KPMG recruits Diamond Castle CFO

• Linda Grogan is returning to KPMG as a tax managing director from private equity firm Diamond Castle Holdings. Grogan was chief financial officer and chief compliance officer, where she was responsible for financial statement oversight, tax planning and compliance, as well as benefits and people management. 

• KPMG added two other hires to its alternative investments team in New York. Camille Asaro, who joins from accounting firm Rothstein Kass, has been hired as an audit partner. And Jay Freedman, formerly the chief tax officer at Chilton Investment Company, will take on the role of federal tax principal. 

• Lastly, KPMG hired Michael Cross as director of account relationships as the firm expands its alternative investments team in the Southeast of the US. Cross, who will split his time between Nashville and Atlanta, will be responsible for managing client relationships and developing new business with hedge funds, private equity firms and real estate funds. Prior to joining KPMG, Cross was national director of business development for hedge funds, broker dealers, and mutual funds at peer audit and accounting firm BDO.

• iLEVEL, the cloud-based software provider has launched iLEVEL Mobile, an iPad application with a customizable dashboard that enables users to securely monitor portfolio companies, funds and cash transactions. iLEVEL Mobile is also designed to give users secure access to data even when they are not connected to the internet.

• Consulting and advisory firm Kinetic Partners appointed Douglas Shulman and Scott Kelly to its regulatory compliance practice in New York. Shulman and Kelly join as director and associate director respectively. Shulman joins from investment management firm Two Sigma where he was chief compliance officer. Kelly joins from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, an independent securities regulator, where he was a principal examiner.

• Investment bank Houlihan Lokey is offering its institutional investor clients a way of disposing of illiquid financial assets. The bank's newly-created illiquid financial asset practice will incorporate the firm’s existing secondary advisory unit, and will act for banks, insurance companies and other asset-heavy financial institutions seeking to dispose of loan pools, stalled private equity funds, limited partnership interests, minority equity positions, among other illiquid asset classes. The practice will be led by secondary advisory group co-heads Jeff Hammer and Paul Sanabria, with staff additions planned in New York, London and Hong Kong.

• BNY Mellon, the investment services firm, has launched a distribution ‘waterfall’ service for private equity funds. Distribution waterfalls in a private equity fund establish how proceeds from realized investments will be divided between investors and the fund manager. BNY will use algorithms to calculate a private equity fund’s distributions and automate the waterfall. 

• In December Christian Fritsch will join financial advisory firm Lazard as a managing director and head of restructuring Germany. Fritsch joins from investment adviser Anchorage Capital Europe, where he led its German business.

• Private Equity Headhunters, a private equity recruitment firm, plans to launch an initiative that will help educate private equity and venture capital executives about online scams. Private Equity Headhunters said that clients have been reporting that shady outplacement and marketing agencies will often charge their candidates thousands of dollars in return for claiming to help them find a job.

• Deutsche Bank hired Jason Sheller as head of sales for fund services in the Americas. Sheller, who joined as a director from JP Morgan, will be based in New York and reports to Simon Behan, global head of fund services sales. In his new role, he leads the bank’s sales efforts to hedge funds, private equity funds, and real estate funds as well as overseeing traditional fund service sales in Latin America.

• Fund administrators Aztec Group named John Gavey as chief operating officer. Gavey replaces Carol Wilson, co-founder of the Aztec Group, who retired earlier this year. Gavey joins from State Street where he led its European private equity and real estate fund accounting teams. 

• Valuation specialists Duff & Phelps named Jacob Silverman as president. Silverman was previously the company's CFO and global investment banking leader. Robert Bartell has been named as the company's new global investment banking leader. Noah Gottdiener will continue to serve as chairman and chief executive, responsible for directing the firm's overall strategy.