Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Hartford Appoints Michael R. Chesman

hartford.jpgHartford Financial Services announced that Michael R. Chesman was named senior vice president, associate general counsel and director of tax law. Chesman, 63, joins The Hartford from the Internal Revenue Service, where he was director of the office of professional responsibility. Chesman will report to Alan Kreczko, executive vice president and general counsel. The appointment is effective November 18, 2008.-Business Wire


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Societe Generale Announces Management Changes

Societe Generale announced that Jean-Pierre Mustier, CEO of its corporate and investment banking unit, has been appointed as head of its global investment management and custody services as well as chairman and CEO of Société Générale Asset Management. He replaces Alain Clot, who has been CEO of SGAM since April 2004. Clot will remain within the SG Group but his new position is unknown. In his new role, Mustier will be assisted by Sylvie Rucar, chief operating officer of global investment management and custody services, who is also a member of SG’s management committee.


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Evercore Partners Announces Executive Appointments

Evercore Partners has launched Evercore Wealth Management (EWM) with Jeff Maurer, former chairman and chief executive officer of U.S. Trust Corporation, and a seasoned team of portfolio managers and wealth planners. In addition, Fred Taylor, former vice chairman and chief investment officer of U.S. Trust, will serve as a senior advisor to EWM.

EWM, which will focus on serving clients with more than $5 million in investable assets, will manage the needs of its wealth management clients. Mr. Maurer will work closely with his team of portfolio managers and wealth planners to launch and build EWM.

Joining Mr. Maurer in the launch of EWM will be Gary Gildersleeve, partner and fixed income portfolio manager; James Holihan, partner and fixed income portfolio manager; Sandy Panetta, partner and fixed income portfolio manager; John McDermott, partner and equity portfolio manager; John Rendinaro, partner and operations and trading manager; and Karen Francois, partner and client services manager.

Several other equity portfolio managers and wealth consultants will be joining EWM when their current employment obligations expire at the end of the year. Mr. Maurer expects to add experienced investment professionals to EWM as the business grows.-PR Newswire


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Morgan Keegan & Company Announces Management Appointments

Morgan Keegan & Company announced the hiring of nine municipal banking, sales and trading professionals in the northeast, the second expansion in that market in just over a year.

Joining Morgan Keegan as part of the firm’s expansion in the northeast are: Donald O’Brien, managing director, senior municipal underwriter, New York With 29 years’ experience in the municipal industry, O’Brien is responsible for the northeast market and for working with national level issuers and investors.

Chris Durso, senior vice president, municipal trader, New York. Durso is an industry veteran who joins Morgan Keegan after 23 years at Bear Stearns, serving most recently as a senior managing director.

Joseph Tait, managing director, national housing group, New York. Tait, formerly with UBS, joins Morgan Keegan’s housing finance group as a managing director in New York.

Robert Coven, managing director, public finance banking, New York. Coven, a 20-year industry veteran, joins Morgan Keegan’s public finance team from UBS in New York.

Alexander Shih, first vice president, public finance banking, New York. Shih joins Morgan Keegan following 10 years at UBS, where he most recently served as a director in the municipal securities group.

Rick Simonsen, senior vice president, municipal sales, Boston. Simonsen brings 22 years’ experience to the firm. Previously with Bank of America Securities.

William Hannan, vice president, municipal sales, New York. Hannan gained 20 years’ experience in muni sales at several New York firms including Dean Witter Reynolds.

Garrett Ferris, vice president, municipal sales, New York. Ferris is a former associate director at Bear Stearns with 12 years’ experience in muni sales. His accounts included insurance companies, mutual funds, money managers and foreign taxable buyers.

Kiran Patel, associate vice president, municipal sales, New York. Patel also joins Morgan Keegan from JP Morgan Securities where he was an associate in muni sales.-Business Wire


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The Union Labor Life Insurance Appoints Joseph Linehan

The Union Labor Life Insurance has appointed Joseph Linehan as its new vice president of investments. He will report to Gary Amelio, president of retirement services. Mr. Linehan was previously the vice president of private capital and securities, where he was responsible for the management of Union Labor Life Insurance’s corporate investment portfolios.-Datamonitor NewsWire


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Doral Financial Announces Resignation of Calixto García-Vélez

Effective on November 18, 2008, Mr. Calixto García-Vélez was deemed to have resigned as executive vice president and president of the consumer banking division of Doral Financial.-SEC Form 8k


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Stephens Appoints Jennifer Herber

