PRINT THIS PAGE Weekly People Roundup: 5 March 200805/03/2008. 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. Sun Capital Partners Japan, the Japanese advisor to US-based private investment firm Sun Capital, has appointed Akitoshi Nakamura as chairman and CEO. Nakamura previously served as vice president and director of private equity firm Nikko Principal Investments Japan. Prior to Nikko, he was a managing director and member of the board of the Industrial Revitalization Corporation of Japan Nakamura also served as managing director of Ripplewood Japan and general counsel and general manager of Citibank Japan.
KPS Capital Partners, the manager of KPS Special Situation Funds, has formed a strategic relationship with Pierre de Villemejane. Villemejane will advise KPS in investments in capital equipment, engineered products and assembly industries. Previously, Villemejane served as CEO of KPS portfolio company Speedline Technologies. He has also held senior executive positions at Cookson Group, the previous owner of Speedline. KPS Capital Partners manages private equity funds focused on constructive investing in restructurings, turnarounds and other special situations.
Morgan Stanley has appointed James Howland as a managing director and operating partner for Morgan Stanley Private Equity. Howland has 22 years of operational experience, most recently as president of Dun & Bradstreet International. He also served as CEO of Edison School's Educational Services Group and the Americas division of Regus Business Centers. Howland also held senior management positions at American Express. Prior to American Express, Howland was a consultant in McKinsey & Company's financial services practices.
Austin Ventures, a venture capital and growth equity firm, has promoted Thomas Ball and David Lack to the role of partner. Ball has been with Austin Ventures since June 2005 and currently serves as a director. Prior to Austin Ventures, Ball was CEO and co-founder of Openfield Technologies. He was also chairman, CEO and founder of eCoupons. Lack joined Austin Ventures in September 2002 and also serves as a director. Prior to Austin Ventures, Lack was a manager at the Boston Consulting Group. Austin Ventures provides start-up and growth capital to emerging companies.
Private equity firm Vestar Capital Partners has promoted Peter C Calamari to principal and Brendan J Spillane to executive vice president. Calamari joined Vestar Capital Partners in 1999 and previously served as a vice president in Vestar's consumer group. Prior to Vestar, Calamari worked in mergers and acquisitions at Merrill Lynch. Spillane joined Vestar Capital Partners in 2006 as a vice president. Prior to Vestar, he served as CFO of SV Investment Partners and CFO of Schafer Capital Management. He began his career in the audit practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Meritech Capital Partners, a late stage venture capital firm, has appointed George Bischof as a managing director. Bischof previously served as a general partner at Focus Ventures and managed the acquisition of EqualLogic, G-Log and Wily Technology. He also served as an investment banker at Robertson Stephens. Meritech Capital Partners provides capital to private technology companies with proven and differentiated technology, growing revenue and experienced management teams.
Monster Venture Partners, a venture capital firm focused on early state investments, has appointed Jeff Schrock as venture partner. Schrock previously served as vice president of corporate development of RealNetworks and vice president and general manager of Yahoo! Broadcast. He also co-founded and served as CEO of Activate. He currently serves on the boards of Transpera, IDG, FirstRound Capital and LearnLive Technologies. Monster Venture Partners is a Seattle-based venture capital firm that focuses on partnering with founders and co-investing in larger companies.
Chicago-based private equity firm WHI Capital Partners has appointed Scott M Murray, former managing director of Madison Capital Partners and co-founder of Pfingsten Partners, to the firm's advisory board. Previously, Scott was a member of the board of directors for all of Madison Capital's portfolio companies. Prior to Pfingsten Partners, Murray was an investment banker in the M&A group of Citicorp Securities Markets and in corporate finance with Continental Illinois National Bank in Chicago.
Secondaries direct player Nova Capital Management has appointed Mike Nevin as an investment partner. Nevin will initially be focusing on the Barloworld Scientific Laboratory Group of businesses, acquired from Barloworld Limited in a £75m transaction, the firm said in a statement. The Group designs, manufactures and distributes equipment and consumables for scientific, clinical and industrial laboratory applications. Previously CFO of HI-Tec Sports Group, Nevin started his career with Deloitte and later worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He subsequently joined UBS Private Equity in 2000, where he spent five years as an investment director working on mid-market pan-European transactions. Nova's latest appointment follows on from that of operating partner Adam Robson, who joined the firm in December 2007 from Molins.
Europe and Asia-focused buy-out house CVC Capital Partners has hired Istvan Szoke to build an investment team focusing on the firm's CEE activity. Istvan Szoke joins CVC from Advent International, where he was a partner focusing on the firm's CEE investments. Prior to Advent, Szoke was a founding managing partner of Swiss asset management firm Eastern Heritage Capital. He has also held positions at Vontobel Asset Management and Bankers Trust, focusing on investing in CEE throughout his career. CVC is currently raising its €11bn CVC European Equity Partners V fund.
Hamburg, Germany-based mid-market private equity firm Granville Baird has appointed Moritz Freiherr Schenck and Matthias Zillmer as partners. Previously, Schenck spent over ten years at the Frankfurt office of KPMG, where he worked on M&A transactions for international companies and private equity funds. Zillmer has 12 years of experience in the private equity and M&A field, having worked for 3i for several years, before becoming a director of a Hamburg-based private equity fund. Prior to joining Granville Baird, he ran an M&A consulting firm of which he was also the founder. Granville Baird raised a new €350m fund, GB Deutschland Fund, in May of last year.
The Carlyle Group has appointed Olivier Sarkozy, half-brother of French president Nicolas Sarkozy and global head of FIG Investment Banking at UBS, as co-head and managing director of its Global Financial Services Group. He will be based in New York. Carlyle established its Global Financial Services Group in June 2007.
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