Movers & shakers: March 20, 2009

CIBC World Markets Inc. said Mark Ernst will arrive as head of CIBC Institutional Equity Sales on April 13. Also, Helen Hayes will join as a senior institutional equity salesperson on April 6.

Ernst comes from UBS Securities Canada, which he joined in 1997 and worked in the U.S. and Canada. He became head of U.S. institutional sales at UBS Canada in 2001 and overall head of UBS Canada institutional equity sales in 2004. Hayes joined UBS Securities Canada in 1998. As a result, David Jeffrey is stepping aside as head of CIBC Institutional Equity Sales and returning to a senior equity sales role.

Fridson Investment Advisors LLC, an investment management firm specializing in corporate credit opportunities, appointed John Creswell as director of business development and consultant relations. Creswell joins FIA from Nuveen Investments, where he spent the past 12 years, most recently as managing director and co-director of the firm's taxable fixed-income unit. Before Nuveen, Creswell worked as an auditor and management consultant for Ernst & Young.

Marty Fridson, Richard Hollander and BNP Paribas Investment Partners established FIA in May.

Carmel Partners Inc., a San Francisco private real estate investment firm that concentrates on multifamily properties, hired Quinn Barton as a managing partner in charge of both performing and distressed debt acquisition. He will head the firm's new office in New York.

Barton spent nearly five years at Bank of America Corp., where he was a managing director and head of CMBS trading. Prior to that, he was a director at Natixis Real Estate Capital, overseeing trading and distribution of CMBS B-notes and mezzanine debt.

Newedge, a 50-50 joint venture between Société Générale SA and Calyon, tapped Stephen Davy as chief information officer for Newedge Americas and head of sales technology, globally. Davy joins the brokerage firm from Altria Group Inc., where he was most recently corporate CIO. Davy had worked at Barclays Capital as head of technology for capital markets and trading.

Jones Day hired Kevin O'Mara as a partner with its private equity practice in New York. O'Mara comes in from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, where he was a partner in the corporate mergers and acquisitions-private equity practices, representing financial sponsors.

San Francisco-based Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin PC elected Douglas Winthrop as managing director and chair. The firm also said executive director Michelle Johnson will assume the new post of CEO. Previously, Winthrop chaired the litigation department and served on the firm's management committee. Johnson joined Howard Rice in 2005 as executive director from Thelen LLP. After joining Thelen as a corporate associate in 1986, she became partner in 1992 and executive director in 2001.

Chicago law firm Arnstein & Lehr LLP said Philip Ruben joined the firm as a partner in its business group. Previously, he was a partner at Levenfeld Pearlstein LLC, where he was a member of the corporate practice, the restructuring and insolvency group and sat on the executive committee and promotions committee.

Akerman Senterfitt expanded its New York office and bankruptcy practice, hiring Susan Balaschak as a shareholder. Balaschak joins Akerman from Traub Bonacquist & Fox LLP. Before rejoining Traub, where she spent more than 13 years, Balaschak served as a partner for two years at Dreier LLP.

Veteran bankruptcy lawyer Sandra Mayerson joined the New York office of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP as a partner. She hails from Holland & Knight LLP.

Dechert LLP said Howard Kleinman joined the firm in New York as a partner in the corporate and securities group. Kleinman, who focuses on capital markets and financial transactions, was most recently a partner at White & Case LLP.

In Las Vegas, Stewart Bell, a retired judge in the Nevada Eighth Judicial District Court, joined Jams, the largest private provider of mediation and arbitration services in the U.S.

Fred Morrison, a retired justice of the California Court of Appeal, joined the firm in Sacramento. Before taking the bench, Morrison was an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California from 1982 to 1985.

Louis Knobbe joined Jams in Orange County, Calif. In 1962, Knobbe co-founded intellectual property law firm Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP. John Hughes, a former U.S. magistrate judge for the District of New Jersey, joined the firm to resolve e-discovery, antitrust, civil rights, class action, commercial, construction, employment, intellectual property, real estate and securities disputes, among others.

J.H. Cohn LLP, an accounting, tax, and consulting firm, admitted Chad Shandler to its partnership. Shandler is a member of the firm's business investigation services practice, where he specializes in corporate restructuring.