Stephens  hired Jennifer Herber as a managing director in corporate finance. Based in New York, Herber is responsible for originating underwriting and mergers and acquisitions advisory business in the specialty retail and consumer sectors. Coverage will focus on apparel and home retail and household and personal care. Before this, Herber was an executive director in the consumer-retail group at J.P. Morgan Chase.  From 2001 to 2006, she worked at Peter J. Solomon as a director advising on M&A.-Daily Deal/The Deal


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TransUnion Announces Executive Changes

TransUnion announced four strategic hires for its collection vertical, providing a dedicated focus into its first-party collection efforts. Scott Carter has joined the company as the division’s group vice president. Carter is responsible for overseeing all sales efforts and the strategic direction of the vertical in third-party, debt buying and first-party collection efforts. Carter will report directly to Steve Sassaman, executive vice president, financial services. Carter joins TransUnion from BarclayCard where he was senior director of its customer support group.

Also joining TransUnion and reporting directly to Carter in the collection’s division are Rick Juretic, vice president of sales and Tom Jordan, vice president of business development. Juretic will lead TransUnion’s sales efforts in the first-party arena, focusing on credit card issuers and other lending organizations. Juretic comes to TransUnion from CBC Innovis where he was vice president of business development. Prior to that, he held positions throughout the financial services industry with Arrow Financial Services and Capital One. Providing additional market insight, partnerships and acquisition opportunities, Jordan will lead the vertical’s business consulting efforts. Jordan brings to TransUnion a strong background in receivables management and collections, having served as vice president of operations for Encore Receivables Management.

Joining TransUnion’s analytic and decision services division to support the collections vertical is Stewart Sui. As vice president, analytic and decision services; Sui will focus on leveraging the use of advanced analytics in TransUnion’s suite of products and services for the collection industry. He comes to TransUnion from HSBC Card and retail services where he was vice president of risk management and global analytics.-PR Newswire


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Tinker Federal Credit Union Appoints David G. Willis

Tinker Federal Credit Union announced that David G. Willis has been appointed as executive vice president/chief operations officer. He reports directly to President/CEO Michael D. Kloiber. Before joining TFCU, Willis had been at Kitsap Credit Union in Bremerton, Wash., since February 1984, most recently serving as senior vice president/chief operations officer.


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Global Crown Capital Appoints Jonathan Kees

Global Crown Capital announced that it will be opening an office in New York City. The new office will enable the firm to better serve its east coast and international clients. It will also enable the firm to expand its global equity research, wealth management, and institutional sales & trading businesses.

Joining the New York-based research team as a Senior Executive Director of global equity research is Jonathan Kees. Mr. Kees joins Global Crown Capital’s wireless team with exceptional fundamental research and telecom industry experience. He was previously with Bear Stearns telecom research team, and Citigroup Smith Barney’s global supply chain research team.-Business Wire


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Health Evolution Partners Appoints Christopher McFadden

Health Evolution Partners announced that Christopher McFadden, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs Group, has joined Health Evolution Partners as a managing director of the growth fund.

The members of the Health Evolution Partners growth fund team include: Adam Grossman, principal, has over a decade of health care experience as an investor, operator and consultant. Braden Kelly, senior advisor, served as a partner and managing director of General Atlantic, a global private equity investment firm. Brian Kirkbride, vice president, has over 10 years of health care experience as an investor, operator and investment banker. Christopher McFadden, managing director, has over 12 years of health care industry experience as a research analyst and investor. Ian McKelvie, senior associate, worked as an associate focused on health care at Arsenal Capital Partners prior to joining Health Evolution Partners. Carter Paine, senior associate, began his career as an investment banker at Robertson Stephens and was an associate in the Health Care Services Group at Jefferies and Company, where he managed all stages of transactions across a broad range of health care services sectors. William Winkenwerder, Jr. senior advisor, is a recognized leader in American health care.
Health Evolution Partners announced that it will establish the New York office for Health Evolution Partners.-Business Wire


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Equity 11 Appoints James M. Juliano

Equity 11 has appointed James M. Juliano as partner. In this capacity, Juliano will help Equity 11 manage its existing portfolios and acquire interests in new businesses. Juliano will also head the firm’s real estate asset and development practice, which the firm plans on launching in early 2009.-Business Wire


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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Charles Schwab Appoints Jim Mccool

Charles Schwab’s new institutional services group will be led by Schwab senior executive Jim McCool, a 13-year company veteran. McCool joined Schwab in 1995 working in a variety of leadership roles within Schwab institutional until 2004. Since 2004, he has been a corporate executive vice president and responsible for Schwab corporate & retirement services. He has been a member of the company’s executive management committee since 2005.-Business Wire


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The First American Announces New Appointments

