Independent mid-market institutional derivatives and securities dealer Conduit Capital Markets has appointed Rakesh Chhabra as chief financial officer. Previously he was finance manager at Knight Equity Markets International overseeing corporate accounting.

Fund of hedge funds Eddington Capital Management has named Andrew Popper as chairman. He succeeds Tim Ingram, who has served as since 2003, when he steps down later this year. Popper, who will also continue as group chief investment officer for SG Hambros Bank.

Investment management consultancy Laven Partners has appointed Robert Mirsky as managing director. He joins from Ernst & Young UK where he was a partner and co-leader of the European hedge fund practice.

Ramius has appointed David Thill, former managing director at K2 Advisors, as a managing director, and Daniel Lehmann, former director at K2 Advisors, as a director. Thill will be head of worldwide third party distribution and intermediary relationships and Lehmann will report to Thill. Steven Tholen, a director at Ramius who joined the firm in March 2008 from John A Levin & Co, will also report to Thill.

RBC Capital Markets, the corporate and investment banking arm of Royal Bank of Canada, has hired Nicolo Foschetti as a director in its structured interest rate sales group in London. He joins from Bank of America where he was principle, co-head of southern Europe regional sales. Foschetti will report to Avril Pomper, head of fixed income and currencies and financial products sales, Europe.

Trinity Fund Administration is to open an office in the Cayman Islands. Brad Cowdroy has been appointed head of the Cayman office and will have overall responsibility for local service offerings and the principal management of all North American account business. He joins from Goldman Sachs, where he was a vice president in fund administration services.

Omgeo, the global standard for post-trade efficiency, has hired three associates to support sales for Omgeo ProtoColl. Steve Anglin, Greg Ballesty and Antony Cure have all joined Omgeo. Anglin has been appointed sales support manager, Americas, based in New York. Based in Sydney, Australia, Ballesty has been appointed sales support manager, Asia Pacific. He reports to Marco Knaap, sales director, Omgeo ProtoColl. Cure is based in London and has been appointed sales support manager, EMEA, reporting to Marco Knaap.

Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research has rehired Steve Fleishman as a managing director and senior US utilities analyst, covering independent power producers and power generation companies. Fleishman was also named super sector head of Americas Energy Equity Research. Alex Kania, a member of the US utilities team remains in his current role and will report to Fleishman who joins from Catapult Capital Management where he was a senior partner and hedge fund manager for over two years, focusing on all aspects of analyzing and trading utility stocks. Fleishman will also join the Americas equity research management team as co-ordinator for research commercialisation. In this new role, he will work closely with Michael Rietbrock, deputy director of Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Americas Equity Research.

Geller & Company, a strategic financial advisory and wealth management company, has appointed Steve Fadem has joined as senior managing director and chief operating officer. Previously he was president and chief executive officer of The Relegence Corporation.

Offit Capital Advisors has named Christine Jurinich as a partner. She will be responsible for hedge fund research. Previously she was a managing director in the fund of funds business at BlackRock.

Spectrum Group Management, an opportunistic investor in the distressed, special situations and secured lending credit markets, has appointed David Bullock as senior vice president. He will take on a senior role in the firm's corporate distressed investment business. Previously he was at Advent Capital Management where he was a managing director responsible for most of the company's investments in distressed and special situation securities and bank loans.

Northern Trust has hired Mireille Andersson to head sales across the Nordic region from its office in Stockholm, Sweden. Andersson has worked for over 15 years at SEB most recently as head of global sales in Stockholm.