Members on the Move
New hires and promotions inside The Halifax Group, GulfStar, Foley & Lardner and more.
The Halifax Group Names Johnson Partner
Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm The Halifax Group has promoted Jerry L. Johnson as a partner. Johnson was previously an operating executive with Halifax. As a partner, he moves from an advisory role to overseeing sourcing, evaluating and executing investments and supporting portfolio companies. Before joining Halifax, Johnson was senior vice president of corporate development, strategy and investor relations at niche manufacturer EnPro Industries and was a founding member and partner of middle-market PE firm RLJ Equity Partners.
Align Names Chepak, Swanson as Managing Directors
Align Business Advisory Services, an Orlando, Florida-based lower middle-market mergers and acquisitions advisory firm, has named two new managing directors for the firm. Rob Chepak (top) is managing director of business development and Derek Swanson is managing director of deal fulfillment. Chepak will be based near Naples, Florida, and will be responsible for Align’s deal origination. Previously, he served as CEO and chief growth officer for TruDoss, a blockchain software platform for due diligence on high value assets in supply chain and real estate. As the managing director of deal fulfillment, Swanson will be based in Trumbull, Connecticut and will oversee deal execution for clients. He previously served as the senior vice president, strategy and corporate development, for Macromill. In the past year, Align has expanded from 10 consultants to 22.
GulfStar Group Promotes Craig to Senior Vice President, Jadick to Associate
Middle-market investment bank GulfStar Group announced the promotions of Charles Craig (top) to senior vice president and Michael George Jadick to associate. Both will work in the firm’s Houston office. Craig joined GulfStar in 2016 from Barclays Capital, where he worked in the Natural Resources Group. While at Barcap, he advised upstream and midstream oil and gas clients through business combinations and provided guidance on capital structure management. Prior to becoming an investment banker, he worked at Summit Power Group as a commercial developer and at Renewable Energy as a business development manager. Jadick joined GulfStar in 2018 from CIBC Capital Markets, where he worked as a summer associate in the Corporate Banking Group and underwrote senior debt and reserve-based loans for mid- to large-cap E&P clients.
Foley Adds McBride As Private Fund Partner
Matthew McBride has joined Boston-based Foley & Lardner LLP as a partner in its Fund Formation & Investment Management Practice Group. McBride hails from Proskauer Rose LLP, where he was a partner in the private funds group. In his career, he has focused on representing investment managers with an emphasis on representing private equity sponsors in connection with the establishment of private investment funds, fundraising activities, structuring of management company and in-house arrangements, and regulatory, compliance and governance matters. He has also worked with family offices in the formation of investment vehicles, in-house agreements and their investment activities.
Crestmark Appoints Mitchell, Rizk to Commercial Lending Development Team
Crestmark, a division of MetaBank, has added Jeffrey Mitchell (top) and Mena Rizk to business development roles of its commercial lending offerings. Mitchell is based in Tampa, Florida, and Rizk is based in Newport Beach, California. Both will report to Steve Hansen, group sales manager. Mitchell rejoins Crestmark after several years leading commercial loan originations and business development to middle-market companies, most recently at Woodforest National Bank. He worked at Crestmark from 2010 to 2015 as vice president, regional sales manager east region. Rizk joins Crestmark from LSQ Funding where he served as regional vice president and provided working capital solutions to companies through asset-based lending and factoring facilities.
Heartwood Adds Two New Team Members
Heartwood Partners has hired Ron Ahuja (top) as senior associate and Mike Summe has joined as an associate. Both men are involved with executing the Norwalk, Connecticut-based private equity firm’s new investments and managing its existing investment portfolios. Prior to joining Heartwood, Ahuja served as an investment professional at First Atlantic Capital, a PE firm based in Manhattan, and he previously worked at Bain & Co. Summe previously worked as an analyst at Drum Capital management where he supported the investment team’s execution of prospective direct investments, co-investments and primary fund investments.
Does your firm have a new hire, promotion or retirement to announce? Please contact MMG Managing Editor Phil Albinus at palbinus@acg.org.
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