The First American appointed Joni Pierce, chief operating officer of First American residential value view, as leader of valuations and property solutions. Also, Scott Brinkley, executive vice president of global offshore services, has been named leader of outsourcing and technology solutions.-PR Newswire


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Novastar Financial Appoints Rodney Schwatken

Novastar Financial announced that on November 11, 2008, Rodney Schwatken, age 44, was appointed principal accounting officer. He will also remain as chief financial officer of the company, a position he has held since January 2008. From March 2006 through January 2008, Mr. Schwatken had been the company’s vice president - strategic initiatives where he was responsible for special projects, generally related to corporate development and management of the company’s strategic transactions.-SEC Form 8k


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Sunwest Bank Appoints Chris Walsh

Sunwest Bank announced that Chris Walsh joins as executive vice president and chief banking officer. With more than 30 years of retail, commercial and private banking experience, Mr. Walsh will oversee all banking activities, focusing on the relationship management teams development of new and existing client relationships throughout southern California. Mr. Walsh most recently served as executive vice president and chief banking officer for Vineyard Bank.-Business Wire


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Penn Mutual Life Insurance Appoints Michael Eagan

Penn Mutual Life Insurance named Michael Eagan senior vice president of the company’s independent system of regional agents. He had been a wealth-management consultant for Phoenix Life Group.-The Philadelphia Inquirer


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Monday, November 17, 2008

Bank of America Announces Changes in Senior Executives Positions

bank-of-america21.jpgBank of America has named a leadership team for its corporate, commercial and investment banking that includes executives from Merrill Lynch. The bank said that Brian Brille, from the bank, will oversee corporate and investment banking in the Americas. Merrill executive Jim Forbes will manage those operations in the Asia-Pacific region while Mark Aedy, also from Merrill, will oversee Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The bank’s Joel Van Dusen has been named head of global corporate banking. Jeff Kaplan, from Merrill Lynch, will lead global mergers and acquisitions and financial sponsors.-Baltimore Business Journal


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Cousins Properties Announces Retirement of Joel T. Murphy

On November 10, 2008, Joel T. Murphy, executive vice president and chief leasing and asset management officer of Cousins Properties, notified the company that he is retiring effective December 31, 2008. Mr. Murphy has agreed to serve as a consultant to the company after his retirement.-SEC Form 8k


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Arch Insurance Group Appoints Michael Baxter and Gordon Kerr

Arch Capital Group announced that Michael Baxter will transition from his current role as president and chief agent of Arch Insurance Group’s Canadian operations to become worldwide chief underwriting officer for Arch Insurance Group’s onshore energy (technical risk) and CAR/EAR platforms. In his new role, he will oversee these lines across the U.S., Canada and Europe. Mr. Baxter will continue to work from the Toronto offices of Arch Insurance Group in his new role.

Arch Insurance Group announced that Gordon (Gord) Kerr has accepted the position of chief executive officer and chief agent of the company’s Canadian insurance operations. Gord was previously chief operating officer of American International Group’s (AIG) Canadian commercial insurance operations.-Business Wire


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Friday, November 14, 2008

Grubb & Ellis Appoints Matthew A. Engel

grubb-ellis.jpgGrubb & Ellis announced that it has named Matthew A. Engel as senior vice president, accounting and finance and chief accounting officer, effective immediately. Engel, 41, will have responsibility for the company’s corporate accounting, tax, financial risk management and treasury functions. He reports to Richard W. Pehlke, executive vice president and chief financial officer. Engel joins Grubb & Ellis from H&R Block, where he spent seven years in various senior finance leadership positions. Most recently, he was senior vice president, chief financial officer of the company’s mortgage services segment, where he oversaw the finance, treasury, accounting, business planning and corporate strategy functions. While at H&R Block, he also held the title of vice president, controller for the mortgage services segment and chief accounting officer for the parent company.-PR Newswire


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Wells Fargo Insurance Services Appoints Bruce Anderson

wells-fargo.jpgWells Fargo Insurance Services announces the addition of Bruce Anderson as a senior vice president and account executive in its Redwood City-based real estate practice. Anderson will specialize in the real estate and property management industries and manage services delivered to major Wells Fargo customers in the Bay Area and across northern California. A 30 year veteran of the insurance industry, Anderson joins Wells Fargo Insurance Services from Marsh Risk Insurance Service’s San Francisco office where he was most recently senior vice president and client executive.-Business Wire


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Bank of America and Merrill Lynch Appoints Andrea Orcel

bank-of-america1.jpgBank of America and Merrill Lync announced that Merrill’s Andrea Orcel, head of global origination and president of Europe, Middle East and Africa, or EMEA, global markets and investment banking, will become president of the combined banks’ global banking, securities and wealth management division.-Daily Deal/The Deal


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RLI Appoints Louis Leonard Waldhauser and Paul Dietrich

RLI announced that it has hired Louis Leonard Waldhauser IV to lead the new operation as vice president.

