On Jan. 13, Matt Blunt will join Lexington, Mass.-based private equity firm Solamere Capital as a senior adviser. Blunt (pictured) is the outgoing Republican governor of Missouri. Solamere is led by Tagg Romney, son of Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor.

Mortgage lender Freddie Mac named Raymond Romano chief credit officer. Romano served as senior vice president of credit risk oversight since he joined the company in 2004. He reports to chief executive David Moffett.

Also, see the bios of Freddie Mac's new board members. Recently appointed members include: Barbara Alexander, Linda Bammann, Carolyn Byrd, Robert Glauber, Laurence Hirsch, Christopher Lynch, CEO Moffett, Nicolas Retsinas, Eugene Shanks Jr. and Anthony Williams.

The Federal Housing Finance Board, acting as conservator for Fannie Mae, appointed nine new directors to Fannie Mae's board.

Susan Markel, chief accountant for the Securities and Exchange Commission's division of enforcement, will leave the agency in January to become a managing director in the corporate investigations practice of AlixPartners LLP. Markel joined the SEC staff in 1994.

AXA Private Equity will open an office in Vienna, to be headed by Thomas Wilfling and supported by Marton Hunek and Dimiter Tschawow. The team will target corporate takeover opportunities but will also focus on expansion capital.

In Los Angeles, Kirkland & Ellis LLP hired Samantha Good as a partner in the corporate practice, covering financing and secured transactions. Good hails from Sidley Austin LLP, where she was partner-in-charge of the Los Angeles syndicated and leveraged finance practice.

Litigators Patrick Smith and Richard Hans joined DLA Piper in New York as partners. Both arrive from Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP, where Smith was chair of the white collar crime and government investigations practice and Hans was chair of the litigation and dispute resolution practice.

Earlier this month, partner Sharie Brown joined the firm's Washington office. Brown was chair of Foley & Lardner LLP's white collar defense and corporate compliance practice.

Healthcare attorney Rahsaan Thompson joined Quarles & Brady LLP in Chicago. Since 2006, Thompson was associate general counsel of Abraxis BioScience Inc.

O'Melveny & Myers LLP will name 15 partners on Feb. 1. They are: Stephen Brody, class actions, mass torts and aggregated litigation; Nathan Bush and Christian Riis-Madsen, antitrust/competition; tax attorney Winston Chang; Peter Chen, Maritza Okata and David Roberts, corporate finance/capital markets; Brian Covotta, Sean Monroe and Christian Nugent, mergers and acquisitions; James Ford, investment funds and securitization; David Marroso, business trial and litigation; Mark Robertson, labor and employment; Daniel Shallman, white collar defense and corporate investigations; and Friven Yeoh, international.

Jones Day's partner class includes mergers and acquisitions attorneys Andrew Levine, Peter Izanec, Jeffrey Litle, Amy Vieta and Julian Runnicles; and private equity lawyers Alistair Grant and Joseph Hatina.

In New York, litigator William Gussman and Jason Kaplan, investment management, became partners at Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP on Jan. 1. Also, Scott Gold, Neil Horne, David Karp and Beate Krieger were named special counsel.

Josh Dambacher, investment management, will become a partner in the London office.

Dechert LLP has named six partners: Gus Black and Julien Bourgeois, financial services; George Foster, international arbitration and litigation; Jeffrey Plies, intellectual property; and John Sullivan and Philip Yannella, mass torts and product liability.

Four lawyers made partner at Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP: Patent prosecutors Eugene Bernard and Gene Branch; Julie Han, intellectual property; and patent lawyer Jason Lohr.

Shearman & Sterling LLP promoted 11 lawyers to counsel: Brian Clayton in Abu Dhabi; Stephanie Birmanns in Brussels; Mathias Stöcker in Düsseldorf; Joachim Grittmann in Frankfurt; Lorna Chen in Hong Kong; Azad Ali and Colin Tan in London; Susan Fennessey, Daniel Litowitz and Coleen O'Mara in New York; and Yu-Jin Tay in Singapore. Frédéric Giancarli was named European counsel in Paris.

Their practices span antitrust, asset management, bankruptcy and reorganization, executive compensation and employee benefits, financial institutions advisory, international arbitration, mergers and acquisitions, acquisition and leveraged finance, and project development and finance.

Six attorneys become partners at Schiff Hardin LLP in January. They are: David Giles, litigation; Jonathan Judge and Heidi Oertle, product liability; Joshua More, environmental and litigation; Heidi Rowe, construction, restructuring, bankruptcy and creditors' rights; and Jason Zgliniec, corporate and securities, public companies.

Associates Michael Arlein, Nicolas Commandeur and Adeel Mangi were named counsel at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP.