PRINT THIS PAGE Weekly People Roundup: 6 February 200806/02/2008. Source: AltAssets. 
All the week's most important people stories from across the globe. Essential reading for those who need to keep up-to-date with the private equity industry's key staff moves. Bahrain-based investment bank Ithmaar Bank has appointed Andrew Pocock as managing director, private equity. Pocock will be focusing on several of the bank's private equity fund initiatives, including the recently announced Aldar Private Equity Fund, which has a target of $500m.
Menlo Park, California-based venture capital firm Canaan Partners has promoted Dr Stephen Bloch to general partner at the firm. Dr Bloch joined Canaan in 2002, having previously been an entrepreneur and practicing physician.
Mid-market private equity house LDC has appointed Paul Oldham as a director to head up its new office in Bristol, South West England. Oldham joins from Grant Thornton Corporate Finance where he built and led the firm's eight strong South West and South Wales corporate finance lead advisory team. Prior to this, he spent 13 years at 3i, heading up the firm's Bristol and Cardiff offices and was responsible for new investment and managing its portfolio.
New York-based private equity firm Lightyear Capital has promoted three investment professionals. David H Cynn and Thierry F Ho have been promoted to managing director and Michal Petrzela has been promoted to vice president. Cynn and Ho will continue to be responsible for sourcing and managing investments across a range of financial services sectors. Cynn joined Lightyear in 2002 and previously held investment banking positions at Morgan Stanley and HSBC Investment Banking. Ho joined Lightyear in 2000, having previously worked with members of the senior Lightyear team when they were employed at PaineWebber Group. Petrzela re-joined Lightyear in 2005, as a senior associate, after working at Lightyear as a summer associate during summer 2004.
US energy industry private equity firm Natural Gas Partners has appointed John B Holmes Jr as a venture partner. Holmes joins NGP after retiring as CEO of Syntroleum Corporation in December 2007. Holmes has had a distinguished career as a leader in the energy industry spanning almost four decades. Prior to joining Syntroleum in 2002, Holmes was a senior executive at a number of significant energy companies. From 1999 through 2002, he served in several capacities at El Paso Corporation. From 2001-2002, he was COO of El Paso's Merchant Energy division. From 1999-2001, he was president of El Paso Production Company. Prior to El Paso, Holmes led Sonat Exploration Company as its president and CEO from 1998-1999 until its acquisition by El Paso. From 1986 to 1998, he served as president and COO of Zilkha Energy Company.
Rasmala Investments has appointed Ibrahim Saad as a partner and head of private equity. Saad will launch Rasmala's second private equity fund this year. This follows the successful closing of the Rasmala Private Equity Fund I in early 2007.
Saad joins Rasmala from AB Capital, the investment banking subsidiary of Arab Bank, where he served as the founding CEO. Prior to that, he established SHUAA Partners, the private equity arm of SHUAA Capital. Saad also worked in private equity in the US which included senior management positions at Allied Capital and The Carlyle Group.
Healthcare technology venture capital firm Aberdare Ventures has promoted Y Vincent Kim and Naheed Ismaili Misfeldt to partner. Kim joined Aberdare in 2002 and specialises in therapeutic medical device companies. He currently serves as a director of Ample Medical. He is responsible for the firm's investments in Ablation Frontiers and VertiFlex, and led the evaluations of EnteroMedics and Posit Science. Misfeldt, a principal at Aberdare since 2003, specialises in biopharmaceutical product companies. She is currently a director of Visionary Therapeutics.
Growth stage venture capital firm Updata Partners has promoted Rich Erickson to general partner and Carter Griffin to partner. These positions were made effective with the closing of the firm's latest fund, Updata Partners IV, on $223m. Erickson is based in Updata's Edison, New Jersey office and sits on the boards of directors of Updata portfolio companies, Acclaris, HotGigs, Interactions and Red Vision. He joined Updata in 2004, from AlphaNet Solutions, where he was the company's president and CEO. Griffin is based in Updata's Reston, Virginia office and sits on the boards of directors of Updata portfolio companies, CMWare, iContact, LogiXML and Nimaya. Griffin joined Updata in December 2005 as former chairman and CEO of Brivo Systems, a security software company that was sold to Duchossois Enterprises Group.
New York-based private equity firm Pine Brook Road Partners has appointed Arnold L Chavkin as a managing director. In August 2006 Chavkin retired as the CIO at JPMorgan Partners, a firm he joined in 1990. Previously, Chavkin was a member of Chemical Bank's merchant banking group and a generalist in its corporate finance group specialising in M&A and private placements for the energy industry. His experience prior to Chemical Bank included corporate development for Freeport McMoRan and positions with Gulf and Western Industries and Arthur Young & Company. Chavkin is currently a director of Encore Energy Partners.
London-based private equity firm August Equity has appointed David Lonsdale as an associate. In his new role, Lonsdale will be responsible for originating and executing deals. Previously, Lonsdale worked in the corporate finance division of media firm British Sky Broadcasting. During his time at BSkyB, Lonsdale was responsible for UK transactions across sectors including pay and commercial television and new media. The transactions included the acquisition of a 17.9 per cent stake in ITV, and the acquisition of You Me TV. Prior to working at BSkyB, Lonsdale worked for ITV as a business development manager and for KMPG Corporate Finance in its Private Equity Group.
Israeli early stage venture capital firm Magma Venture Partners has appointed Iris Getz as a general partner. Previously, Getz served as a principal at Carmel Ventures. While at Carmel, Getz worked closely with the Magma team on the DesignArt Networks investment, where Carmel and Magma are co-investors. Prior to joining Carmel, she was a senior member of the investment team at Platinum Neurone Ventures. Getz was also director of business development at Orckit Communications. Magma focuses on early stage communication and semiconductor technology investments and provides seed, first and second round financing. The firm currently manages $190m across two funds.
Lee Equity Partners has appointed Robert C Wright, vice chairman and director of the General Electric Company, as a senior advisor. Wright joins the team of 16 professionals, including president and CEO Thomas H Lee, Mark K Gormley, David J Morrison, Yoo Jin Kim, Benjamin A Hochberg, Allen Questrom and CFO Joseph B Rotberg. Wright served previously as president and CEO of General Electric Financial Services, as chairman, president and CEO of National Broadcasting Company and as chairman and CEO of NBC Universal. He is also the chairman and co-founder of Autism Speaks, a national organisation dedicated to finding a cure of autism.
European mid-market private equity firm Palamon Capital Partners has appointed Lorenzo Pellicioli to its board of advisors. The firm's advisory board now counts 11 members. Pellicioli is currently CEO of Italian De Agostini Group. From 1997 to 2000 he was the CEO of Seat Pagine Gialle. He is a member of the executive committee and the board of directors of Generali Insurance and serves as deputy chairman on the board of Générale de Santé. He is also chairman of DEA Capital and chairman and CEO of Lottomatica.
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