Commonfund CFO jumps to fund services provider – updated

4Pines Fund Services has appointed Commonfund‘s Celeste Barone as president and chief client officer, tasked with growing and maintaining client relationships.

Barone has been chief financial officer at Wilton, Connecticut-headquartered Commonfund and was previously managing director of finance and chief compliance officer at Pomona Capital, according to a statement.

Since 2017, she has also served as a member of the executive committee and CFO of the firm’s $12 billion private capital subsidiary Commonfund Capital, following more than two decades of finance and accounting experience in the private asset management industry.

Commonfund is an asset manager offering investment solutions to nonprofits, and has some $25 billion in assets under management. It is seeking $550 million for Commonfund Capital Secondary Partners III, according to Secondaries Investor data.

Barone’s duties are currently being assumed by internal personnel, a spokesman for the firm told Secondaries Investor via email.

“I joined 4Pines because of its unique position in the market – the business model is designed for CFOs by CFOs,” said Barone. “I know what it’s like to be in the CFO’s shoes and am excited about having the product and resources to provide such high-quality services.”

The fund services provider was launched in January 2020 following chief executive Mike Trinkaus’ sale of his previous fund services platform, Carta Fund Services, to Alter Domus.

4Pines recently partnered with Allvue Systems, which will be its fund accounting technology provider, as reported by sister title Private Funds CFO. The firm has also made some other recent appointments, including Jason North as head of product and Michael Stefanoni as leader of the firm’s AML/KYC and fund data operations.

– This report was updated with a spokesman’s comment in the fifth paragraph.