Credit Suisse Group said Spencer Wang joined its equity research group as a managing director and senior media and Internet analyst, based in New York. He reports to Lara Warner, head of U.S. equity research.

Wang joins CS from Bear Stearns Cos., where he was an entertainment and cable/satellite TV senior analyst. He also worked at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

BNP Paribas appointed Namuk Cho as a managing director and head of flow, hybrids and exotics trading for the Americas. Based in New York, Namuk reports to Lionel Crassier, head of equities and derivatives trading and structuring for the Americas, and to Laurent Marquis globally.

Namuk joins the bank from Diamond Lake Investment Group. Before that, he spent three years as head of U.S. derivatives trading at UBS.

In Los Angeles, Richard Yen will join Saban Capital Group Inc. as a director in its venture capital and digital media investment group. Most recently, Yen was a principal at Blueprint Ventures and established the firm's digital media and Internet investing practice.

Before that, he was at Rustic Canyon Partners, a technology venture capital firm. Yen also worked at ShockMarket, was vice president of intelligent technologies for Merrill Lynch & Co. and served as director of engineering for D.E. Shaw & Co.

Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers hired John Gage as a partner. Gage was most recently chief researcher and vice president of the science office for Sun Microsystems Inc.

Collins Stewart plc added a research group to focus on small and mid-capitalization energy and petroleum companies. The team includes senior analysts Kim Paconovsky and Richard Rossi.

Paconovsky worked as a senior analyst in the E&P sector for ten years at GBI Capital Partners, KeyBanc Capital Markets and, most recently, Ferris, Baker Watts Inc. Rossi, joining from Baker Watts, has worked at Merrill Lynch & Co., Dean Witter, WertheimSchroder, ING Groep NV, ABN Amro Bank NV and Morgan Joseph & Co.

Leveraged loan manager Babson Capital Europe Ltd. made Andrew Godson head of distribution. Godson hails from Citigroup Inc., where he ran syndicate for commercialized debt obligations and structured credit in Europe.

Prior to Citi, Godson spent three years in the securitization group at Nomura Securities Co. Ltd.

Sigma Partners brought in Kevin Laracey as a venture partner. Laracey was vice president and general manager of Siebel System Inc.'s customer self service group. He was also founder of Edocs Inc., a provider of e-billing and customer service software.

Investment management consulting firm Citisoft Inc. tapped Chuck Molinary as a managing director for the New York metro area, reporting to CEO Paul Migliore. Molinary joins Citisoft from BearingPoint Inc., where he was director of global markets technology. Before that, he was senior director of implementation services at Charles River Development.

Wachovia Bank promoted Meg DelBrocco from senior relationship officer to commercial banking director for the Phoenix territory.

Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP said Ronald Platt joined the firm's public law and policy strategies group as a senior managing director in Washington. Previously, Platt chaired Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC's federal government relations practice.

Troutman Sanders LLP added Stephen Gorell as a partner in its compensation and employee benefits practice group in New York. Gorell comes to Troutman Sanders from Pepper Hamilton LLP. Before that, he worked at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Baker & Daniels LLP is opening an office in Chicago. Richard Michaels and David Allen will lead it. Both were shareholders with Schuyler Roche PC. Michaels, who served as president of Schuyler Roche from 1994 to 2007, focuses on domestic and international transactions. Allen concentrates on business litigation.

They are joined by Andrew Geier, Catherine Gryczan and Randall Schwartz II, corporate finance; Rachel Nguyen, business litigation; and Mary Walter, securities, securitizations and mergers and acquisitions.

David Drechsler was named managing partner of Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs LLP's Cleveland office. Drechsler is a shareholder in the firm's litigation, intellectual property, real estate and construction law and trusts and estates practice groups.

Lewis & Roca LLP named five attorneys to its partnership, including Lisa Lackland and Anthony Martin in Las Vegas. Kimberly Demarchi works from Phoenix, while Keri Silvyn and Erin Simpson are based in Tucson, Ariz.