Aligned Asset Managers, a portfolio company of private equity firm GTCR, has named R Barney Walker as director of institutional investments.   Walker will drive Aligned’s distribution and client service activities for its member firms.   Walker will focus on implementing Aligned’s strategic marketing plan across all institutional and retail distribution channels. Aligned expects to add additional resources to the distribution activity as it increases its member firms and products. Walker has extensive industry contacts in the institutional marketplace and will also assist Aligned in sourcing new potential investments.   Walker was previously a senior vice president and director of

Stephen Older has joined McGuireWoods as a partner in its corporate and securities group in New York.   As part of his practice, Older (pictured) routinely represents both issuers and underwriters in a broad variety of securities transactions and has experience in a number of different industries, including healthcare, consumer and financial services and REITs, and has broad mergers and acquisitions and private equity experience.   Older, a former partner at McDermott Will & Emery in New York, brings 25 years of experience in corporate and securities work, both in New York and across the country. He has recently worked

Vistra, a provider of corporate, trust and fund administration services, has opened an office in San Francisco as part of a strategic plan to expand services to clients based in the North American western region.   Wouter van Lier joins as commercial director responsible for further developing Vistra’s operations in the US market, supporting Erik-Jan Schoop, managing director of Vistra New York which opened two years ago.   Van Lier brings considerable experience and knowledge in assisting private equity and multinational clients in structuring their cross-border transactions and providing related corporate, trust and administrative services across multiple jurisdictions.   Schoop

The Center for Innovative Technology has appointed Julia Taxin to its CIT GAP Funds Investment Advisory Board (IAB), a panel of private sector experts who guide investment decisions for CIT in emerging, high-growth technology companies in the Commonwealth.   Taxin (pictured) is an associate at Grotech Ventures, which invests in high-potential technology companies. She focuses primarily on investment opportunities in software, internet, digital media and healthcare.   Prior to joining Grotech, Taxin worked at Sandbox Industries, a foundry and early-stage venture capital firm, and at PricewaterhouseCoopers where she focused primarily on enterprise software solutions.   Tom Weithman, managing director of

TAP Advisors, a New York-based investment banking boutique, has appointed James S Kahan as a senior adviser on the firm’s advisory board.   In this role, Kahan will provide strategic advice and counsel to TAP’s management team as it serves clients in the telecommunications and related sectors.   Founded in 2009, TAP Advisors provides its public and private company clients with a full range of merger and acquisition advisory services, private financing solutions, and cross-border and international expertise.   “Jim is one of the most savvy and experienced deal makers in the telecommunications industry and we are delighted to welcome him to our board