People and Company News, Week of May 2, 2025
- Greg Kiger has been named COO of Finance Fund, a nonprofit organization that drives capital, real estate development, construction, and other resources to low- and moderate-income communities to improve quality of life. Kiger joins Finance Fund’s executive team and will collaborate with the CEO to define the organization’s strategic direction. He was formerly SVP at KeyBank overseeing the Central Region for the Affordable Housing Group. He has extensive expertise in conventional lending and has been involved in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit industry since 1999.
- Stanley Deal has been appointed to the operating executive board of J.F. Lehman & Co., a NY-based alternative asset manager focused on the aerospace, defense, government, maritime, environmental and infrastructure sectors. Deal has over three decades of experience in the aerospace sector. Most recently, he served as CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes where he spearheaded the expansion of Boeing’s commercial airplane programs and managed over 60% of the Boeing Co.‘s total revenue. Prior to this, Deal established and led Boeing Global Services.
- Fernando Margarit has been added by global law firm Hogan Lovells as a corporate & finance partner in the firm’s Infrastructure, Energy, Resources & Projects (IERP) practice in Miami. Margarit is joined by counsel Brittany Buhler. Both join from Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. Margarit advises clients in the telecom and tech sectors on cross-border digital infrastructure projects. Buhler focuses on corporate transactions, financings, and regulatory matters, particularly for telecom and financial services clients, with significant experience in subsea cable systems.
- Josh Van Hecke and Matthew Hannan were hired by Inland Securities Corporation as SVP – external wholesaler for the Plains territory and SVP – external wholesaler for the South-Southwest territory, respectively. They will be responsible for generating sales opportunities and supporting financial advisors with relationship management. Hannan most recently served as the regional director, SVP – South Central territory at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. Van Hecke most recently served as VP of CIM Group, where he engaged with independent broker-dealer, wirehouse, and RIA advisors on portfolio construction. ISC also promoted Sara Ingersoll to SVP – investment product manager. Ingersoll, who previously served as VP – external wholesaler, will play a role in providing expert-level knowledge, sales support and coordination of the team’s efforts related to REITs, the 721 exchange platform, and other related product solutions.
- Mary Nelson has been appointed chief client officer by Docupace, a provider of back-office software to streamline operations of wealth management enterprises and financial advisors. Nelson will oversee all post-sale functions including onboarding, client success, support and professional services.
- Kumar Brahnmath has been appointed as chief product & technology officer by Measurabl, a sustainability data platform for real estate. Brahnmath will oversee the company’s global product and technology strategy. He was previously at Amazon, where he led the Digital Commerce Platform. As CTO of SunPower, he drove the digital transformation of a publicly traded clean energy company, applying AI, IoT, and data science to scale solar innovation. Brahnmath’s appointment follows the promotion of co-founder and CTO Lance Onken to the newly established role of Distinguished Engineer. The company recently announced additional moves, including the appointment of Marta Patlan as VP of People & Culture and Aislinn McCarry, Director of EMEA Sales.
- Tracy Byrnes, former FOX Business anchor and financial journalist, has joined Lebenthal as VP, Women and Investing. Byrnes, who most recently was a financial advisor at UBS, will lead Lebenthal’s outreach to women investors and build the company’s high-net-worth practice.Before joining media, Byrnes spent several years as a Senior Accountant at EY.
- Woodside Energy is in talks with Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration to sell a stake in its Louisiana LNG project and potentially supply LNG, Bloomberg reported. The project, previously known as Driftwood, is being developed in four phases, with the first phase projected to cost approximately $16B. Other parties are also interested. This follows Woodside’s earlier agreement to sell a 40% stake to Stonepeak for $5.7B and a supply deal with Uniper. Woodside acquired Tellurian last year for $1.2B to develop the project, with the first phase expected to cost $16B.
- Summit Wealth Group announced their strategic breakaway from Commonwealth, selecting SEI to support the firm’s transition to RIA and evolution of continued growth. To further support its transition Summit Wealth expects to migrate approximately $2.1B in assets to the SEI Wealth Platform.
- WestView Capital Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm, has made an investment in Hoist Global Tech Solutions, a global systems integrator and services provider focused on IFS’s suite of enterprise software in Canada. With over 200 team members worldwide, Hoist offers multilingual delivery and serves organizations with enterprise software needs across multiple regions.
- Harbourfront Wealth Holdings has acquired Toronto-based KJ Harrison & Partners, a wealth advisory firm managing $2.2B in assets, as part of its strategy to expand its presence in Canada’s independent wealth management sector. Founded in 2001, KJ Harrison specializes in serving high-net-worth individuals, families and family offices. The acquisition also includes KJ Harrison’s registered investment dealer under CIRO. With the addition, Harbourfront’s assets under administration near C$11 billion (around $7.9 billion). The deal follows Harbourfront’s October 2024 purchase of Rothenberg Wealth Management.
- Intuit will acquire GoCo, a provider of HR and benefits services for small and mid-sized businesses. GoCo’s services will be integrated into Intuit’s Enterprise Suite and QuickBooks Payroll for U.S. customers with premium or elite payroll plans, offering an all-in-one platform for managing finances, customers and employee lifecycles.
- Deliveroo, a British food delivery company, has confirmed it received a $3.6B takeover offer from U.S.-based DoorDash. As part of the process, Deliveroo has suspended its previously announced share buyback program. The company operates across markets including the U.K., France, Italy and Singapore. DoorDash, which primarily serves the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, is seeking to expand internationally through the deal.
- Escalate Capital Partners, a private credit and growth equity investment firm with $1.3 billion of invested capital, announced the closing of its fifth fund, Escalate Capital V, LP at $350M. Limited partners in Fund V include J.P. Morgan Investment Management, TD Bank, Cadence Bank, Regions Bank, and Truist Community Capital, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Truist Bank. Austin-based Escalate Capital has completed its first two investments from Fund V, totaling $35M. Consistent with the firm’s investment focus, Fund V invests in rapidly growing later-stage companies in the tech, software, services, and healthcare sectors across the U.S.
- Allied Industrial Partners, a Texas-based private equity firm focused on the lower-middle market, has closed its oversubscribed debut fund, Allied Industrial Partners I-A and I-B LP, at its $300M hard cap. The fund surpassed its initial target of $250M. The firm invests in companies within various industrials subsectors, including industrial rentals, manufacturing, distribution, environmental services and critical infrastructure.
- Agrippa, an AI-powered, broker-free platform connecting CRE capital seekers and providers, has secured up to $2M in strategic investment from its sister company, Augustus. Funded through Augustus’ $7.5M debut QOF, the investment will fuel hiring and fast-track development of Agrippa’s proprietary AI engine, “Marcus.”
- D. E. Shaw group has raised $1.3B for D. E. Shaw Diopter Fund II, a private credit-focused fund. Diopter II is expected to primarily pursue capital optimization investments, which are designed to help financial institutions enhance balance-sheet and business-model efficiency. External investors in the first Diopter fund contributed $550 million. With the closing of Diopter II, the D. E. Shaw group has raised more than $5 billion for its private credit-focused funds, which include its Alkali Series.
