Updated 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012
Avista Capital Partners — The private equity firm brought in Phil Seskin as an industry executive in Avista’s communications division. Seskin was most recently a senior vice president of corporate development at Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), where he spent more than 20 years working on the company’s growth initiatives, including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and divestitures.
BDO LLP — The accounting and business advisory firm appointed Gareth Davies director within BDO’s mergers and acquisitions team in London. Davies, who specializes in telecommunications, media and technology deals, joins from PWC Corporate Finance. Prior to that, he was with Morgan Stanley.
Crystal Financial — The Boston-based lender promoted Joshua Franklin to chief operations officer and Evren Ozargun to managing director. Both individuals came to Crystal in 2006. Franklin was previously a director at Citizen’s Capital Inc., while Ozargun was with Wells Fargo Retail Finance.
Financo — The investment banking boutique promoted Vennette Ho (pictured) to managing director, just as it hired two new managing directors: Timothy Dahms and Audrey Kirdar. Under the new position, Ho will continue to work within Financo’s personal care and beauty coverage unit. Since joining Financo in 2004, she has advised a number of transactions in the beauty space, including Alticor’s purchase of of the Laura Mercier luxury cosmetics brand and Sun Capital Partners Inc.’s acquisition of Stila, both in 2006. Prior to joining Financo, Ho was an equity research associate at Lazard Capital Markets, where she covered the retail industry. Meanwhile, Dahms was hired to head Financo’s coverage in discount retail, sporting goods and athletic apparel. The 14-year banking veteran most recently served as a senior member of the retail investment banking team at Moelis & Co. Before that, Dahms was a vice president at Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. Kirdar, who most recently spent 10 years at Rothschild Inc., will be responsible for Financo’s apparel and department store coverage, in addition to helping the firm expand its operations across Europe.
Foros Group — Bill Bock, a 37-year veteran of the technology industry, has joined the financial services firm as a senior adviser. He is based in Austin, Texas. Bock has held various leadership positions over the years, including Convio Inc., as chairman of the board; iTKO as a director; Hewlett-Packard, as vice president; Dazel Corp., as president and chief executive; and IBM, as chief operating officer of the Tivoli business. Bock was an executive vice president and COO of Tivoli Systems Inc. before it was sold to IBM in 1996. Bock currently serves as a director of Silicon Laboratories Inc. and FiftyOne Inc., Sailpoint Technologies Inc., UnboundID and Worksoft Inc.
Loeb & Loeb LLP — The law firm is expanding its international presence with the launch of a second office in Asia. The new Hong Kong office will be led by Benny Pang, who is joining Loeb & Loeb’s capital markets department as a partner. Lawrence Venick, previously a partner at Loeb & Loeb’s Beijing office, will move over to the Hong Kong location as well.
Macquarie Group Ltd. — Kalpana Desai (pictured), head of Asia investment banking for Macquarie Capital, announced that she will leave the firm in April 2013. She arrived at the bank's Hong Kong office in September 2009 as deputy head of Asia from Merrill Lynch & Co. Alex Harvey, Macquarie Asia's chief executive, is slated to replace her. He has been with the firm since 1999.
NewOak Capital Markets LLC — The asset management firm appointed Donald McGuire as chief operating officer and head of investment banking. McGuire joins NewOak with over 27 years of experience in finance. Most recently, McGuire was managing partner of KDM Advisors in Greenwich Conn., and before that, he served as chairman and CEO of Metastatin Pharmaceuticals Inc. Earlier in his career, McGuire was president, COO and director of beenz.com in New York and London, as well as managing director and COO for defunct investment firm ING Barings/Furman Selz LLC.
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