Baupost veteran joins Marblegate as COO

Distressed debt specialist Marblegate Asset Management has hired Adam Halpern as its chief operating officer. The firm also promoted general counsel and chief compliance officer Denise Wildes to partner. It’s the first promotion to partner since the firm was founded 13 years ago.

Halpern started his new role with the Marblegate in the past week. He will be responsible for managing the day-to-day internal operations of the firm, based in New York.

Prior to joining Marblegate, Halpern was COO of a DEI- and ESG-focused private equity firm for a year.

Halpern spent nearly a decade at The Baupost Group in a variety of management roles, most recently as director of business management for its Private Investment Group.

Before joining Baupost, Halpern was a director and global head of investment banking business planning and technology at Barclays Investment Bank.

Meanwhile, Wildes has been with Marblegate for eight years. Prior to joining Marblegate, she spent 24 years at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, most recently as special counsel in the Financial Restructuring Group. In that role, Wildes specialized in the insolvency and restructuring area, where she frequently represented hedge funds and other financial institutions in the purchase and sale of distressed debt and equity securities, distressed and par bank loans and trade claims in bankruptcy, focusing on the secondary trading markets.