People and Company News, Week of April 4, 2025
- Kate Burke has been named CEO of Allspring Global Investments, a global asset management firm with $605B in assets under advisement, effective July 1. Burke joined Allspring in 2023 as president and began service as a director on the company’s board. CEO Joe Sullivan will continue to serve as Executive Chair of the Board. Prior to joining Allspring, she was COO and CFO of AllianceBernstein.
- Justin Bayern has joined Alliant Insurance Services as SVP within its Americas division. Prior to joining Alliant, Bayern served as a producer and Colorado market leader for a large global insurance brokerage firm, where he was responsible for expanding market reach and delivering risk management solutions.
- Walt Bettinger, former CEO of The Charles Schwab Corp, was appointed by Clayton Dubilier & Rice as senior advisor, financial and technology services to CD&R-managed funds. Bettinger’s primary focus will be working with CD&R’s financial services and technology industry verticals to advise on strategy and value creation initiatives and assist in evaluating investment opportunities. He will continue to serve as the co-chair of the board of directors of Schwab, along with founder Charles R. Schwab.
- John McCormick, former Blackstone alum, was named senior advisor by Growth Credit Partners. He will provide strategic guidance to the London firm’s leadership and investment teams while also investing in the firm’s maiden fund. McCormick led Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM), which was the hedge fund multi-manager business of The Blackstone Group that under his tenure grew to $80B. He left the firm in 2021, after 17 years where he was responsible for GP Stakes & Seeding, Global Business Development, Global Strategy, and Product Development.
- Richard W. Lavey has been appointed COO by The Hanover Insurance Group. Lavey will maintain his current responsibilities leading personal lines and core commercial, which includes the company’s small and middle market businesses. He will also continue to lead sales and distribution, corporate underwriting, marketing and risk solutions functions. Prior to joining The Hanover in 2004, Lavey was VP of strategic initiatives for The Hartford’s property and casualty organization and VP of strategic marketing for The Hartford’s select customer division.
- Plum Pointe Wealth Management has acquired Williams Estate & Financial Group, strengthening its capabilities in financial planning and wealth management. Jay Williams, founder, joins as a partner. Williams’s expertise – spanning legal, financial planning, and client education – aligns with Plum Pointe’s holistic approach, particularly his tax planning knowledge.
- AXA IM Prime has acquired a minority equity stake in Monroe Capital as part of its GP stakes strategy, which focuses on investing in established private market firms. The deal was completed alongside Wendel Group, which has taken a majority stake in Monroe. Monroe Capital, a player in the U.S. lower middle market private credit space, manages approximately $20.3B in assets across direct lending, alternative credit, real estate, and venture debt strategies. AXA IM Prime’s GP stakes strategy targets private market managers, offering minority investments while allowing firms to retain operational independence.
- First Manhattan, an independently owned and operated investment advisory firm, announced that Grand-Jean Capital Management, an RIA with over $500M in assets, has joined the firm. Steven Grand-Jean joins as a managing director and portfolio manager. He and his team will continue to work closely with clients while leveraging First Manhattan’s in-house research capabilities, wealth planning expertise, and robust operating platform. Grand-Jean founded the firm in 1990. He previously served as a general partner and managing director at Salomon Brothers, as well as a general partner at Montgomery Securities, leading the M&A division.
- Goldman Sachs has launched G-PE, an open-ended private equity fund designed to give HNW individuals access to buyout, growth, secondary and co-investment opportunities. G-PE is the latest addition to Goldman’s “G-Series” funds, which already includes infrastructure, real estate and private credit strategies, Bloomberg reported. The firm plans to expand alternative investment distribution via third-party wealth platforms to $8 billion in 2025, up from $5 billion in 2024.
- Advisor360° officially debuted Parrot, its generative AI-powered meeting assistant that goes beyond note-taking and meeting transcription to craft follow-up emails and automatically populate CRMs with action items and insights. (Advisor360° acquired the company Parrot AI earlier this year.) Parrot will be available as part of Advisor360°’s enterprise platform later this spring. Parrot is the company’s second standalone offering for advisors—in March, it introduced CRM solution Tandem.
- Prophetic, a software platform for real estate development opportunity analysis and land acquisition, announced its expansion and completion of its seed funding round led by Entrada Ventures with participation from SilverCircle, Progression, and others. Prophetic replaces outdated tools with automated site planning, statewide development maps and zoning maps and extracted zoning control data, and outreach tools — all in one place. Launched in July 2024, Prophetic is available in California, Oregon, Washington, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Nevada. In the coming months, Tennessee, Maryland, and other states will come online.
- Linden Capital Partners, a Chicago-based healthcare private equity firm, has closed Linden Structured Capital Fund II with $400M of commitments, exceeding the prior structured capital fund size of approximately $355M. SCF II, like Linden’s first Structured Capital Fund, is focused on investing in via securities with debt- and equity-like features. The fund has made eight investments to date, including its first full realization at the end of last year.
- Crestview Partners, a private equity firm, has closed a continuation fund that includes two Crestview Partners III LP investments, VA Capital Company LLC (Venerable) and ATC Drivetrain Investors LP / ATC Drivetrain Group LLC, with nearly $600M of commitments. Apollo’s Sponsor and Secondary Solutions (Apollo S3) business led the transaction with additional investments from funds managed by Hamilton Lane. The continuation fund will support investments and acquisition opportunities for Venerable and ATC, while also providing liquidity to Fund III limited partners.
- BC Partners Credit, the private credit arm of BC Partners, has closed its flagship Special Opportunities Fund III, securing over $1.4B and surpassing its original target. SOF III, which is around 20% larger than its predecessor fund SOF II, is BC Partners’ largest special opportunities fund to date. The fund will follow the same strategy as SOF II by providing capital services to entrepreneurs and sponsor-backed companies, asset-backed financing and liquidity solutions primarily across North America.
- Level Equity Management has secured $1.4B for its newest growth equity funds, Level Equity Growth Partners VI (LEGP VI) and Level Equity Opportunities Fund (LEOF 2025). The funds had their final close on Monday at their collective cap, marking an increase from the $1.1B raised in 2021 by the previous vintages. Since its founding in 2011, Level has amassed $4.5B across its equity and credit operations. Level plans to maintain its established approach of identifying and partnering with high-growth, capital-efficient software businesses through both minority and majority investments.
