Star fund manager Hassan Elmasry, who spearheads Morgan Stanley's $9.66 billion global brands strategy, is leaving in two months to set up his own asset management firm in London. He is also is also co-chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

Elmasry joined Morgan Stanley in 1995 as a senior international equity portfolio manager and in 1999 became a member of the London equity research cooperative and a senior manager of the European growth strategy.

Evercore Partners Inc. recruited George Ackert for its advisory business as a senior managing director to establish and lead a transportation and infrastructure practice. Ackert, based in New York, will also lead the development of a sports advisory business.

Ackert was previously global head of transportation and infrastructure at the combined Bank of America Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co. Before the merger, Ackert ran the gaming, leisure and transportation group at Merrill, where he recently advised on the $3.1 billion merger of Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp.

Ackert began his career as an associate in mergers and acquisitions and structured finance at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

James Hawkes joined Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Inc. as a senior adviser. Hawkes spent 37 years at Eaton Vance, having been a chairman, president and CEO, as well as chief investment officer.

Hawkes is chairman emeritus of the asset manager and serves on the board of directors of investment advisory firm Central Park Group LLC and E-TrolZ Inc., a manufacturer of signal acquisition and data management products for medical devices.

Chris Lau, Ryan King, Brian Horan, Joseph Lyons and Mike Regan joined Broadpoint Descap, the mortgage/asset-backed security and rates division of Broadpoint Capital Inc.

Lau joins as a managing director of the commercial mortgage-backed securities group. He worked for 12 years at RBS Greenwich Capital, the last four as a managing director on the CMBS desk.

King joins the ABS group from Barclays Capital, where he was an associate director. Horan is a director of MBS trading arriving from GMAC RFC Securities. Lyons and Regan join the sales group of the division. Lyons was an executive director of the fixed income structured credit sales group at Morgan Stanley. Regan worked at Bank of America Corp.

European middle-market private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners LP appointed Ricardo Caupers as a vice president. Caupers was a principal at Boston Consulting Group in London. Earlier, he worked from the New York office as consultant and, later, as a project leader.

Dallas-based commercial real estate investment management firm Rainier Capital Management tapped Clint Harrington as president of Rainier Asset Management Co. LLC. Harrington spent most of his career with Jones Lang LaSalle.

Midmarket private equity house LDC, part of Lloyds TSB Group plc, expanded its Manchester team. Catherine Houghton joins as an investment director from Bank of Scotland Integrated Finance. She previously spent six years with PricewaterhouseCoopers' PE advisory team.

Global wealth management firm Rockefeller & Co. hired Louise Sclafani as a senior investment adviser. Sclafani previously spent 15 years with J.P. Morgan Private Bank, advising high net-worth individuals, trusts and foundations.

Mergers and acquisitions lawyer Steven Tonsfeldt is now a partner in the Silicon Valley office of O'Melveny & Myers LLP.

Tonsfeldt was a shareholder at Heller Ehrman LLP from 2003 until its dissolution late last year. He was most recently co-chair of the corporate practice group and leader of its M&A practice for six years.

Before Heller, Tonsfeldt was with Venture Law Group, where he also headed the M&A practice.

Holland & Knight LLP hired Marc Reisler as a partner in its corporate and mergers and acquisitions practice, covering corporate law, intellectual property, technology, media, entertainment and the Internet. Reisler was a partner and co-head of the technology practice of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP's corporate department in New York.

In Los Angeles, Foley & Lardner LLP brought in litigator Dana Levitt as a partner. He joins the general commercial litigation practice from at McDermott Will & Emery LLP.

GRS, a global executive search consultancy, hired Todd Caissie to head its legal division in New York. He was most recently managing partner with Lucas Group and a managing director at Major, Lindsey & Africa.

Robert Gould was named a director at consulting firm Protiviti Inc. in New York. He provides assurance and advisory services.