In New York, Silverfern Group Inc. expanded its merchant banking team, hiring Edward Rimland as a managing director. Rimland was previously a senior managing director at Bear, Stearns & Co., where he was head of technology mergers and acquisitions. He also served as the TMT's group's chief operating officer for three years. Before Bear, Rimland spent five years in the M&A group at Morgan Stanley.

Credit Suisse Group announced that Arthur Zhu joined as a managing director, China investment banking. He will initially be based in Beijing. Zhu was a managing director at Deutsche Bank AG in China, where he covered Chinese state-owned enterprises, focusing on the transport and industrial sector. He started his investment banking career with UBS in 2000.

Jefferies & Co. expanded its emerging markets fixed income sales and trading unit. Leo Gazal, Mike Bellero and Ken Lockyer join as senior salespeople in New York, and John Gibbens as a senior trader in London.

Gazal joins the firm from Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he was a vice president and managed Latin American corporate trading efforts. Lockyer and Bellero were senior vice presidents at Bear Stearns Cos., where they spent 17 years and 7 years, respectively. Gibbens was a managing director and senior trader at ABN Amro NV.

FBR Capital Markets Corp. said Kevin Cook joined the firm as a managing director in its technology, media and telecom investment banking group. Heath Terry joins the TMT research team as senior vice president and senior analyst. Cook was previously a managing director in technology and services investment banking at Wachovia Securities LLC. He also worked at Credit Suisse Group, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc. and Cowen and Co. LLC. Terry covered the Internet, media and entertainment services sectors for Credit Suisse.

Private equity firm Catalyst Investors made Gene Wolfson a general partner. Wolfson hails from Citigroup Inc., where he served as a managing director leading the distressed equity trading group.

Pritchard Capital Partners LLC expanded its Washington office, hiring Scott Doyle for its institutional sales group. Doyle joins from Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc. At Pritchard, he will work in energy equity research and corporate finance.

Brysam Global Partners, a private equity firm that specializes in consumer financial services in emerging markets, drafted Robert Lipp as a senior partner. Lipp is retiring from the board of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. but will continue as a senior adviser.

Michael Sears joined the Palo Alto, Calif., team of Siemens Venture Capital as an investment partner, specializing in energy, materials and industrial solutions. Sears was a managing director at Atrium Capital.

Tom Quigley was appointed managing director of W. P. Carey & Co. Ltd. and will serve as head of the London office. Quigley served as director of Terra Firma Capital Partners Ltd. Previously, he was a managing director in investment banking at ING Barings and head of the hospitality, leisure and retail advisory group at Close Brothers Corporate Finance Ltd.

Stephens Inc. added Melissa Santoiemma and John Borucke Jr. to its New York trading desk, which is headed by Brian Halloran. Previously, Santoiemma was a vice president of equity sales trading with Banc of America Securities LLC. Borucke was an institutional equity sales trader for Collins Stewart LLC following a 20-year tenure with Prudential Equity Group LLC.

In addition, Brian Wardle joins Stephens' Little Rock, Ark., trading team as an equity position trader. Previously, he was a vice president and senior position trader with Jefferies & Co. in New York.

Separately, Andreas Dirnagl joined the research division as a managing director, focusing on healthcare services/facilities. Dirnagl served as an executive director and senior equity analyst at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP announced that Mark Schonfeld will join its New York office as a partner. Schonfeld, director of the New York regional office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, will serve as co-chair of the firm's securities enforcement practice group and will work closely with the crisis management and white-collar defense and investigations groups.

Multiproduct alternative asset management firm Lincoln Vale enlisted Daniel Shapiro as a partner in London. Shapiro will also retain duties at law firm Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, where he is a founder and senior partner.

DLA Piper promoted seven lawyers to partner in its Middle East offices: Simon Davidson, David Harley, Diane Jungmann, Gurmeet Kaur, Bruce Linke, Hinal Patel and Joycia Young. Their practices span finance and projects, corporate, information technology and intellectual property.