People

Sterling National Bank, a New York-based subsidiary of Sterling Bancorp, has hired Joseph Costanza as senior vice president of the asset-based-lending division and Patricia Hrotko as senior vice president of the marketing group.

Mr. Costanza, 58, will be responsible for managing the bank’s asset-based-lending business and for managing and increasing the bank’s share in that market.

He was the Northeast/mid-Atlantic regional manager for Chicago-based LaSalle Business Credit LLC for 10 years.

Ms. Hrotko, 44, will be responsible for coordinating Sterling’s advertising campaigns, online presence and direct-marketing efforts. She was vice president, director of marketing for First Morris Bank and Trust in Morristown, N.J.

Structured Portfolio Management, a Stamford, Conn.-based investment adviser, has named Donald Sussis, 59, senior vice president for business development and director of marketing communications, a new position.

He was an outside consultant to SPM through his firm, Interested Inc. of New York.

Lincoln National Corp., the Philadelphia-based parent company of Lincoln Financial Group, has appointed Alyce Shaw, 43, head of internal sales; Jeffrey E. Grant, 38, senior national sales manager for the variable annuity wirehouse/regional channel; and R. Kirk North, 35, senior national sales manager for the Edward Jones Choice Plus outlet.

Ms. Shaw was vice president and head of the annuity sales desk and advanced annuity sales at the U.S. operations of ING Groep NV of Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Mr. Grant is responsible for the continuing expansion of Lincoln Financial Distributors’ status in the wirehouse channel. He was national sales manager of LFD’s VA independent- planner channel, responsible for the distribution of the American Legacy and Choice Plus lines of variable annuities.

Mr. North, 35, now senior national sales manager, is responsible for building and developing the newly created Edward Jones Choice Plus outlet for LFD: recruiting top talent, developing the strategic relationship between LFD and St. Louis-based Edward Jones, and overseeing tactical sales operations. He was Eastern divisional sales manager of the American Legacy independent-planner channel at LFD, managing 13 wholesalers from New York to Florida.

Hanlon Investment Management, an Egg Harbor Township, N.J.-based investment management firm, has hired Stephen H. Slack Sr., 63, as a regional vice president.

Based in Bristol, Tenn., he will be calling on the independent-broker-dealer channel, marketing Hanlon’s money management services to advisers in the Southeastern United States.

Mr. Slack brings more than three decades’ wholesaling experience from such firms as Lord Abbett & Co LLC, the Delaware Group and Salomon Brothers Asset Management.

The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. in New York has appointed Robert H. McCooey Jr., 41, to lead new listings and initial public offerings; he will continue his role as head of its capital markets group.

In this expanded role, he is responsible for managing Nasdaq’s efforts to attract U.S. listings, including initial public offerings and switches from other exchanges.

Additionally, Mr. McCooey will continue to manage its efforts to engage private-equity firms, investment banks and institutional investors on key Nasdaq issues, initiatives and services — including capital raising options and exchange listings.

Delta Global Advisors, a Huntington Beach, Calif.-based investment adviser, has hired Peter Holst as managing director of private-client services.

Mr. Holst, 48, has run his own investment firm for the past two years. A 15-year industry veteran, he previously served as senior vice president with Oppenheimer & Co. in New York, where he managed middle-market institutional and hedge fund relationships.

Mr. Holst is relocating to California to oversee Delta Global’s division catering to wealthy investors. He will be responsible for building up the firm’s existing practice, hiring new advisers, adding branch offices and helping to expand the firm’s specialty-product line around its traditional focus on international markets.

Mr. Holst also will become a voting member of the firm’s investment policy committee.

Gerken Capital Associates, a San Francisco-based alternative-asset-fund manager, has appointed Mary Lu, 34, associate portfolio manager for its GCA Greater China Fund, part of the firm’s group of emerging-markets hedge funds.

Most recently, she was an investment analyst for Shoreline Investment Management Co., Palo Alto, Calif.-based Hewlett-Packard Co.’s $16 billion investment management subsidiary.

Earlier, Ms. Lu was risk manager for Los Angeles-based Camden Asset Management, a $3 billion convertible-arbitrage hedge fund, and worked in Hong Kong for the capital markets group of New York-based Citigroup Inc.

XTF Global Asset Management LLC in New York has named Tom Scuccimarra head of sales and distribution.

Mr. Scuccimarra, 50, will be responsible for distributing XTF’s exchange traded funds via a variety of distribution channels, including insurance companies and financial advisers. He brings to XTF nearly 20 years’ sales experience, including 10 years with American Skandia Life Assurance Corp. of Shelton, Conn.

Most recently, Mr. Scuccimarra was principal of E2 Financial Distributors LLC, a Milford, Conn., company focused on raising capital for hedge fund, private-equity and insurance asset managers. From 1995 to 2005, he served in a number of senior sales positions for American Skandia.

In his last position as divisional sales manager, he was responsible for managing two wholesaler divisions and was liaison to select financial institutions, mutual fund and annuity subadviser alliances, and independent broker-dealers.

Wilshire Associates Inc. of Santa Monica, Calif., has appointed Lawrence E. Davanzo president.

Mr. Davanzo, 54, first joined Wilshire Associates in 1977 and founded the consulting business unit in the early 1980s. From 1977 to 1991, he helped build the firm during a time when revenue grew significantly.

Mr. Davanzo left Wilshire Associates in 1991 to found Asset Strategy Consulting of Los Angeles, which merged with Plan Sponsor Exchange in 2000 to form InvestorForce, a Wayne, Pa.-based Internet technology platform serving institutional investors.

He rejoined Wilshire in October 2004, and since January 2005 had been senior managing director in charge of Wilshire Funds Management.

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