Michael Samaha was named co-head of Middle East and North Africa sales and business development for Morgan Stanley Investment Management alongside Nicolas Kahale. Samaha joins the Dubai office from Lehman Brothers Inc., where he was co-head of structuring and marketing in the fund derivatives group in London.

Deutsche Bank AG's asset management division said Lindsey Richardson and Makoto Hoshino joined DB Advisors as directors in its global consultant relations team. Based in Boston, Richardson is responsible for consulting firms in the Eastern U.S., and based in Tokyo, Hoshino covers consulting firms in Japan.

Richardson joins from State Street Global Advisors. She was also director of marketing at Barclays Global Investors, and director and head of fixed-income asset management at County Natwest Investment Management. Hoshino joins the firm from Wellington International Management Co. Pte. Ltd.

ING Real Estate named Wilson Lee European managing director and portfolio manager. Before ING, Lee was a managing director and head of real estate finance, EMEA and Asia-Pacific, at UBS. Prior to that, he spent 17 years at Lehman Brothers Inc. in real estate investment banking.

UBS made two appointments in UBS Pactual's management team in Brazil. Rodrigo Xavier was named chairman and CEO of Brazil, reporting to Jerker Johansson, chairman and CEO of UBS Investment Bank. Xavier most recently co-managed the asset management business for UBS Pactual. Juerg Haller became chairman and CEO of UBS Latin America. He will retain his roles as deputy CEO and chief operating officer of UBS Pactual. Haller reports jointly to Johansson and to Robert Wolf, CEO of UBS Group Americas and president of UBS Investment Bank.

Xavier succeeds Andre Esteves, who is leaving UBS with a small team to pursue a new independent venture.

Cantor Fitzgerald LP tapped Rodney Montag as an executive managing director of Cantor Real Estate LLC. He will lead the venture alongside executive managing director Andrew Stark. Previously, Montag was vice president of acquisitions for WCI Communities.

In New York, Piper Jaffray & Co. hired Doug Aronstein as head of program trading. Aronstein joins Piper from Bank of America Corp., where he was a principal in electronic trading services. Before that, he was head of international program trading sales at Deutsche Bank AG.

Liquid Realty Partners hired John Arens as a director. Arens was previously a vice president at Redwood Trust, a mortgage real estate investment trust.

In Houston, Shahid Ghauri was tapped as a partner with Jones Day. Formerly head of Hunton & Williams LLP's oil and gas practice, Ghauri focuses on oil and gas transactions, project development and finance, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other transactions in the global energy industry.

Patton Boggs LLP recruited Peter Smedresman in New York to cover the banking and financial institutions and corporate finance areas, focusing on cross-border finance. Smedresman was a partner with Moses & Singer LLP.

Thompson National Properties LLC hired Greg Genovese as president of the securities division. Previously, Genovese was senior vice president of western markets for Grubb & Ellis Securities Inc.

Third Rock Ventures LLC, which focuses on life sciences companies, appointed Kevin Gillis as chief financial officer, succeeding Anne-Mari Paster, who will remain as a consultant. Most recently, Gillis served as vice president of finance at Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc.

French entertainment lawyer Christian Valsamidis was elected managing partner for Taylor Wessing's Paris office. Valsamidis succeeds Arnaud de Senilhes.

Music industry lawyer Jacqueline Charlesworth joined Morrison & Foerster LLP's litigation department in New York as of counsel. Charlesworth joins from the National Music Publishers' Association, where she was senior vice president and general counsel. Previously, Charlesworth spent five years as senior vice president and general counsel with Harry Fox Agency Inc.

Cooley Godward Kronish LLP hired John Benassi as a partner in the intellectual property practice group, based in San Diego. Benassi arrives from Heller Ehrman LLP.