The PE Shift: Leadership Transitions
in Private Equity April 2025
Private Equity and Private Credit Leaders on the Move
First, back in December, Sam Blaichman became the new Head of Direct Private Equity for CPP Investments, replacing Hafiz Lalani who has left the firm. Meanwhile, OMERS has hired Alexander Fraser from Temasek Holdings to serve as EVP and Global Head of Private Equity, replacing Michael Graham who retired earlier this year. Finally, to round things off, at OTPP, Romeo Leemrijse announced he was stepping down from his role as Managing Director of Global Equities and a search is now underway for his replacement.
In the US, Searchlight Capital have expanded their advisory and operating partner ranks with the hiring of Velina Butti and Ross Honey, while Star Mountain Capital have beefed up their Private Credit and Portfolio Management teams with the hiring of Justin Garrod and Jeff Feinberg, and Truelink Capital has added Sam Handler to their investment team.
Human Capital hiring has appeared to be a significant theme this month, with SGE, TSG, OceanSound and May River Capital all announcing new leadership changes to their talent and human capital function, with the hiring of Emily Anne Self, Nicole Cascera, Matthew McConnell, and Amy Osier.
The hiring of Partners from the Big Three also continues. Last month, Blackstone announced Rodney Zemmel as their new head of portfolio operations. This month, Stephen Janco joins Bain Capital after previously serving as a leader within the RTS practice at McKinsey.
Meanwhile in Europe, Clearlake's acquisition of MV Credit from Natixis late last year has played a role in several of our announcements. MV Credit, a pan-European private credit specialist had over $5B of AUM upon acquisition.
For more of the latest moves in Private Equity, please see below.
Bryan Sienerth has been appointed Director of Talent at Shore Capital Partners, previously serving as VP at a boutique executive search firm.
Emmet O'Gara has taken on the role of Executive in Residence at Accel-KKR, following his tenure as CEO at Sandata Technologies.
Amy Yeung has joined Progress-Partners as an Executive in Residence, after serving as VP & Deputy General Counsel at Sallie Mae.
Catie Merrick has become the Executive Talent Advisor at JMI Equity, previously holding the position of Director, Executive Talent at Insight Partners.
Matthew Mcconnell has been appointed Head of Portfolio Human Capital at Oceansound Partners, following his role as Principal at ghSmart.
Kirsten Gute has joined Advent International as an HR Advisor, after serving as Talent Manager at LEK.
Amy Osier has taken on the role of Human Capital Management & Talent Strategy Leader at May River Capital, following her tenure as CHRO at Perkin Elmer.
Andrew Thoma has been appointed Managing Director, Portfolio Transformation Group (Head of Procurement) at Revelstoke Capital Partners, previously serving as Associate Partner at McKinsey.
Stephen Janco has joined Bain-Capital as an Operating Partner, after serving as Partner at McKinsey.
Nadeem Ahmed has taken on the role of Operating Partner at The Sterling Group, following his tenure as Partner at CrossCountry Consulting.
Brad Smith has been appointed Operating Partner at Trivest Partners, previously serving as CEO at Che Behavioral.
John C Sills has joined Arcline Investment Management as an Operating Partner, after serving as COO/CFO/CAO at Advancion Corporation.
Carla Arellano has taken on the role of Operating Partner at Intandem-Capital-Partners, following her tenure as Operating Partner at Greyhound Capital.
Julia Penrose has been appointed Portfolio Talent at Hg, previously serving as VP at Assembly.
Emily Anne Self has joined Susquehanna Growth Equity as Portfolio Value Creation - VP, Head of Talent, after serving as Project Leader at BCG.
Velina Butti has taken on the role of Principal, Value Creation at Searchlight Capital Partners, following her tenure as Principal, Transformation and Automation at Apax Partners.
Philip Mezey has been appointed Senior Advisor at Arsenal Capital Partners, previously serving as Senior Advisor at Itron.
Steven Udvarhelyi has joined InsightPartners as a Senior Advisor, after serving as President and CEO at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana.
Ross Honey has taken on the role of Senior Advisor at Searchlight Capital Partners, following his tenure as President and CEO at Touchtunes.
Shubhankar Goel has been appointed Senior Director, Portfolio Operations at Centre Lane Partners, previously serving as VP eCommerce & Digital at Corelle Brands.
