Baird Capital, the global private equity and venture capital arm of Baird, has appointed Louise Kingston as a Director with the Global Portfolio Operations team in London. Kingston will focus on supporting UK-based investee companies.    Kingston joins Baird Capital from the mid-market private firm Livingbridge, where she spent eight years as an Investment Director within the company’s Value Strategy Group. She has extensive experience defining and executing value creation strategies within investee companies. Kingston has sat on the boards of four to five portfolio companies at any one time. Before this role, she was an Investment Manager at lower

PwC UK has announced changes to its Deals Leadership team and continued to strengthen the practice with the promotion of nine new equity partners from 1 January 2022. Lucy Stapleton has been appointed as Head of Deals and a member of the firm’s Management Board. With over 25 years’ experience at PwC within its Transactions Services team, Lucy brings a wealth of experience to the role and is committed to delivering our part in the global recovery, working alongside government, investors, and corporates, and ultimately unlocking value for shareholders, stakeholders, and wider society.   Stapleton has appointed Jonathon Land as

The Rohatyn Group (TRG), an asset management firm with expertise in emerging markets and real assets, has appointed Colin Clark and Erik Kankainen as Partners.

Leeds-based private equity search specialist Raw Selection has promoted Jack Burns to Executive Search Manager.

Flexpoint Ford (Flexpoint), a private equity investment firm specialising in the financial services and healthcare industries, has appointed Chris Ackerman as Managing Partner, effective immediately. Ackerman joined Flexpoint in 2005 as a Vice President and was named Managing Director in 2014. In addition to his role as Managing Partner, he will continue to focus on investment opportunities in the financial services sector. He currently serves on the Boards of several Flexpoint portfolio companies, including Alera Group, GeoVera Insurance, Purchasing Power, TigerRisk Partners and Vale Insurance.

International law firm CMS is strengthening its Corporate practice with the addition of two new partners. Financial Services M&A partner Emma Clark and Private Equity partner Edward Holmes join the firm in London, bringing the Group’s partner count to 79 in the UK.  They are supported by a team of over 1,000 corporate lawyers globally. Clark and Holmes join from Linklaters and Clifford Chance, respectively.

Highvern has made three senior hires as it opens a new Irish office in Dublin. The Dublin business will be headed up by Philip Dempsey as Country Head – Ireland, who is joined by Adrian Bailie and Emma Keane as Directors.   The Irish offering will include, subject to the applicable regulatory approvals, corporate and fund administration services to unregulated and regulated structures across Debt, Capital Markets, Real Estate, Infrastructure, Private Equity, Aviation, Hedge and other alternative asset classes in the Irish marketplace.

Law firm Seward & Kissel has promoted Daniel Bresler and Nicholas Miller to partner. The firm has also promoted Jay Baroody, Kurt Plankl, Dora Pulido, Filana Silberberg, and Steven Starr to counsel. The promotions were effective 1 January, 2022.   Bresler is a member of the firm’s Investment Management Group, and represents US and non-U.S. investment managers, commodity pool operators, commodity trading advisors, and private funds, including hedge funds and private equity funds.  Miller is also a member of the firm’s Investment Management Group and represents sponsors and managers of private investment funds, including hedge funds and private equity funds,

Silversmith Capital Partners has promoted Rafael Urdaneta to Chief Financial Officer. Since joining Silversmith in 2018 as Vice President of Finance, Urdaneta has played an integral role in all finance and compliance related matters of the of the firm. Urdaneta has over 15 years in finance and accounting experience. Prior to Silversmith, he served as a Controller at Summit Partners where he was actively involved in all aspects of the management company. He also provided support to Summit’s fund and compliance teams. Previously, Raf was a Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Asset Management Practice focusing on alternative investments. He