Allegiancy—The Richmond, Virginia-based commercial real estate asset management firm appointed Dennis Irvin, formerly president and CEO of Rockefeller Group Investment Management in New York, to its board. Irvin led Rockefeller for more than seven years. He has also served in leadership positions at CIT Group (NYSE: CIT), Cushman & Wakefield, J.P Morgan Securities and LaSalle Partners. Allegiancy is expected to raise capital under new Reg A+ rules that it would use to double its 19-employee staff. Irvin will serve in an advisory role on the board, assisting management in strategic thinking and planning.
Beechwood Re The Cayman Islands and Bermuda based re-insurer appointed David Kaplon as chief financial officer of Beechwood's group of companies. Kaplon, who has more than 25 years of reinsurance, private equity and investment management experience, will report to Mark Feuer, Beechwood CEO. He will lead Beechwood’s global M&A and capital management initiatives. Prior to Beechwood, Kaplon was an executive adviser at Aquiline Capital Partners for start-up, growth capital, buyout and turnaround investments in the life, health and annuity sectors. Before that, he worked for Blackstone's (NYSE: BX) Bayview Asset Management mortgage investment platform. David also served in a variety of executive leadership roles in Bermuda and New York at XL Group and at Zurich Financial Services' Centre Group.
Epic Insurance Brokers and Consultants—The San Francisco-based retail property, casualty insurance brokerage and employee benefits consultant has hired Bob Baldauf as a property and casualty insurance broker for the firm’s risk solutions team in Stamford, Connecticut. Baldauf will be responsible for new business development and the design and management of insurance and risk management programs. He will report to Steve Levene, executive vice president of the risk solutions team. Previously, Baldauf launched a risk management consulting practice in 2011, specializing in middle and large middle market companies in private equity, manufacturing and other industries. Since The Carlyle Group (Nasdaq: CG) became EPIC’s major investment partner in 2013, the firm has completed eight strategic acquisitions.
FreeWave Technologies A co-founder of the Boulder, Colorado-based wireless networking solutions provider is leaving his role as president of the company to get more involved in startups. Steve Wulchin will continue to be involved in FreeWave as a board member and as the company’s largest shareholder. In startups, Wulchin plans to be more involved in private investment and mentoring. Kim Niederman, Freewave’s new CEO, has assembled a new executive team for the company. Wulchin co-founded the company in 1993, and TA Associates, the Boston private equity firm, invested $113 million in Freewave in 2007. The company is a self-described leader in industrial, secure machine-to-machine and Internet-of-things wireless networking solutions.
Genstar Capital A portfolio company of the San Francisco-based middle-market private equity firm has appointed a new president and CEO. The company, Asset International Inc., hired Joel Mandelbaum, formerly an entrepreneur in residence at Warburg Pincus. He has also purchased a material investment interest in Asset International. Mandelbaum previously served as CEO of Wall Street Systems; CEO of Financial Sciences Corporation; president at Thomson Market Information Services; and chief operations officer of Dalcomp, now a part of IPREO. Asset International provides data, business intelligence and information services to the global investment management industry. Genstar acquired Asset International last year, and Asset International has since acquired FWW in Germany and LiquidMetrix in the UK to expand its European presence.
Heidrick & Struggles The Chicago-based international executive search and consulting firm has hired back Tom Moran, who will work in Chicago. Moran had worked more than 20 years at Heidrick (Nasdaq: HSII), where he was managing partner of the insurance practice and co-regional managing partner for North America of the financial services practice. Most recently, he worked less than two years at CT Partners, a rival headhunting firm, as a vice chairman and partner in the firm’s financial services and CEO and board practices. CT Partners merged with DHR International, another search firm, in July. At Heidrick, Moran will work in the financial service practice. His experience includes executive search in the private equity sector.
