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by Baz Hiralal
Bartlett Geer will join BlackRock Inc. in September as a managing director in fundamental equities. Geer is a managing director and senior portfolio manager in the large-cap value team at Putnam Investments, which he joined in 2000. He is the portfolio leader for the equity income fund. Geer had been head of high yield and a portfolio manager at State Street Research & Management Co., where he worked from 1981 to 2000.
Mesirow Advanced Strategies Inc. hired Steven Swierczewski as a senior vice president and head of its financial institutions team. He was vice president of global strategic relationships for JPMorgan Asset Management. Prior to that, Swierczewski was vice president and director of the strategic partner team for Calamos Investments.
Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank appointed Kirk Tholen as head of its energy acquisition and divestiture group in Houston, a new venture for the firm. He previously worked in business development and marketing at Albrecht & Associates Inc., where he'd been since March 2006. He also spent more than 10 years in engineering roles at Baker Hughes Inc., BJ Services Co. and Unocal Corp.
Robert W. Baird & Co. added managing director David Schechner to its healthcare investment banking team in Boston. He will help lead Baird's global life sciences banking practice. He led the biotechnology/pharmaceutical banking group at Canaccord Genuity Inc. since 2008. Prior to that, he founded and, for seven years, led the biotechnology banking group at Needham & Co. LLC. Schechner also held senior investment banking roles at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Bear, Stearns & Co., focusing on healthcare and telecommunications.
Global placement agent Capstone Partners said Brian DeFee joined its U.S. distribution team as a principal, managing investor and fund manager relationships in the northeastern and eastern U.S. DeFee was vice president of marketing with Panda Power Funds, where he managed a global mandate to raise equity capital for developments and acquisitions in the energy and power sector. Previously, DeFee was a managing director with Commerce Street Capital. Earlier, he held investment and marketing positions with the private equity funds-of-funds teams at Capital Dynamics and Paul Capital Investments.
In London, Katten Muchin Rosenman UK LLP tapped finance and tax attorney Sanjay Mehta as a partner. Mehta comes in from Stephenson Harwood LLP.
South Korea's Ministry of Justice recently approved Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP's application to establish an office in Seoul. Partner Seth Kim, previously based in the New York and Los Angeles offices and chairman of the firm's Korea practice, will lead the new office. Kim is a member of Sheppard Mullin's finance and bankruptcy practice. He specializes in entertainment law, commercial law, bankruptcy, bank regulatory matters and bank acquisitions.
Partners Gary Halling and Ken Carl will anchor the U.S. side of the practice from their offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively. Halling is the firm's antitrust and trade regulation practice leader. Carl is a member of the finance and bankruptcy practice.Bryan Cave HRO added four partners in Denver, practicing in the litigation client service group. They join from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. The team includes co-chairman of the BHFS litigation department, Peter Korneffel, the most recent past chairman, Timothy Beyer, as well as trial lawyers Amy Benson and Kathryn DeBord.
Bryan Cave HRO was formed in late 2011 when 13-year-old, Denver-based Holme Roberts & Owen LLP combined with Bryan Cave LLP.
Rimon PC added intellectual property trial attorney Paul Beattie as a partner in the firm's new Seattle office. He joins from Merchant & Gould PC and previously worked at Darby & Darby PS and Foley & Lardner LLP.
Corporate restructuring and public affairs strategies firm Gavin/Solmonese brought in Boris Steffen as a managing director in Washington and financial adviser Wayne Weitz as a senior director in Philadelphia. Steffen joined from Navigant Economics, where he was a principal and director. He handles accounting, corporate finance, valuation and solvency. Weitz comes in from GlassRatner Advisory & Capital Group LLC, where he advised clients in the energy, real estate, hedge fund and healthcare space. Weitz was previously director of corporate finance for Equifax Inc. and chief investment officer and treasurer for Asbury Automotive Group.
Clippings from the next column:
-- Nomura Holdings Inc. taps Gary Cottle as head of fixed income, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
-- Troika Dialog names Dean Tyler as head of international fixed income sales.
-- CAI Private Equity hires Allan Weinstein as a managing partner.
Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank appointed Kirk Tholen as head of its energy acquisition and divestiture group in Houston, a new venture for the firm.