Waldhauser will be responsible for management and staffing of the new business unit for RLI on a national basis. Waldhauser comes to RLI from NIP Group, where he was president of the retail division. He developed NIP into a major A&E player by developing customized risk management solutions and leading several multi-million dollar acquisitions of A&E-focused agencies.

Joining Waldhauser is Paul Dietrich as vice president. Dietrich joins RLI from ACE USA, where he most recently held the position of vice president, professional risk. Dietrich has held a number of product management and underwriting positions and has successfully developed and launched an A&E product line at ACE.-Business Wire


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The Hartford Appoints Michael Rudge

Hartford Financial Services Group has appointed Michael Rudge as managing director of its UK branch as part of building on its success in selling retirement accumulation and income products in the UK. Mr. Rudge will report to Marc Lieberman, president and chief executive officer of Hartford Life Limited, The Hartford’s European insurer. He will also be responsible for the branch’s profit and loss, sales and marketing, and administration.-Financial Adviser


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Jones Lang Lasalle Announces Executive Changes

Jones Lang LaSalle named Paul Whitman as president of its Dallas-Fort Worth segment. Whitman will oversee 500 professionals working in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Kansas City real estate markets. Whitman has spent almost four decades in the commercial real estate industry and has negotiated more than 10 million square feet in lease transactions. He previously was with The Staubach. The company also announced that Jim Yoder has been named investor services director for Dallas. In this role he will oversee agency leasing, property management and coordination with investment sales. Yoder, formerly with Trammell Crow, has 22 years of commercial real estate experience and joined Jones Lang LaSalle a year ago to serve as managing director in the firm’s Dallas office.-Dallas Business Journal


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Moody’s Investors Service Appoints Andrew Kimball and Richard Cantor

Moody’s Investors Service named Andrew Kimball, 59, as executive vice president and head of the company’s global structured finance business. Mr. Kimball had been acting head of the structured finance business since July of this year. Richard Cantor, 51, was appointed chief credit officer of Moody’s Investors Service and chairman of its credit policy committee. Mr. Cantor had assumed acting responsibility for these roles, which Mr. Kimball previously held. Mr. Kimball joined Moody’s in 1987 as a structured finance analyst and was soon promoted to co-head a structured finance rating team.-Business Wire


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Gramercy Capital Appoints Timothy J. O’Connor

Gramercy Capital announced the appointment of Timothy J. O’Connor. A veteran of the commercial real estate industry, he served most recently as chief operating officer of iStar Financial. The appointment follows the company’s recent modification of its management agreement with an affiliate of SL Green Realty, which was announced in late October. As president, Mr. O’Connor will assume a broad range of responsibilities, with a particular focus on completing the integration of its Gramercy realty unit into the company and producing greater operational efficiencies.-Business Wire


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FBR Capital Markets Announces Executive Changes

FBR Capital Markets announced the addition of Trey Whipple to its convertible securities team as managing director. Separately, the firm also announced the promotion of Alexander J. Rygiel to co-head of diversified industrials in equity research and the promotion of Jordan Fialkoff and Brian Stauffer to managing director within equity trading.

Mr. Whipple joins FBR Capital Markets from Morgan Stanley where he was a twelve-year veteran and former head of U.S. convertible securities sales.

The firm also announced promotions within its institutional brokerage. Alexander J. Rygiel, in equity research, has been promoted to co-head of the diversified industrials group. Mr. Rygiel has been a member of FBR Capital Markets’ research team since 1998, where he covers the electrical products, engineering & construction and specialty contracting markets.

Additionally, Jordan Fialkoff and Brian Stauffer have been promoted to managing director within FBR Capital Markets’ equity trading group. Mr. Fialkoff joined the trading team in 1999. Mr. Stauffer has been a member of the trading team since 2003.-PR Newswire


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Zealous Capital Markets Appoints Jana Henson

Zealous Capital Markets, appointed Jana Henson to assume the role of president. Henson will oversee the day to day broker/dealer operations and work closely with Zealous Capital’s divisions of operations and compliance. Henson offers Zealous Capital markets over 20 years of experience in trading and the market, 10 years of which are from the trading floor of the Pacific stock exchange, with much of her work coming from compliance, trading, and firm management. Henson’s background also includes risk management in capital markets and handling operations for multiple firms.-PR Newswire


