Evercore exec joins start-up placement shop

A founding partner at investment banking advisory firm Evercore Partners’ fundraising group, Dana Pawlicki, has left to join start-up placement shop Stonington Capital Advisors.

Stonington focuses on raising mid-market buyout funds $1 billion in size or smaller. The firm was launched about six months ago by Justin Garrod, who worked with Pawlicki in Lehman Brothers’ placement business, according to a statement from Stonington.

At Evercore, Pawlicki worked as managing director and head of origination and project management. He managed institutional investor relationships in the US Northeast and Midwest.

Pawlicki and Garrod are working with Patrick O’Meara, founder of Profor Securities, who will work as senior advisor to Stonington and assist on fundraising assignments, the firm said.

“Increasingly, everyone needs help, and there’s only so much bandwidth at the larger agents,” Pawlicki told Private Equity International Tuesday. “Fundraising processes are continuing longer than they used to, and people are doing more diligence, they’re being more selective.”

Evercore added a fundraising arm after it acquired the private funds business of Neuberger Berman in 2010. Evercore senior managing director Richard Anthony heads the private funds group.