NextGen Growth Partners (NGP), a private equity firm that partners with Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and management teams to invest in sustainable, growing companies, has appointed Jim Bland as a partner, with a specific focused on the firm’s new investment and portfolio company efforts. “Jim brings an immediate positive impact to our team and business,” says Brian O’Connor, NGP Founder and Managing Partner. “His extensive investing and operating experience, ability to lead others and care for the legacy of the businesses we invest in are evident in everything he does. We are thrilled to welcome Jim as a Partner at NGP and are

KKR, a leading global investment firm, has appointed Michaela Wood as a Director, with immediate effect. Based in London, Wood will join the EMEA private equity team to work on UK coverage as well as supporting investments in the Business Services sector across Europe. Wood joins KKR after six years at CVC Capital Partners where she worked on a range of transactions including the RAC, QA, Neptune Energy, PRO14 Rugby and Six Nations Rugby. She joined CVC from BC Partners, where she supported UK companies including Sabre Insurance and CarTrawler. Prior to BC Partners, Michaela worked for the Boston Consulting

Lakemore Partners, a private credit investment firm primarily investing in control CLO equity, has named as Dan Norman Managing Director and Head of its US business operations.  Norman will focus on growing Lakemore’s investment platform globally from its recently established US office in Scottsdale, Arizona.   Norman joins Lakemore following his retirement last year from Voya Investment Management (Voya) where he most recently served as Group Head and Senior Managing Director. While at Voya, he founded the firm’s Senior Loan Group in 1995 and co-managed the Group’s global loan platform including its global CLO business, which by the end of

Hanover Investors, the special situations specialist, is announcing today that it has appointed Serena Menaguale as its Director of Fundraising. Alongside fundraising, Menaquale will also be responsible for relationships with the firm’s existing clients, as well as expanding its investor base. Menaquale has more than 15 years’ experience in business development for hedge funds and private equity. She was a Director in Capital Introductions at Citigroup in London and a Managing Director at Perella Weinberg where she was responsible for marketing global private equity, hedge fund, real estate and UCITS strategies in Europe. More recently she has been raising capital

Manchester-based corporate finance firm Rickitt Mitchell is growing its team in response to its strong pipeline of work and planned growth as it welcomes two new hires, Joe Powell and James Kidner.  ACA chartered accountant Powell joins the firm as Associate Director from BDO where he spent almost a decade, five years of which were in the corporate finance M&A team. Having advised management teams across various stages of a business’ life cycle, Powell has a proven track record in sell-side, buy-side and debt advisory services for numerous sectors, including manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and leisure & hospitality.   In addition,

BCS Global Markets (BCS GM) has appointed Inna Kryachko as its new HR Director, based at BCS GM’s Moscow headquarters. As the Director of HR, Kryachko will be responsible for the development of the motivation system and HR automation projects in all the regions where BCS GM is active.   Kryachko brings to BCS GM over 20 years’ experience working in the HR departments of major Russian and international companies and over 18 years’ experience holding managerial positions. Before joining BCS GM, she spent two years as Deputy HR Director at Rosgeology, where she oversaw compensations, benefits, and organisational development.

Blackstone has appointed Stevi Petrelli as Head of Blackstone Innovations Investments (BXI Investments) where she will be responsible for overseeing the firm’s internal investments in early-stage PropTech, Enterprise Tech, Cybersecurity and FinTech companies.  Petrelli has joined as a Managing Director and, in this newly created role, will work across Blackstone’s Technology & Innovations, Growth, Real Estate, Private Wealth Solutions and Finance businesses to drive these investments, helping accelerate innovation across the firm. BXI Investments invests in early-stage companies that are well-positioned to benefit from a deeper relationship with Blackstone’s many businesses, portfolio companies and extensive global network. Previous investments include

As part of its continued expansion in Northern California, O’Melveny has added Silicon Valley dealmaker Bradley L Finkelstein to its team. Finkelstein, formerly a partner in Wilson Sonsini’s Silicon Valley and San Francisco offices, is a boardroom-level advisor with more than 20 years of experience representing multinational technology and financial companies. He has particular expertise in public M&A transactions, negotiated and hostile deals, and securities law, corporate governance, and disclosure matters   Finkelstein has advised leading companies on industry-shaping deals, including LinkedIn on its USD26 billion acquisition by Microsoft, Altera on its USD17 billion acquisition by Intel, Brocade Communications Systems

Matt Klinger has joined Columbia Partners Private Capital (Columbia Partners) as a Managing Director in the firm’s Bethesda, Maryland office.   Most recently, Klinger was a Senior Director in the Technology and Innovation Banking group at Bridge Bank, a division of Western Alliance Bank. In this role, he managed the Mid-Atlantic region for the Bank and was responsible for dozens of transactions with early and growth stage companies representing hundreds of millions of dollars in loans over the last several years.    Columbia Partners is a business unit of RCP Advisors, a private investment firm based in Chicago with over