Grafine Partners has appointed Julie Fisher as Managing Director. Fisher, a former Managing Director and longtime investor relations expert at Providence Equity Partners, will focus primarily on business development and relationships with Grafine’s capital partners globally. “I have had the pleasure of knowing Julie professionally for over 20 years, and always admired her ability to build substantive relationships throughout her career with endowments, foundations, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and family offices,” says Elizabeth Weymouth, Founder & Managing Partner of Grafine. “She has a deep understanding of the intricacies, and an action-oriented approach to solving the needs of these investors.

Macrobond Financial (Macrobond), a provider of economic and financial data, has appointed Howard Rees as Chief Commercial Officer, effective immediately. Read the full story at Hedgeweek…  

US Bank has hired David Kubilus in the newly created role of chief commercial officer for Global Fund Services.  Read the full story at Institutional Asset Manager…  

Kempen Capital Management (Kempen) has added Jorrit Willigers as a Director in the firm’s Private Markets team, effective 1 March.  As an experienced specialist, Willigers will focus predominantly on the private equity component of the strategy.   In his previous role as head of Private Equity Portfolio Construction at Generali Group, Willigers was responsible for the North American private equity portfolio. Prior to this position, he worked as an investment manager for Gilde Equity Management and as a corporate finance specialist for KPMG and Deloitte.   Sven Smeets, Managing Director of the Kempen Private Markets team, says: ‘Over the past

Market research and online consumer intelligence veteran Richard Thornton has been appointed to the board of fast-growing Manchester-based consumer insights business Vypr following a GBP2.5m investment backed by private equity firm YFM Equity Partners (YFM) in January 2021. Vypr has built a cloud-based data validation platform that enables manufacturers and retailers to save time and costs on new product development by providing insight into what customers want to see on the shelves. Its industry-leading process combines research into behavioural science with its own well-segmented consumer panel, putting the client in full control and enabling them to test every aspect of

LGT Capital Partners (LGT CP) is expanding its offering for sovereign strategies in emerging and frontier markets with the addition of a Nordic team of six experienced professionals with a long-standing track record to the fixed income competence centre. With this addition, LGT CP will enlarge its capabilities and offering for fixed income strategies in emerging and frontier markets, which is regarded as a highly attractive asset class, especially given the current low yield environment. The six professionals joining LGT CP have been investing in emerging market and frontier market sovereign strategies as a team with a proven track record

Infinedi Partners (Infinedi), a private equity firm focused on partnerships with founder-owned businesses, has appointed Henry Blynn as a Senior Associate.  Blynn, who will execute and manage new and existing private equity investments on behalf of Infinedi, was most recently an Associate at Harvest Partners.   Jay Hegenbart, Founder of Infinedi, says: “I am thrilled to announce the addition of Henry to the Infinedi team. He is a talented professional and a proven leader, and we were fortunate to be able to recruit him to our growing platform in this competitive market. Henry brings a wealth of knowledge and experience.

The Maples Group has appointed Yuri Schuurman as Senior Vice President and head of the Netherlands office. Licensed and regulated by the Dutch Central Bank as a trust office, the Group’s Netherlands office provides a range of fiduciary services including registered office, directorship and other corporate administration services to special purpose vehicles and Dutch holding companies.  Since establishing operations in Amsterdam in 2015, the business in the Netherlands has experienced consistent growth and now serves as a cornerstone of the firm’s wider European and global offering. The Netherlands financial sector remains favourably positioned as a result of its strong economy,

ECI Partners, a UK growth-focused mid-market private equity firm, has opened an office in New York to support the international growth of its investment portfolio.  As part of its expansion, ECI has appointed Brett Pentz as Vice President in their Commercial Team, to lead a newly opened office on Madison Avenue. Brett brings more than a decade of hands-on experience leading and executing growth strategies for corporates in the US across a range of sectors, particularly in tech and business services. Prior to joining ECI, he held consulting roles at Bain and Teneo, having started his career in industry, at