Private equity and venture capital firm Insight Venture Partners has appointed Donna O Smolens (pictured) as a Senior Advisor. Smolens will work with Insight to enhance the firm's investor relations function, bringing the perspective of a long-time limited partner in private equity funds. "We have known Donna for many years as a limited partner and proactive member of Insight's LP Advisory Boards, and we are thrilled that she has joined our team," says Jeff Horing, Managing Director at Insight Venture Partners. "She has extensive experience in private equity investor relations, due diligence and fund management and she will bring a broader

European growth private equity firm Keensight Capital is strengthening its team with the appointment of Jaana Grüter (pictured) as Associate. Grüter brings seven years of experience in investment and M&A on a Pan-European level to her new role at Keensight Capita.l She began her career in 2008 within the M&A division of the Rothschild group, where she worked on multiple deals across numerous sectors and geographies out of the Paris office. In 2012, she moved to Five Arrows Principal Investments, a Western European mid-cap fund of the Rothschild group, where she focused on a series of investments within the Healthcare

Lancaster Pollard vice president Kevin Laidlaw (pictured) is joining the firm’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) group. The transition of Laidlaw to the M&A group is an integral aspect of the firm’s national efforts to expand its sell-side and buy-side advisory services for seniors housing and care properties.   “We are thrilled to have Kevin as part of our team,” says Chad Elliott, managing director of Lancaster Pollard’s M&A group. “For over eight years, he has been an instrumental part of Lancaster Pollard’s success and has developed a keen understanding of the factors that drive valuation, such as key financial and

Charles Yoon (pictured) is to join family-backed investment firm Bregal Partners as Managing Partner. Yoon will continue to focus on investing in growth-oriented companies with proven business models in the consumer, food, specialty retail and healthcare retail space. Yoon has spent the past twenty years in the middle market private equity space, most recently as Partner at Monitor Clipper Partners. Prior to Monitor Clipper, Charles was a Principal with the LA-based private equity firm, Brentwood Associates. He began his private equity career in 1995 at Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. He has extensive experience in all aspects of the investment process

Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has joined Lazard as a Senior Advisor, with a focus on sovereign advisory.  Okonjo-Iweala, a specialist in economic development and international finance, was until May 2015 the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Honourable Minister of Finance of Nigeria. “Dr Okonjo-Iweala has built a remarkable international reputation over more than three decades in leadership positions in government and at the World Bank,” says Kenneth M Jacobs, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lazard. “She will be a strong addition as a Senior Advisor to our firm.” “We are proud to welcome Dr Okonjo-Iweala as a Senior Advisor

CEPRES has appointed Karl-Heinz Floether (pictured, ex-International Chairman Accenture) and Iain Stokes (ex-Head of EMEA Private Equity State Street Bank) to the Company's Advisory Board. Both are respected thought-leaders in the future of FinTech and will help set strategy to continue CEPRES’ rapid growth in North America, Europe and Asia. Floether was previously Chief Executive Financial Services and Group Chief Executive Technology & Delivery at Accenture, and is member of Supervisory Boards for Deutsche Boerse AG and Commerzbank AG. Stokes was previously Group Managing Director at Mourant and Senior Manager Private Equity at Barings and holds non-Executive Directorships with prominent