Jeff Treffinger has joined KKR as a Senior HSE Advisor, after serving as SVP, EHS at Amentum.
Jeff Sim has taken on the role of Senior Vice President - Finance Operations at Warren Equity Partners, following his tenure as Independent Consultant.
Nicole Mascera has been appointed Senior Vice President of HR & Talent at TSG Consumer Partners. Earlier in her career, Nicole was Head of Human Capital at Sycamore Partners.
Bryan Ertz has taken on the role of Vice President - Portfolio Operations at HIGCapital, following his tenure as Engagement Manager at McKinsey.
Matt Gotschall has been appointed Vice President, Portfolio Operations - Commercial at Platinum Equity, previously serving as Engagement Manager at McKinsey.
Kirsten O'Haver has joined Clayton Dubilier & Rice as VP, Portfolio Talent, after serving as AVP Corporate Affairs at The Carlyle Group.
Christian Segars has taken on the role of Principal at Apollo-Global-Management, following his tenure as Principal at L Catterton.
Diana Liu has been appointed Principal at Blue Owl Capital, previously serving as Director at IPI Partners.
Katie Milleville-Abouzahr has joined Blue Owl Capital as Principal, after serving as Director of Portfolio Management at IPI Partners.
Ashley Paston has taken on the role of Partner at General Catalyst, following her tenure as Partner at Meritech Capital.
Savneet Uppal has been appointed Principal at Blackstone, previously serving as Principal at Sagard.
Tony Hsieh has joined KKR as a Principal, after serving as VP at Blackstone.
Kurt Gula has taken on the role of Principal at P4G Capital Management, following his tenure as Managing Director at Salt Creek Capital.
Jenny Thapa has been appointed Private Equity Principal at Ares Management Corporation, previously serving as Private Equity Principal at Lovell Minnick Partners.
Valerie Dixon has joined Flagship Pioneering as Senior Partner, after serving as Managing Director at Morgan Stanley.
Michel Klingler has been appointed Director, IT Operations at Sagard, previously serving as IT Manager at Invoke Studios.
Paul Sturgess has taken on the role of Managing Director, Private Capital at Ontario Teachers Pension Plan. Earlier in his career, Paul served as CRO at Transunion.
Kasey Ji has joined OMERS as Associate Director, after serving as Senior Associate, Secondaries at CPP Investments.
Laura Johnson-Legault has been appointed Principal, Private Equity at Sagard, previously serving as Head of Corporate Development at Plusgrade.
Nataliya Rybenchuk has taken on the role of Principal, Direct Private Equity at CPP Investments, following her tenure as Principal at Onex.
Tania Steyn has joined Apollo-Global-Management as Principal, Sustainable Operations & Value Creation after serving as Associate Partner at Bain & Company.
Brian Mason has been appointed Chief Information Officer at Hg, previously serving as Group CTO at BC Partners.
Sahem Gulati has taken on the role of Managing Director, Strategy Execution at CPPInvestments following his tenure as Director Business Transformation at M&G Plc.
Will Downie has joined Advent International as an Operating Partner. Will previously served as CEO at Argenta.
Mike Samra has been appointed Senior Technology Operating Partner at HIGCapital, previously serving as CTO at The AA.
Julia Glasfors has taken on the role of Talent Acquisition Manager at Nordic Capital, following her tenure as Director of Talent Acquisition at Northvolt.
Anton Duvall has joined KPSCapital Partners as VP Portfolio Operations - Europe, after serving as Group CFO at Pelsis.
Guy Israel has been appointed Managing Director at Clearlake Capital Group, previously serving as Managing Director at MV Credit.
Malek Ghali has taken on the role of Managing Director at Clearlake Capital Group, following his tenure as Managing Director at MV Credit.
Francois Decoeur has joined Clearlake Capital Group as Managing Director - Private Credit Underwriting, after serving as Partner at MV Credit.
Andrea Pelliccia has been appointed Managing Director at Bdt & Msd Partners, previously serving as Principal at LetterOne.
Nicolas Schoemer has taken on the role of Principal at Blackstone, following his tenure as VP at HPS Investment Partners.
Caleb Butler has joined Blackstone. Caleb was most recently an Associate Partner at McKinsey.