KPMG Corporate Finance LLC—The New York-based subsidiary of the Big Four accounting firm has added a team from Ewing Bemiss & Co., a middle-market boutique investment bank that provides transaction advisory services to companies in the energy, power and utilities sectors. The addition provides KPMG CF with a presence in the energy M&A sector. Ewing Bemiss, founded in 1992 and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, provides sale, merger, acquisition and financing services to middle-market companies nationally, including companies in the power and utilities, oil field services, and industrial services areas. Turning Basin Capital PartnersLLC, Ewing's private equity group affiliate, is not a part of the transaction, and Turning Basin Ewing Bemiss co-owner Tom Willingham will join Turning Basin on a full-time basis concurrent with this transaction.
Mourant Ozannes—The international law firm has announced changes to its British Virgin Islands practice. Mike Williams is returning to Jersey to develop the BVI practice in the European time zone. Williams served on the team that advised Canada Pension Plan Investment Board on its acquisition of Brandeaux Student Accommodation Fund portfolio. Rachael McDonald is the new managing partner of the BVI office. She led the Mourant Ozannes team acting for Rosneft on its acquisition of TNK-BP, the largest M&A deal in the BVI. Partner Shaun Folpp is relocating to the firm's Hong Kong office to establish a contentious restructuring and litigation offering to Asia-based clients. Folpp established the BVI office's litigation and insolvency practice. The Hong Kong office's contentious restructuring and litigation practice will cover both BVI and Cayman Islands law, and support existing practices. Also, Eleanor Morgan and Nicholas Fox, who were litigation and insolvency specialists in the BVI office, were promoted to partners, subject to local work permit approval.
Riverside Co. —The global private equity firm focused on businesses valued at up to $300 million has hired Richard Lan as a senior adviser in the food and beverage subsector of its consumer branded goods specialization, where it has completed more than 80 transactions. Lan most recently served as chief customer officer of Maple Leaf Food Group, a Toronto-based international consumer packaged food company where he also served as CEO of the Canada Bread Company. He participated in the takeover of Maple Leaf from Hillsdown Holdings Ltd. with McCain Capital Corporation and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan in 1995. Prior to Maple Leaf, Lan was president of Dell Products Corp., a U.S. frozen juice manufacturer start-up. At Dell Products Corp., he sold the business in 1988 to McCain Foods, where he remained until 1995 as CEO of McCain Citrus. Riverside’s food and beverage companies include Alchemy Systems, which provides training for foodservice workers; MEC3, an Italian gelato ingredients specialist; cookie and baked good specialist Tate’s Bake Shop; and craft beer specialist Uinta Brewing.
TA Associates—The Boston-based global growth private equity firm has hired investment staff for its Boston, Menlo Park and London offices. Amara Suebsaeng, Alex Melamud and Max Cancre have rejoined the firm as vice presidents in Boston, Menlo Park and London, respectively, after attending graduate school. John DiCola has joined the firm as a vice president in Boston. Suebsaeng, who focuses business, technology-enabled and other services companies, was previously an associate in the Boston office of TA Associates. She was also an analyst in the investment banking division, global power and utilities group at Morgan Stanley. Melamud focuses on investments in technology and technology-based services companies. He was previously an associate in the Menlo Park office, and had worked in the global technology investment banking group at Barclays Capital. Cancre, who focuses on technology and financial services companies across Europe, had worked as an associate in the London office. Previously, he was an analyst in the investment banking division, structured finance group at Barclays Capital. DiCola focuses on investments in technology companies. Prior to joining TA Associates, he served as an associate at Hellman & Friedman, and earlier as an analyst at Greenhill & Co. Separately, the Boston-based private equity firm has agreed to take ownership of the voting shares of Joley Corp., with certain key employees of Keeley Asset Management Corp., a Chicago subsidiary of Joley, gaining non-controlling equity interests. Also, when the deal is completed, which is expected to be in September, subject to regulatory approvals, Brien O’Brien, former head of asset management at Piper Jaffray (NYSE: PJC), will become executive chairman of Joley and Keeley Asset. John Keeley Jr., president of the family-owned Keeley Asset, also known as KAMCO, will remain president of the firm after the deal with TA Associates closes. O’Brien was also previously a co-founder of Advisory Research Inc., a former TA portfolio company.
