People moves for the week ending Oct. 6

Private Equity

• Black Dragon Capital welcomed Kirk Kordeleski as its newest industry advisor. A credit union veteran whose track record includes growing Bethpage Federal Credit Union into one of the largest organizations of its kind during his tenure as CEO, Kordeleski advises several fintechs on partnering with credit unions and is also currently a partner & senior executive benefit consultant with PARC Street Partners. His appointment as an executive advisor of Black Dragon Capital comes shortly after the firm launched the Fintech CUSO Fund, which aims to advance the strategic goals of credit unions and other community-based financial institutions.

• The Halifax Group promoted Molly Fitzpatrick to principal from vice president. Fitzpatrick first joined Halifax in 2011 as an associate before taking time off to earn her M.B.A. at Harvard Business School, then working at Mountaingate Capital and Rallyday Partners. She rejoined Halifax in 2021 and is now a member of the firm’s senior investment team, tasked with identifying and assessing investment opportunities, executing transactions and guiding portfolio companies. 

• Meet Doshi joined the Stone-Goff Partners (SGP) investment team as managing director. Doshi comes from Quad Partners, where he worked on software and services investments in the education and workforce development sectors. He previously served at Weld North, a private investment firm focused on education and edutech. In his new role at SGP, he will focus on supporting the growth-oriented private equity firm’s current portfolio companies and executing new investments in the technology-driven B2B segment.

• Robert Lardon is joining the Next Practices Group (NPG) in the newly created role of chief strategy officer. Lardon brings extensive experience in sectors including technology, professional services and entertainment, media and communications. He previously held roles at companies including connected vehicles and internet of things specialist HARMAN, communications agency Porter Novelli and PricewaterhouseCoopers. His role will entail development of firms within the NPG network and supporting all founders.

• Boston-based middle-market manager New Heritage Capital appointed Greg Katz as vice president of business development. Katz, who was most recently director of business development at data science company FreightFlows,brings a successful track record in building business relationships, both as an entrepreneur and a private equity manager. 

Credit

• SLC Management announced several moves within its private fixed income (PFI) team in the wake of Sam Tillinghast’s decision to retire as head of PFI on Dec. 31. Upon his departure, the team will be led by co-heads Andrew Kleeman and Elaad Keren. Kleeman, who joined SLC in 2018, currently serves as senior managing director, head of corporate private placements, and will oversee corporate credit and infrastructure debt in his new role. Liz Thorne will replace him at the helm of the corporate private placements team. She joined SLC in 2016 and is currently managing director, PFI and ESG. Keren, who currently acts as senior managing director, head of PFI portfolio management, has been with SLC since 2019 and will oversee structured credit and PFI portfolio management in her new role co-head of PFI. Petra Wendroth will take over her role as PFI portfolio management lead for clients in the U.S. and Canada. Wendroth has been with SLC since 2012 and currently serves as managing director, portfolio manager, PFI. 

• Netherlands-based Colesco Capital named Karin Pasha-Huizinga as responsible investment officer to spearhead development and implementation of Colesco’s firmwide Responsible Investment Framework. She joins from the Cardano Group and brings about 20 years of experience in investment and advisory management, particularly financial risk management and sustainability. Colesco, a direct lender supporting European mid-market businesses seeking sustainable growth, is backed by the Rabobank Group. 

Real Estate

• Boca Raton, Fla.-based rental housing investment firm Mill Creek Residential hired Kel Frazier as president of acquisitions. Frazier, who joins from Berkshire Residential Investments, brings a wealth of experience in the multifamily investment sector. 

Service Providers

• Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group added three experienced relationship professionals to its growth & middle market technology team, boosting the bank’s capabilities in the pre-IPO growth and middle-market public companies space. Jordan Gauthier joined as managing director, bringing more than 15 years of experience in technology banking in the Boston market, most recently at J.P. Morgan Chase’s technology and disruptive commerce group. Ross Fleck, who also joined as managing director, comes from Comerica Bank, where she led the expansion of the bank’s technology venture debt practice in the mountain states region to venture capital and private equity funds. David Schlager joined the bank’sNorthern California team as a director; he served most recently at Pacific Western Bank, where he was tasked with executing new deals for the bank’s technology group in California and the Pacific Northwest.

• Independent prime broker Clear Street named Steve Bigsay as chief financial officer. Reporting to Clear Street Co-Founder and CEO Chris Pento, he will work on corporate development and investor relations, in addition to spearheading the firm’s global finance teams. Bigsay joins from Cantor Fitzgerald and brings more than three decades of experience at firms including BGC Partners, KCG Knight Capital Group and PwC.

• Hazeltree’s board of directors appointed industry veteran Stephanie D. Miller as president, chief executive officer and board director. Miller served most recently as chief administrative officer at gold trading fintech Gilded. She was previously CEO of the Intertrust Group and held executive roles at SS&C Technologies, J.P. Morgan and Citco Fund Services. Miller’s new role at Hazeltree, an alternatives-focused treasury and liquidity management platform, will focus on accelerating business growth. She succeeds Tushar Amin, who will be stepping down as CEO for personal and family reasons. 

• Pontoro, a fintech platform expanding access to private market real assets, added three senior executives: Depankar Neogi as chief technology officer, Jacqueline Dentner as managing director of private market products and Josh Pandolfi as managing director and senior portfolio manager. Neogi joins from customer management software provider Zyppr, which he founded after spending five years at Intuit as chief architect. Dentner joins from Morgan Stanley, where she served as the head of product development and product management for alternatives. Pandolfi joins from Starwood Property Trust, where he served as managing director at Starwood Infrastructure Finance.

• Paul Bennett IV joined Milbank as a partner in the firm’s global corporate/M&A group in New York. He was most recently a partner at Dechert and brings a wealth of experience advising private equity clients in industries such as technology, manufacturing and healthcare on matters including private strategic M&A transactions, recapitalizations and buybacks, in addition to compliance and corporate governance matters.

• Gerd Hegele has joined Paul Hastings as a partner in Frankfurt, where he previously served for nine years at Clifford Chance. Hegele advises private equity and infrastructure investors on M&A national and cross-border transactions. He will be part of the Paul Hastings’ European energy and infrastructure practice, which offers specialist capabilities across both M&A and finance for all energy and infrastructure assets.

• Oppenheimer & Co. added a program trading team from Credit Suisse to the firm’s existing agency desk. The team is led by Christopher Johnson, who joins Oppenheimer & Co. as managing director, bringing more than 25 years of program trading experience, including a decade spent building the program trading desk at Wells Fargo. Matthew H. Friedman, who joins as executive director, worked for three years at abrdn before teaming up with Johnson at Credit Suisse. 

• Oppenheimer & Co. also announced that Matt Jackson joined its healthcare investment banking group as a managing director with a mandate to expand the firm’s offering in the sector to supply chain and pharma services. He brings more than 20 years of Wall Street experience, most recently as a partner at boutique M&A advisory MTS Health Partners.

• Lastly, Oppenheimer & Co. also announced that Scott Riskin joined the cash equity trading desk in June as executive director, bringing more than 30 years of financial services experience at firms including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. He is focused on Oppenheimer & Co.’s high-profile buy-side client accounts.

Wealth Management

Organizations

• The Private Equity Women Investor Network appointed Emily Mendell as its new executive director to oversee the organization’s day-to-day operations and steer its long-term strategic direction. Mendell, was most recently director of marketing and communications at CenterSquare Investment Management and previously served in leadership positions at two private equity and venture capital trade associations: the Institutional Limited Partners Association the National Venture Capital Association.