GPs are adding talent to serve wealth management firms and implement AI, while others hire for defined contribution specialization to fuel future asset growth. Meanwhile, LPs such as National University of Singapore, TIFF’s OCIO business and the Mellon Foundation are among allocators that have added expertise as they continue to build out more sophisticated investment portfolios.
In other developments, larger firms adding to their investor relations teams this week include Warburg Pincus, Rithm Capital, Adams Street and Heitman.
In this week’s edition:
Investors
National University of Singapore named Daren Smith as its chief investment officer, starting Oct. 1. He previously spent five years at the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, where he led the public equities program as CIO and served as a voting member of the Investment Committee across all asset classes. Prior to the ADIC, he was the president and chief investment officer at the University of Toronto Asset Management Corp.
Constellation named Austin Cooley senior portfolio manager of return-seeking investments at the energy company, which has a $5 billion investment portfolio. He joined the company in 2022 as senior portfolio manager of fixed income and liability management from the Colorado Fire & Police Pension Association, where he worked on the investment portfolio for over 18 years.
Wealth Management
Warburg Pincus tapped Philip Nolan as managing director and head of U.S. wealth. Nolan joins from Neuberger Berman, where he spent 15 years and most recently led a team managing relationships with the firm’s largest wealth-platform partners as head of national accounts. He began his career at AllianceBernstein. At Warburg Pincus, Nolan will lead efforts to deepen existing investor relationships and build new partnerships across the U.S. wealth market within the firm’s fundraising and investor relations group.
Credit
Barings appointed Ankit Aggarwal to the newly created role of head of global CLO issuance and capital markets. Aggarwal joins from Bank of America, where he led the firm’s U.S. CLO banking and structuring team and its CLO equity distribution efforts; he previously worked as a vice president at Deutsche Bank focused on CLO origination and structuring. Based in New York and reporting to Adrienne Butler, head of global CLOs, he will lead Barings’ global CLO issuance platform and capital markets strategy and help grow its $55 billion CLO platform.
CVC Marathon elevated Karen Lau to partner. Currently she is the portfolio manager of CVC Marathon’s CLO & Leveraged Loans investment program. Having joined the firm in 2022, she has extensive experience investing across the leveraged credit markets. Lau previously held investment roles at Blackstone, TPG and Onex.
LNL Capital appointed Joel Tomlinson managing partner to oversee its net lease capital strategy. Tomlinson joins from Ares Management, where he was managing director and a founding member of the firm’s net lease strategy; he previously held executive roles at Apollo Global Management, Realty Income and Cole Capital. At LNL, he will expand the company’s structured debt and equity strategy across single-tenant retail, industrial and healthcare net lease properties. Over his 25-year career, Tomlinson completed more than $15 billion in direct net lease transactions across public and non-traded REITs and alternative asset managers.
Sound Point Capital added Victoria Davies as managing director and head of Europe for its global client solutions team. Davies joins from King Street, where she spent more than a decade focused on investor relations and fundraising, most recently as director of fundraising; she previously spent four years at Lloyds Banking Group in debt capital markets and derivatives sales. Based in London and reporting to Tory Gossage, head of global client solutions, she will oversee the firm’s marketing and client-services efforts across the U.K. and Europe as it broadens institutional investor relationships in the region.
Asset Management
Rithm Capital hired Ann DeVries as head of investor relations. DeVries joins from Banc of California, where she was head of strategic finance and investor relations, and previously served as head of investor relations at Bakkt after 16 years at JPMorgan Chase in investment banking, corporate finance and investor relations. She will lead the development and execution of Rithm’s investor relations strategy, overseeing engagement with current and prospective shareholders and the sell-side analyst community.
Private Equity
Golub Capital welcomed Matt Shafer as managing director and head of Golub Equity Continuation Partners, the firm’s GP-led private equity secondaries strategy. Shafer joins from Northleaf Capital Partners, where he was head of capital solutions and U.S. private equity; he previously served as partner and head of Americas private equity at Vision Capital and spent 12 years in sponsor-focused investment banking at CIBC World Markets and Lehman Brothers. He will lead growth of the strategy, which launched in October 2025, and work closely with Greg Cashman, vice chair and co-head of Golub’s sponsor finance practice.
Amulet Capital Partners promoted Sam Brinkley to the role of partner in recognition of his work in Amulet’s investments in fertility and reproductive health. The middle-market PE investment firm hired Brinkley six years ago, and he was promoted to principal in 2024. Since joining the firm, he has played a leading role in numerous investments across Amulet’s portfolio, including US Fertility, Genetics & IVF Institute and TFP Fertility Group.
Permira tapped Julia Liuson as senior advisor to its technology team, based in Menlo Park, Calif. Liuson joins from Microsoft, where she most recently served as president of the company’s developer division, leading its global developer business across programming languages, development tools, Azure developer services and DevSecOps platforms, including oversight of GitHub. At Permira, Liuson will work with the firm’s technology sector team and portfolio company leadership to accelerate AI adoption and product development, and will apply her product, engineering and AI expertise to the firm’s due diligence process.
