Accordion Partners — Michelle Van Hellemont has joined as director, business development. In this capacity, Van Hellemont is expected to help expand Accordion’s presence within the private equity community. She was previously at Ambrose and Stax Consulting.
Akerman Senterfitt — Alejandro García Villalpando (pictured) has joined as a shareholder in the firm's taxation practice group. Based in New York, Villalpando will focus on domestic and international tax and corporate matters. His work for U.S. and foreign clients will largely intersect with Akerman's Latin American and Caribbean practice, with an emphasis on the tax aspects of cross-border M&A. García Villalpando is a 20-year veteran in advising private equity firms, as well as public and private companies.
Ballard Spahr — Travis Leach has joined the law firm as a partner in the Phoenix office where he will be a member of the M&A practice as well as the transactional finance groups. Leach, who joins Ballard Spahr from Jennings Strouss in Phoenix, specializes in advising deals within the sports sector.
Blackstone (NYSE: BX) — Anthony Maniscalco has left his post at Barclays for Blackstone Alternative Asset Management where he will be a managing director. Maniscalco was previously the former head of alternative asset management within Barclays’ financial institutions investment banking division. At Barlcays, he will focus on building out the firm's platform to purchase ownership interests in hedge fund businesses.
Chadbourne & Parke — The law firm expanded its Mexico City office by hiring Jose Antonio Prado Carranza, an energy lawyer. Leslie Maribel Palma Rojano also joined the Mexico City office as international counsel in the labor and employment practice.
Cooley LLP — Jamie Leigh (pictured), previously at Latham & Watkins, has joined Cooley as a partner. She will be based in San Francisco.
CVC Credit Partners — Mark DeNatale and Scott Bynum have each left Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) and joined the private equity firm as partner and managing director, respectively. DeNatale previously spent 17 years at Goldman where he was a managing director and head of loan trading. Bynum spent 7 years at Goldman where he was a vice president in the bank loan distressed investing business.
Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP — The law firm hired David Kappos to advise clients on intellectual property issues related to mergers, as well as to assist in the litigation of patent and trademark disputes. Kappos, a former senior lawyer at IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM), served for three and a half years as director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This is the second time that the law firm has added a former senior official of President Barack Obama’s administration to its partnership. Christine Varney, the White House’s former top antitrust lawyer, joined the firm in August 2011.
Goldman Sachs Group — The investment bank named Gregg Lemkau head its global M&A team. Lemkau was previously head of Goldman’s M&A coverage in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific. Gilberto Pozzi, who has been co-head of Goldman's global consumer retail group since 2010, was chosen to oversee dealmaking in EMEA.
Hellman & Friedman — The private equity firm announced five promotions. Judd Sher, Hunter Philbrick and Tarim Wasim have each been named managing directors, while Philip Sternheimer and Stephen Ensley were promoted to director and principal, respectively.
Holland & Knight — J. Allen Maines has joined the law firm's Atlanta office as a partner in its litigation practice group. He joins Holland & Knight from Paul Hastings LLP, where he held a variety of leadership positions and is a former co-chair of the firm's global litigation department.
JP Morgan Chase & Co. — The investment bank managed to snag advisers Kim Fonseca and Brian McAuliffe from Morgan Stanley to be a part of JPMorgan’s private wealth management unit. Fonseca and McAuliffe, previously each heads of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, will work out of the bank’s Palm Beach, Fla. and New York offices, respectively. Fonseca was formerly a senior vice president at Morgan Stanley and had been there for roughly 30 years. Chris Foster also joined J.P. Morgan. He will be based in White Plains, N.Y. He was previously with Credit Suisse and, before that, Lazard Asset Management.
Jones Day — Marcel van de Vorst and Marc Rijkaart van Cappellen each joined the law firm’s recently opened Amsterdam office on Feb. 1 as partners. Van de Vorst advises companies in the technology and life sciences sectors. Rijkaart van Cappellen specializes capital market transactions, corporate governance, joint ventures and restructurings.
Kugman Partners Inc. — Frank Mack has returned to the advisory firm as a managing director. He originally joined Kugman in 2000 as a principal and left in 2004 as a vice president. Mack went on to hold various leadership positions at several other firms, including Conway MacKenzie Inc., Saybrook Capital, LLC and Merk Capital Corp.
Paul Hastings LLP — The law firm has elected twelve lawyers to its partnership. In New York, Randal Palach, Eric Allendorf and David Viklund were each of counsels before being promoted to partner. Katherine Bell and Jason Rednour were each associates at Paul Hastings’ Orange County, Calif. office before their promotions to partner. John Durrant and Claudia Simon, of the firm’s Los Angeles office, were promoted as well, while Corinne Lammers and Carson Sullivan each took on their new posts at the firm’s Washington D.C. location. Edward Han moved up at the firm’s Palo Alto, Calif. office, as Zach Hutton took on the position in San Francisco. The most recent slate of promotions also extended overseas, with David Grimm’s becoming a partner in Hong Kong office.
TSG Consumer Partners LLC — The private equity firm announced the promotion of three individuals: Daniel Costello, Karen Hart and Michael Layman. Costello, previously a vice president, was named a senior vice president, while Hart and Layman have each gone from senior associates to vice presidents.
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