U.S. Jobs' Roundup: Election week sees hiring lull

With all eyes on the nation's number one job slot last week, not many firms chose to make their own hiring announcements. Investment banking was very quiet, although Banc of America Securities (BAS) made two equity hires.

C.J. Sylvester was brought in as a principal and senior equity research analyst based in New York. He will cover the global pharmaceutical sector and joins from Schwab SoundView Capital Markets. Stephen F. Mahedy also joins as senior equity research analyst, heading up the software equity research team. Most recently, Mahedy was an equity research analyst at Duquesne Capital Management, where he had covered the global technology and industrial sectors.

Fox-Pitt, Kelton, the investment bank specializing in financial institutions worldwide, announced the appointment of Mark Viklund as managing director in the U.S. corporate finance team. His concentration will be in the banking and financial services sector. Viklund joins from FTN Financial Securities Corp.

Beyond New York, Boenning & Scattergood announced the arrival of James S. Still as a managing director in its investment banking group. Formerly the owner of RDC Advisors, a small to middle market investment advisory firm, Still joins Boenning's expanding investment banking practice. He will focus on the advisory business to privately-held and publicly-traded companies in the middle market, an area of rapid growth at the New Jersey firm.

On the west coast, Stone & Youngberg, a fixed-income securities firm, hired Lester Graves Lennon as a managing director in its Los Angeles office. Lennon has 25 years of public finance experience and strong ties to large municipal bond issuers in the Western region. Prior to joining Stone & Youngberg, he helped direct business development initiatives for several major securities and investment banking firms, focusing his efforts in the western U.S. with emphasis on California.

UCBH Holdings, the holding company of United Commercial Bank, the leading California bank serving the ethnic Chinese community, announced the appointment of Joseph Lee as president and CEO of UCB Investment Services, the full-service broker-dealer subsidiary of UCB. Lee joins from Sinopac Financial Services (USA), the brokerage affiliate of Far East National Bank where he was also president and CEO.

Venture Partners, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, named Chris Rust as a general partner. He will specialize in early-stage investments in semiconductor, software, systems and subsystems start-ups targeting consumer and networking applications. Rust comes to the firm from Petaluma-based Mahi Networks, where he held the position of president, CEO and co-founder for the past three years.

Newbridge Capital, a private equity firm specialising in Asian investments, has promoted Timothy D. Dattels to managing director and hired John T. Olds as a senior advisor. Both executives will be based in San Francisco. Prior to joining Newbridge, Olds served for three years as CEO of the Development Bank of Singapore.

Mellon Financial Corporation made Dave Cameron director of US equity for The Boston Company Asset Management (TBCAM). In this newly created role, Cameron will be responsible for oversight of portfolio management, investment research, and risk management activities related to the firm's U.S. equity strategies across all styles. Cameron has been head of TBCAM's U.S. core and growth team since joining the firm from Standish Mellon Asset Management in July, 2003.