We at the NAIC hope everyone has enjoyed the holiday season with loved ones and is as excited as we are about the prospects for the New Year. As always, the NAIC would like to thank our members for their support as we continue our mission and advocate for greater diversity within the industry. It was a wonderful 2017 and we are all looking forward to an even better 2018.

NAIC Membership Continues to Grow

The significant addition of new members brings total NAIC membership to 47 firms. This increase is a testament to the value of the organization and the benefits of membership. You may have noticed from our monthly emails that NAIC has enjoyed an influx of new members in 2017 — 13 in total. In fact, the 2017 NAIC Annual Private Equity and Hedge Fund Conference had the highest number of attendees in the history of the event. Our ranks swelling with talented diverse professionals is a significant development. With more members, we gain better access, influence and critical data that illustrates the talent within our ranks. This ensures that we will continue to be heard by allocators and other decision-makers. We will continue to provide the platform to showcase benefits for allocating with diverse investment professionals while serving as advocates on their behalf.

NAIC Welcomes New Members!

Astra Capital Management - https://www.astracapitalmgmt.com and PAAMCO (Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company) https://www.paamco.com have joined NAIC. Astra is, a Washington, D.C.-based, private equity firm, has joined the NAIC. Astra invests in growth businesses in the communications and technology services sectors, focusing on unique opportunities to execute Transformational Growth Investments in businesses with proven concepts, positive free cash flow, and enterprise values up to $500 million. Headquartered in Irvine, California, with a global footprint that extends across North America, South America, Europe and Asia, PAAMCO is known for its approach to hedge fund investing, which focuses on delivering performance from early-stage opportunities, controlling costs, and protecting client assets. In addition, it offers fixed income investment solutions through Horizons and long-only active equity investing in select emerging markets through PAAMCO Miren.

2017 — The Year of SEC Exams

Last year, the OCIE was busy trying to meet its goal of examining 40% of all registered investment advisors. SEC examiners were focused on many different areas om 2017, but several seemed to be of particular interest in each of the exams: Sales Practices, Outside Business Activities, Fees and Expenses, Whistleblower Policies. In this installment of Compliance Corner, NAIC partner ICSGroup details what regulators reviewed within each of these categories and share their learnings to help firms prepare for SEC exams in 2018.

NAIC Members in the News

Vista Completes Acquisition of Data Protection Solutions Provider

Datto, a provider of total data protection solutions for businesses globally, announced it has finalized its acquisition by Vista Equity Partners and the simultaneous merger with Vista portfolio company Autotask. Datto protects business data and provides secure connectivity for tens of thousands of the world's fastest growing companies. Datto’s Total Data Protection solutions deliver uninterrupted access to business data on site, in transit and in the cloud. Thousands of IT service providers globally rely on Datto’s combination of pioneering technology and dedicated services to ensure businesses are always on, no matter what. Datto is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut and has offices in Monroe, Rochester, Boston, Portland, Toronto, London, Singapore, Sydney, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam.

Clearlake Capital Portfolio Company Acquires Global IT Services Provider

ConvergeOne, a leading global IT services provider of collaboration and technology solutions, announced that it acquired Alexander Open Systems (AOS), a leading IT consulting group headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas. A Microsoft Gold Partner, AOS specializes in architecting, implementing and supporting an expansive portfolio of solutions including cloud, collaboration, data center, networking, security, virtualization, business intelligence and more. ConvergeOne serves as a trusted advisor to more than 11,000 customers, including 57 percent of the Fortune 100 and 42 percent of the Fortune 500 across the healthcare, finance, manufacturing, education, and energy industries.

On the Move

Palladium Appoints New Managing Directors, Principal

Palladium Equity Partners has promoted Luis Zaldivar and Caleb Clark to the positions of Senior Managing Director and Managing Director, respectively, and hired Chris Allen as a new Principal. Mr. Zaldivar, who joined Palladium in 2004, serves on the boards of directors of the Palladium portfolio companies Del Real, HealthSun, TransForce, DolEx, Raben Tire and Hy Cite. Earlier in his career, he was a Vice President of corporate development and strategic investments at Univision and worked for Lehman Brothers and Accenture’s strategic services consulting practice. Mr. Clark, who joined Palladium in 2014, serves on the boards of directors of the Palladium portfolio companies Jordan, Cannella, and GoodWest. Prior to Palladium, he was a Vice President at Windjammer Capital Investors, Genstar Capital and Deutsche Banc Alex Brown. Mr. Allen joins Palladium from Arlon Capital Partners, a middle-market investor in food and agriculture businesses. Prior to Arlon, he was an investment professional at GenNx360 Capital Partners and Windjammer Capital Investors. Mr. Allen began his career as a consultant at Bain & Co.

Siris Capital Group Names Executive Partner

Siris Capital Group, LLC announced that Bethany Mayer has joined Siris as an executive partner. Ms. Mayer was most recently senior vice president of Keysight Technologies and president of Keysight’s Ixia Solutions group. In her new role at Siris, Ms. Mayer will work closely with the firm’s investment professionals and other executive partners to identify and validate potential investment opportunities for Siris as well as assist in the oversight and operations of Siris’ portfolio companies. Prior to joining Ixia, Ms. Mayer was senior vice president and general manager, Network Functions Virtualization, for Hewlett Packard, Inc. Ms. Mayer also served as senior vice president and general manager of HP’s Networking Business unit. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Santa Clara University and an MBA from California State University, Monterey Bay.