Not one to mince words, KPS Capital's Michael Psaros offers a ...

84-88_ChangingScenes.qxd 4/6/09 5:52 PM Page 76The Changing Sceneed business advisory firm FTI Consulting Inc.While at FTI, Pincus led twenty-five M&Atransactions. He become CFO of FTI in April1999 and retired from the position in 2007.Prior to joining FTI, Pincus was president offinancial consulting firm Pincus Group.He is presently a director and audit committeemember of Angelo, Gordon AcquisitionCo., a special purpose acquisition company;and chairman of PS Entertainment, LLC.Natural Gas Partners — The private equityfirm promoted David W. Hayes and ColinF. Raymond to the position of managing director.Hayes and Raymond joined the firm in1998 and 2005, respectively.Raymond was vice president at the explorationand production company Hunt Oil Company,and was also a partner at Soros PrivateEquity Partners and a vice president ofMorgan Stanley Capital Partners.Previously, Hayes worked with MerrillLynch’s energy investment banking group,based out of the Houston office. He was involvedin exploration and production-relatedM&A transactions with the group.Olshan Grundman Frome Rosenzweig& Wolosky LLP — The law firm will bringYehuda Markovits and Lori Marks-Estermanto its corporate and litigation practices aspartners.Markovits, 34, focuses on finance, M&A,securities law and general corporate representation.From 1998 to 2006, he was anassociate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher& Flom LLP.Marks-Esterman, 35, practices commerciallitigation matters, securities laws andcorporate dissolutions. She will join OlshamGrundman’s real estate team, as she has adepth of experience in this field.These hires represent just the latest personnelmoves for the firm, which has beenactive lately. Near the end of last year, Olshanopportunistically added more partnersfrom disbanding Dreier LLP, the law firmthat was run by Marc Dreier, who was arrestedfor fraud.Joining the firm as an equity partner isSteven R. Gursky, who is a well-known attorneywith experience in intellectual propertyand real estate. In addition, Mitchell B.Stern and Martin J. Feinberg have joined aspartners, Mark S. Lafayette, Mary L. Griecoand Elliott J. Brown have joined as counsel,and Matthew S. Root, Safia A. Anand andMelanie J. Sacks have joined as associates.Piper Jaffray — The investment bank augmentedits restructuring team, tapping formerMorgan Joseph & Co. vet Victor Carusoto serve as a managing director in its NewYork office. Caruso had joined MorganJoseph a little more than a year ago to launchits financial restructuring and special transactionsefforts.Caruso, who has more than two decadesof experience, has worked on mandates forAbercrombie & Fitch, AK Steel Co., AlamoNational Car Rental, Spiegel Corp. and UnitedAirlines, among others.Prior to his stint at Morgan Joseph, he putin work at Gordian Group, Bear Stearns &Co. and Lehman Brothers, where he was afounding member of the defunct investmentbank’s restructuring group.StepStone Group — James Gamett,a formervice president at Portfolio Advisors LLChas joined the private equity advisory firm asa managing director.While at Portfolio Advisors, a fund of fundsmanager, he was vice president of secondaries,advising the firm’s institutional clientsin committing investments to secondariesfund managers. Previously, Gamett worked atDeloitte & Touche Corporate Finance.In this newly-formed position, Gamett willserve as head of secondaries. He is presentlya member of the StepStone research teamand sits on the investment committee.The firm, which provides investment andadvisory services to institutional investors, isseeking a greater involvement in the secondariesmarket. Monte Brem, chief executiveofficer of StepStone, cited that the currentmarket dislocation is creating “historicallyattractive discounts.”Tri-Artisan Partners LLC — The privateequity firm announced that Thomas M. Harney,a former Bear Stearns senior managingdirector, has joined its ranks as managingdirector and head of real estate.While at Bear Stearns, Harney was coheadof real estate investment banking.He led the $1.5 billion merger of StarwoodFinancial and TriNet Corporate Realty Trust.Previously, Harney worked at Merrill Lynchand BT Securities. In his new position, hewill lead the New York firm’s newly-formedcommercial real estate unit developing recapitalizations,privatizations, and jointventures.Recently, the firm has made a number ofnew hires, including David Boemo as managingdirector and chief financial officer, andSuzanne Murphy as managing director offund services.Trimaran Partners — Jay Bloom and DeanKehler, co-founders and managing partnersof the private equity firm, have reportedlystruck out on a venture with the Nelson Peltzledhedge fund Trian Partners, investing indistressed corporate bonds, bank loans andpossible loan-to-own opportunities.The move, reuniting a former team fromDrexel Burnham Lambert, does not signal anend to Trimaran, which will continue on asan independent entity. Bloom and Kehler hadfounded the PE firm in 1995.The jump back to corporate credit is notbig leap for Bloom and Kehler. At Trimaran,the pair also oversaw Trimaran Advisors,which invests in below investment-gradecorporate debt. David Millison, also a Drexelalum, had managed those funds for Trimaranas the chief investment officer. He isnot expected to be joining Bloom and Kehler76 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS February 2009