People moves and key promotions in securitisation

This week’s roundup of securitisation job swaps sees Starwood Capital Group appoint a new president, as Jeffrey Dishner prepares to transition to a new role. Elsewhere, Siepe has added two structured finance professionals to its leadership team, while Accunia Credit Management has rehired a former senior portfolio manager as head of investments.

Jonathan Pollack is set to join Starwood Capital Group beginning in 2025 as its president, strengthening the firm’s executive leadership team as it prepares for its next chapter of growth. He joins Starwood Capital from Blackstone, where he served as global head of the firm's real estate credit business (BREDS) since 2016.

Pollack was also a member of Blackstone's real estate executive committee and investment committee, as well as Blackstone's operating committee. Prior to joining Blackstone in 2015, he was the global head of commercial real estate at Deutsche Bank and established the bank as the top CMBS issuer and a leading special situations investor, following the global financial crisis in 2008.

Jeffrey Dishner, president and coo of Starwood Capital, will remain in his role as president until Pollack joins the firm, at which time he will assume the role of vice chair and head of strategy and business development.

Meanwhile, Starwood subsidiary Starwood Property Trust has hired Stellar Management’s Pawan Melgiri as md to head up its newly launched mid-market loan originations business. Melgiri leaves his role as an investments-focused partner at Stellar after nine years with the firm. The new division is part of Starwood’s plans to capitalise on regional banks’ retrenchment from the mid-market lending space over the past 12 months, according to statements made by Starwood Capital ceo Barry Sternlicht in a recent quarterly earnings call.

Siepe has recruited two new structured finance experts to its leadership team as it strengthens its CLO and fund compliance services. Shelly Torkelson and Teresa Lange Pierson join the Siepe team as the respective new directors of software-as-a-service and compliance, each bringing more than twenty years of expertise to their new roles. 

CDO and CLO industry veteran, Torkelson, joins Siepe from Virtus Partners where she served as md, overseeing its CLO, fund and middle-office services. Pierson joins from BNY Mellon, where she spent more than two decades focused on compliance in the CLO marketplace – and most recently led the group’s management of CLO and ABS analytics.

PensionDanmark’s David Altenhofen is to return to Accunia Credit Management as head of investments. Altenhofen leaves his position as a credit-focused senior portfolio manager at PensionDanmark after five and a half years with the pension fund, during which he specialised in CLOs and high-yield bonds. He spent almost four years at Accunia between 2014 and 2018, when he left his position as a senior portfolio manager, and has also worked at Danmarks NationalBank and Danske Bank.

Brevet Capital has promoted Mei-Li da Silva Vint to chief commercial officer and Mark A Egert to chief compliance officer, both in its New York office.

In her new role, da Silva Vint will oversee product development and the commercial strategies of Brevet, as well as having continuing co-management responsibilities for the firm’s platform origination business. She joined the business in 2016 as chief compliance officer after four and a half years at Morgan Stanley, and previously worked as a corporate attorney at McDermott Will & Emery.

Egert is promoted from director of Compliance and md of the legal and compliance team. He joined Brevet in 2022, leaving his role as chief compliance officer at Voyager Digital after one year with the company. He also previously worked at Yorkville Advisors Global, JP Morgan Chase & Co and Brown Brothers Harriman.

And finally, DLA Piper has hired Derwin Jenkinson as a London-based partner in its finance, projects and restructuring practice. Jenkinson leaves his position as partner at Paul Hastings after three and a half years with the firm. He focuses on the energy and infrastructure sectors and works across all levels of the capital structure, including structured finance, project finance, capital markets and acquisition and term debt, as well as restructurings and special situations. Jenkinson was previously a partner at Ashurst and spent 12 years at Clifford Chance.

Corinne Smith, Kenny Wastell, Claudia Lewis