O2 Investment Partners brought on Keenan Baldus and Gray Sasser as associates. Baldus joins from BNP Paribas’ investment banking group in New York, where he supported mergers-and-acquisitions clients in the industrial-technology, chemicals and business-services sectors. Sasser joins from Wells Fargo in Charlotte, where he was an investment banking analyst in the power, utilities and renewables group advising on M&A and capital markets transactions. Both will evaluate new investment opportunities, conduct due diligence and underwriting and work with O2’s portfolio companies.
Periscope Equity elevated Eric Hinkle to partner. Hinkle joined the Chicago-based firm in 2017 as vice president and worked on platform investments including RepTrak, Praecipio, CyberMaxx and Mobile Solutions, leading add-on acquisition programs for each. He also helped lead Periscope’s push to apply technology, data and AI across its portfolio companies. In his new role, Hinkle will continue to oversee investment strategy, deal execution and value-creation initiatives at portfolio companies.
RoundTable Healthcare Partners named Ed Jones operating partner. Jones joins from HealthTrust Performance Group, where he recently retired as president and CEO after nearly 14 years, and spent more than 40 years total between HealthTrust and HCA Healthcare. At RoundTable, he will work with the investment and operating teams to accelerate value creation at portfolio companies and help evaluate new investment opportunities. Jones is a founding board member of the Health Sector Supply Chain Research Consortium.
Yukon Partners advanced Nathan Weekly to director. Weekly joined the Minneapolis-based junior-capital firm in 2020 and worked on sourcing, evaluating and closing new investments across its funds, partnering with portfolio companies across a range of industries. In his expanded role, he will continue to contribute to new-investment origination, portfolio support and the firm’s strategic initiatives.
Eterna Growth Partners brought in Alexandra Eicher as advisory director and co-head of AI engineering. Eicher joins from Noho Labs, where she was founding AI engineer and built an AI-first research platform for public-equities workflows that converted unstructured financial data into investment-grade outputs. Her previous roles include working as a software engineer at Apple, where she was a founding engineer for Fitness+. At Eterna, Eicher will work with the investment team and portfolio company leadership to identify AI applications and turn them into production systems, working closely with AI CTO advisor Brett Eddy.
Vector Capital added Kiran Rao as managing director and head of value creation. Rao joins from Vista Equity Partners, where he spent five years as chief operating officer of its operations team and led its AI task force across more than 50 enterprise software companies. He previously served as an operating partner at TPG and a senior engagement manager at McKinsey & Company. Rao will sit on Vector’s management committee and lead the firm’s value-creation efforts as it applies AI across its portfolio companies.
Crosspoint Capital Partners named Panos Kozanian and Clark Smith operating partners. Kozanian joins from Five9, where he was EVP of product engineering, and previously spent more than 14 years at Cisco. He will focus on product and AI strategy, engineering scale and technical diligence. Smith joins from Citi, where he was chief cloud officer and head of cloud technology services, and previously held leadership roles at TD Bank and Deutsche Bank. He will focus on cloud infrastructure, enterprise architecture, security and platform scaling.
Vance Street Capital expanded its investment team with Casey Fenlon and Vaios Kouvelis as vice presidents and Charlie Cohen and Peter Gagnon as associates. Fenlon joins from Highview Capital, Kouvelis from Rarebreed Veterinary Partners, Cohen from Victory Park Capital and Gagnon from The Patriot Group. The firm also hired Katherine Dowley as head of investor relations. Dowley joins from W Capital Partners and previously held roles at L Catterton and Lindsay Goldberg.
Infrastructure
EIV Capital welcomed Kristin Kelly as partner. Kelly joins from EIG, where she was managing director and most recently head of traditional energy for the Americas, leading the firm’s North American upstream investment strategy. She previously worked at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., where she was a vice president in the firm’s PE business after starting in its investment banking group. At EIV, Kelly will focus on the firm’s upstream strategy, working with Claire Harvey and Jason Tracton on acquisition sourcing, underwriting and portfolio management for EIV Resources.
Real Estate
Starwood Capital Group promoted Tim Abram to head of asset management for Europe. Abram joined Starwood Capital in 2015 and was named managing director in 2023; he previously worked in real estate and lodging investment banking at UBS in London and in Citi’s distressed-debt group. He will continue to serve as head of international hotels while overseeing asset management of the firm’s commercial and hospitality assets across Europe, working alongside co-heads of European acquisitions Matt Parrott and Francesco Zanella.
CIM Group welcomed back Garett Bjorkman as principal and co-head of its opportunity zones platform, alongside Principal Robert Dupree. Bjorkman previously worked at CIM from 2015 to 2024 as managing director of portfolio oversight and helped launch the firm’s opportunity zones platform in 2019 before returning in his new role. Based in Phoenix, he brings more than 15 years of experience in investment strategy, sourcing, asset management, product development and portfolio management.
Northview Residential REIT promoted Sarah Walker to chief operating officer and named Laura Ingram chief financial officer, both effective Nov. 2. Walker was Northview’s chief financial officer for five years before the promotion and will work closely with Linay Freda, vice president of operations, in her new role; she played a role in the REIT’s 2023 recapitalization, leading the restructuring of its credit facilities and reduction of overall leverage. Ingram joins from Tara Energy Services, where she was chief financial officer, and previously held the same role at Essential Energy. She brings more than 18 years of senior financial experience across private and publicly traded companies.