Goldman, Sachs & Co.'s Byron Trott, who received high praise from Warren Buffett after working as an adviser for Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is leaving to start his own merchant banking firm, BDT Capital Partners.

Trott (pictured) was vice chairman of Goldman's investment banking division in Chicago and spent 27 years with the firm.

Morgan Stanley is losing the co-head of its North American depository institutions banking group, Malpass Durkee, to retirement. He joined Morgan in September 2007 from Merrill Lynch & Co. and is leaving to deal with some family matters, sources said.

Last week, Morgan lost vice chairman Kirk Wilson to Greenhill & Co. Also departing is Maurice Marchesini, who headed financial services advisory for the western U.S. Marchesini decamped to UBS to join Sean Minnihan, who had been at Banc of American Securities LLC, where he headed the financial technology and securities group.

The highly regarded Wilson, one source said, wanted to return to merger and acquisition advisory work. He had found himself devoting more time to capital markets transactions at Morgan Stanley.

Morgan's FIG group head is Ruth Porat, who became its global head in late 2006. -- Vipal Monga

Greenhill & Co. hired Robert Collins as a managing director in Chicago to lead its advisory effort for the infrastructure sector in the Americas. Collins was head of infrastructure investment banking for the Americas at Morgan Stanley. Before his investment banking career, Collins was an active-duty officer for five years in the U.S. Navy Nuclear Power Program.

Last week, Kirk Wilson joined Greenhill as a managing director focusing on financial services. Just before that, Greenhill hired John Paynter as a senior adviser to expand its advisory activities. Paynter retired as vice chairman of J.P. Morgan Cazenove Ltd. in 2008. Kenneth Goldman was also tapped as a senior adviser. He is senior vice president and chief financial officer of Fortinet Inc.

Also in March, Greenhill said it was launching a financing advisory and restructuring group. Andrew Kramer, who was head of restructuring for the Americas at UBS, will join as a managing director in New York. Ken Goldsbrough, formerly a managing director and head of media, communications and entertainment at GE Capital Corp. in London, joined as a managing director.

Bank Julius Baer elected 35-year-old Boris Collardi, currently chief operating officer, as CEO. On May 1, he will succeed Johannes de Gier, who took over in December after the death of then-chief Alex Widmer. De Gier will continue in his role as chairman of GAM Holding Ltd.

Collardi joined Bank Julius Baer as COO in 2006, following Julius Baer's acquisition of three private banks and GAM. Before that, he spent 12 years at Credit Suisse Group both in Europe and Asia, including as global chief financial officer and COO, EMEA, CS Private Banking.

BMO Capital Markets hired analyst Andrew Kaip from Haywood Securities Inc. to cover a mix of gold and silver exploration and emerging producer stocks.

The firm recently brought in Christopher Donohoe as a managing director in its financial institutions group. Donohoe had been a senior investment banker with Bank of America Corp. and with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

Spectrem Group said Mitchell Politzer is joining the firm as a managing director and president of Spectrem Consulting on April 7.

Politzer, a 25-year veteran of the financial services industry, was most recently president and CEO of First Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York and CEO of Ameritas Direct. Both are divisions of Ameritas Life Insurance Corp.

Rampart Investment Management, a firm specializing in option strategies, promoted Eric Granat to vice president. Granat joined Rampart in 2005 as a trader and software engineer. He was most recently an assistant portfolio manager.

Kelley Drye & Warren LLP enlisted Darryl Jackson, former assistant secretary of commerce for export enforcement at the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security. Jackson is joining the international trade and customs, white collar crime and litigation practices as a partner in Washington.

Charles Zielinski joined Bryan Cave LLP as counsel in Washington to focus on regulatory and antitrust issues in the energy industry. Zielinski practiced at Bell, Boyd & Lloyd LLP. Prior to entering private practice in 1981, he was an attorney with the Federal Communications Commission.

From K&L Gates LLP, intellectual property attorney Kara Cenar joined the firm's Chicago office as a partner.

Alternative dispute resolution professional Carl Sapers joined Jams in Boston to resolve construction disputes as a member of the global engineering and construction group. Sapers spent 35 years a partner at Hill & Barlow and has been of counsel to Noble & Wickersham LLP for five years.