International law firm Reed Smith has hired restructuring and bankruptcy lawyer Omar J. Alaniz to be a partner in the firm’s Financial Industry Group in its Dallas office. Alaniz was previously a partner at local firm Baker Botts. At Reed Smith, he will join a team of attorneys representing debtors, creditors, lenders, and other stakeholders. The firm has more than doubled its staff in the last year.
Alaniz brings 17 years of experience to the firm, including work on the American Smelting and Refining Company bankruptcy, which involved nearly $10 billion of asbestos, environmental, labor, toxic tort, and bond claims and the helicopter company Bristow Group bankruptcy.
“My first interaction with Reed Smith was in the ASARCO case where the firm represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors,” Alaniz said. “Since then, I have observed the firm’s growth on a global scale, its expanding footprint in Texas, and the formidability of its financial restructuring practice, which have attracted close friends and colleagues.”
Alaniz holds several accolades from national and state legal organizations. He was included in the American Bankruptcy Institute’s 40 under 40 list of insolvency professionals in 2017, and in 2019, he joined the National Bankruptcy Conference, which advises Congress on bankruptcy law. Alaniz is a member of the board of the Dallas Hispanic Law Foundation. He also served as an adjunct professor at SMU’s Dedman School of Law for several years.
Alaniz received a Bachelor of Arts from Austin College and his JD from the University of Texas School of Law.
National design firm KAI Enterprises has hired Sanja A. Zilic to be a senior interior designer in its DFW office. With eight years of experience, Zilic worked as an interior designer for local firm Perkins & Will. She was also a junior designer with Houston firm Planning Design Research.
“Her portfolio spans a range of markets and project types,” KAI managing partner Brad Simmons said. “As an interior designer, she has shown the ability to fluidly move between diverse design challenges with a restrained clarity in her approach and outcome.”
Zilic has her bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Houston College of Architecture and holds a LEED advanced certification.
Property management firm Hartman—with offices in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio—has hired Anthony Trollope as its new director of interactive marketing. Trollope joins the firm with more than 14 years of digital marketing leadership experience, including a stint as director of digital marketing at medical device company AMID in Houston, where he was responsible for a seven-figure digital ad budget in addition to leading the firm’s marketing team and overseeing strategic operations across digital platforms.
Trollope also founded Trade Intellect Limited, the operator of Europe’s largest online B2B wholesale networking community and marketplace. Under Trollope, the company doubled its user base for four consecutive years and led the business to private equity acquisition.
“I am delighted to be joining Hartman and helping to achieve its mission to $2 billion in assets by 2025 while delivering exceptional investor returns,” Trollope said.
Trollope holds a Bachelor of Science degree in E-commerce from the University of Portsmouth, England.
Brian Trego is joining Vari as the Senior Vice President of Product. He brings deep expertise in the furniture industry, previously, as Vice President of HNI, the parent of HON and Allsteel, Trego implemented product strategies that drove growth and improved profitability.
In his new role, Trego will lead the company’s product strategy and development from research to execution.
“Brian has more than 20 years of experience in different areas of product development ranging from product marketing to engineering. I know he’ll raise the bar as we continue to deliver the innovative and flexible workspace solutions our clients are looking for,” said Vari CEO Jason McCann. “We wanted to find a servant leader that would uphold our values, coach our teams, and elevate our product line. Brian embodies all of that and more.”
He received his MBA from the University of Iowa—Henry B. Tippie College of Business and got a BS in mechanical engineering at Iowa State University.
Send your company’s personnel moves to online managing editor Bianca R. Montes at [email protected].