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Thursday, November 13, 2008

Merrill Lynch Announces Management Changes

merrill-lynch.jpgMerrill Lynch head of investment banking for all of Asia, Damian Chunilal, has left the company, the second top level shake-up in the last two months at Merrill’s Asia group. Sheldon Trainor, Merrill’s head of Asia investment banking, excluding Japan and Australia, stepped down from day-to-day responsibilities of the division in September to assume a new role. Trainor reported to Chunilal before and after his move.-The International Herald Tribune


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Deutsche Bank Appoints Mike Gelhard

deutsche2.jpgDeutsche Bank announced that Mike Gelhard has joined the bank as a managing director and global co-head of emerging markets corporate credit and special situations. Gelhard is based in New York and will be responsible for the origination, risk management and distribution of corporate credit throughout Latin America and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Gelhard and Global Co-Head Tim Zundel will report globally to Sean Bates, managing director and global head of emerging markets credit trading. Gelhard joins the bank from UBS where he was head of high yield and distressed credit trading for Latin America and Asia. Prior to that, he held positions at UBS and Citibank in Sydney, Australia.-Business Wire


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Morgan Stanley Announces Appointments

morgan-stanley.jpgMorgan Stanley announced the hiring of two senior banking veterans to lead the firm’s newly created retail banking group, as the firm continues to build out its retail banking business and deposit base.

Cece S. Sutton will become president of the retail banking group and Jonathan W. Witter will become the chief operating officer of the group, reporting to Ms. Sutton. Both executives join Morgan Stanley from Wachovia, where they held senior executive positions, Ms. Sutton as executive vice president and head of retail and small business banking with responsibility for 33,000 employees across 3,300 locations, and Mr. Witter as executive vice president and head of distribution for the general bank. Ms. Sutton will join the Morgan Stanley management committee and report to Co-President James P. Gorman.-Business Wire


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AFLAC Announces Executive Appointments

aflac.jpgAFLAC announced that veteran marketing expert M. Jeffrey Charney has joined the company’s executive team as senior vice president; chief marketing officer for Aflac U.S. The company also announced that Ronald S. Sanders has been named senior vice president; deputy director of sales, effective November 15, 2008, where he will support Ronald E. Kirkland, senior vice president; director of sales, who will retire at the end of 2009. -PR Newswire


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CNA Financial Corporation Announces Executive Changes

CNA Financial Corporation announced on November 12, 2008 that James R. Lewis, president and chief executive officer of property and casualty operations of the company’s insurance subsidiaries, is leaving when his current term of employment expires on December 31, 2008. Upon his departure, the executives reporting to him will instead report directly to the company’s incoming Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Thomas F. Motamed.-SEC Form 8k


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Philadelphia Consolidated Holding Appoints Susan Doering

Philadelphia Consolidated Holding announced that Susan Doering has joined the company as a vice president in the specialty lines/environmental underwriting division. In this position, Doering will work with senior management and clients to start a full service environmental underwriting division. She brings 15 years of experience in the environmental insurance industry to Philadelphia Insurance Companies. Prior to joining the company, Ms. Doering was a vice president with AIG managing a large account business development team.-PR Newswire


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Hanover Insurance Group Appoints Helen Ryan Savaiano

The Hanover Insurance Group announced that Helen Ryan Savaiano has been named as vice president, management liability, for the company’s commercial lines business. In this capacity, Savaiano will be responsible for developing a business unit that builds on The Hanover’s current employment practices liability offering, to include non-profit and private company directors and officers, and other related coverages. She will work out of The Hanover’s office in Itasca, Illinois.-PR Newswire


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Massmutual Retirement Services Appoints Scott Palmer

MassMutual Retirement Services Division announced that Scott Palmer has joined MassMutual as vice president, retirement systems. He most recently served as vice president and chief information officer for Lincoln Financial Group.-PR Newswire


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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

RBC Capital Markets Corporation Appoints Richard Barker

RBCRBC Capital Markets Corporation appointed Richard Barker as head of global investment banking, Australia. Barker spent 10 years at N.M. Rothschild & Sons (Australia), where he was executive director, mergers and acquisitions.-The Daily Deal


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JPMorgan Chase & Co. Hires Masaru Shibata

JPMorgan Chase & Co. hired Masaru Shibata as head of mergers and acquisitions in Japan. He held the same title at Lehman Brothers Holdings. Shibata, focusing on cross-border deals, will arrive Nov. 17, 2008. He spent 15 years at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York and Tokyo.-The Daily Deal


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