOA’s committee on governmental debt management.


Robert W. Baird & Co. — The financial services firm added David Rodgers as a senior analyst in equity research covering office and industrial real estate investment trusts (REITs). The hiring is part of Baird's recent effort to grow its expertise in the real estate sector. Most recently, Rodgers served in a similar capacity at RBC Capital Markets and prior to that he covered multifamily REITs at KeyBanc Capital Markets.


Wells Fargo Securities — The capital markets and investment banking business of Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) named Brian Moon a managing director and head of financial institutions, mergers and acquisitions. He will be based in New York. Moon joins Wells Fargo from Deutsche Bank, where he served in a similar capacity. Before that, he was at Morgan Stanley where he was a vice president. Moon also spent several years at Constitution Reinsurance and its parent company, Exor America, including two years as the executive director of finance. He began his career as an analyst at Morgan Stanley’s insurance group.

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