- Executive Heather Planishek has been appointed as CEO of Lambda, an AI cloud infrastructure provider. Planishek will lead Lambda’s global finance organization as the company continues to expand its infrastructure footprint and operations. Additionally, Planishek will oversee Lambda’s financial strategy, planning, accounting, treasury, investor relations, and business systems. As part of the transition, Planishek will be stepping down from her role at Lambda’s board of directors, after joining the board in July. Prior to joining Lambda, Planishek most recently served as COO and CFO at Tines, the intelligent workflow platform.
- Financial advisors Chris Sauve and Dominic Benetti have joined Cetera Financial and oversee about $147M in assets under administration at their Michigan-based firm Great Lakes Wealth Advisors. Sauve and Benetti joined Cetera after recognizing the demand for personalized financial guidance.
- Brad Jacob has been appointed as SVP of consultant relations and business development at Sage Advisory Services. Prior to joining Sage Advisory Services, Jacob served as the principal consultant at Corner Alliance, a government consulting firm.
- Steven Meier has been named vice chair of the institutional division at Neuberger Berman. Meier previously served as the firm’s CIO and deputy comptroller for its New York City Bureau of Asset Management. In this newly created role, Meier will work closely with Neuberger’s investment teams and institutional client coverage to deliver investment insights and provide leadership to U.S. public pension funds and other global institutional allocators. Meier will join the firm’s asset allocation committee, which is a cross‑disciplinary group that reviews and refines the firm’s market outlook.
- Financial advisor Waheed Siddiqui has joined Cetera Financial’s Avantax. Siddiqui has joined the firm Rockville, MD-based RIA Prestige Global Private Wealth. Siddiqui, who brings over 20 years of industry experience, joined Avantax because he wanted to provide “comprehensive” financial planning and expand his firm. Before joining Cetera, Siddiqui previously served as VP of wealth management and a senior wealth advisor from Citigroup Global Markets, where he managed about $216M in assets under administration.
- Aleka Bhutiani has been named managing director and head of communications and brand for Strategic Value Partners, an alternative investment firm. Prior to joining Strategic Value Partners, Bhutiani served as the director of strategic communications at Golub Capital.
- Financial advisor Melissa Mirabile has joined LPL Financial’s employee advisor channel Linsco by LPL to launch Albany, NY-based Forest Lake Wealth Partners. Mirabile, who was previously affiliated with UBS Wealth Management, managed about $280M in advisory, brokerage and retirement plan assets. Forest Lake Wealth Partners provides financial planning services to high-net-worth families, business owners, and trade unions. The team includes wealth associate Casey Mirabile and business development associate Lars Olson.
- Motley Fool Asset Management, a subsidiary of Motley Fool Holdings, has rolled out three new ETFs. The funds include the Motley Fool Innovative Growth Factor ETF, Motley Fool Value Factor ETF, and Motley Fool Momentum Factor ETF. The funds all have an expense ratio of 0.50% and track indexes that reflect Motley Fool’s “evidence-based investing principles” in the composite factor.
- Zeplyn, an artificial intelligence wealth tech provider, has debuted a new platform, dubbed Agent Nexus. The platform comprises specialized AI agents that can answer various questions relating to a financial advisor’s responsibilities, with the help of CRM, email, and documents.
- Monroe Capital, a private credit asset manager, has launched its Monroe Capital Enhanced Corporate Lending Fund. The fund, MLEND, aims to deliver timely income and “attractive” risk-adjusted returns that are less correlated with public markets. The Fund focuses on various industries, including technology and software, business services, and healthcare, among others. The fund offers monthly subscriptions, quarterly liquidity windows via discretionary share repurchases and Form 1099 tax reporting.
- Truist Wealth, the private wealth division of Truist Financial, has partnered with InvestCloud, a wealth tech platform, to integrate InvestCloud’s digital wealth solutions to provide clients with a “holistic” view of their financial activities and to manage and execute trades.
- Alto, a self-directed IRA platform, has partnered with Canopy, a management solutions platform. The collaboration would allow investors to use self-directed IRAs to invest in private offerings directly through Canopy. Through the partnership, when investors choose Alto as their IRA custodian through Canopy’s platform, it would allow for their sensitive information and signatures to be integrated securely between the two platforms.
- Denver-based Shelton Capital Management, a multi-strategy asset manager, has acquired Memphis-based Stringer Asset Management, an investment firm. As part of the acquisition, Shelton will acquire all $650M of Stringer’s assets, boosting its total assets under management to $7B. Stringer’s entire team, which is led by president and CIO Gary Stringer, will remain unchanged. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
- First Eagle Investments will be acquiring Diamond Hill Investment Group, a boutique investment management firm. As part of the acquisition, First Eagle will acquire all outstanding shares of Diamond Hill for $175 per share in an all-cash transaction, valuing the firm at about $473M. Following the close of the transaction, Diamond Hill will maintain its headquarters in Columbus, Ohio and operate under its existing brand. First Eagle’s investment capabilities include equity, fixed income, alternative credit, and multi-asset strategies.
- Crunchbase, an intelligence solutions provider, has partnered with Fusion by JP Morgan to incorporate its proprietary data and predictive intelligence into Fusion’s private market data solutions. The collaboration brings Crunchbase’s live private market data and AI-powered predictions into Fusion’s institutional investment platform. Fusion is JP Morgan’s cloud-native data technology platform that provides institutional investors with data management, analytics, and reporting across both public and private markets.
- Samba TV, an AI-powered media intelligence provider, has secured $60M in venture debt from Horizon Technology Finance Corporation, an affiliate of Monroe Capital. The funding will be used to accelerate growth with AI-related initiatives in media and advertising. The financing will also support the scaling of its global operations and expansion of strategic partnerships. The transaction features a venture debt facility from Horizon with an initial close of $30M, and an uncommitted accordion of up to $30M to support future growth objectives and accelerate initiatives.
- Los Angeles-based Integrity Growth Partners, a growth equity firm, has raised $220M for the closing round in its latest fund, exceeding its targeted goal of $200M. The oversubscribed fund received capital from StepStone Group, Oxford Financial Group, and Olympus Ventures.
- Opifex-Synergy, an equipment rental and infrastructure services provider, has secured $1.05B in new financing to boost its capital base and “enhance” its ability to serve customers across major infrastructure, industrial, and institutional commercial projects. Opifex-Synergy will use the capital to expand its role as a single-source partner, including “modernizing” its equipment offerings, and expanding relationships with enterprise clients. The financing package includes $550M from the company’s debt issuance in the public bond market, as well as $500M in asset-based lending facilities with a $150M accordion, both led by JP Morgan.
- Avocet Partners, an insurance-focused investment and operating platform, has launched with $500M of equity capital from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Managementand Lane42 Investment Partners. In addition to Avocet’s launch, the platform will be acquiring EMC National Life Insurance from EMC Insurance. Avocet plans to use the capital to enhance EMC Life’s operations and support new growth initiatives. Avocet’s acquisition of EMC Life is set to close next year, and EMC Life will be renamed at or shortly after the completion of the acquisition.
The post People & Company News, Week of December 12, 2025 appeared first on Connect Money.
