US alternative credit provider CIFC Asset Management has named Asha Richards as its new general counsel and hired Sound Point Capital Management’s former chief compliance officer Lily Wicker as the firm seeks to strengthen its legal and compliance team.

Richards is promoted from her previous deputy GC role, replacing the outgoing Julian Weldon, while Wicker joins as a managing director, CCO and associate general counsel. The CCO role had previously been held by Weldon. The firm said it bifurcated the roles as it expands its asset base and product offering globally, as well as to help it better navigate the ever-evolving regulatory landscape.

Steve Vaccaro, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of CIFC, said: “Throughout her tenure at CIFC, Asha has proven herself a skilled legal practitioner and leader given her deep knowledge of private fund operations and spearheading of our DE&I (diversity, equity and inclusion) and ESG (environmental, social and governance) initiatives.”

Richards has been with CIFC for seven years, joining in 2015 from CFL Holdings where she was general counsel and chief operating officer. She also spent more than four years as general counsel and chief compliance officer of Brookfield Asset Management’s private funds group. Prior to her in-house career, Richards was an associate at Kirkland & Ellis and Shearman & Sterling.

Wicker, meantime, spent three-and-a-half years at Sound Point, first as deputy CCO and then being promoted to the CCO role in July 2020. She previously worked at Golden Tree Asset Management and was also vice president and compliance officer at Brookfield Asset Management, overlapping with Richards’ time at the firm. She started her career at Goldman Sachs, supporting the fixed income trading desk.

Vaccaro said: “Lily has extensive relevant experience at numerous well-established alternative credit and financial services firms and an approach that perfectly aligns with CIFC’s culture of compliance.”

Last month, private equity firm KKR hired Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s M&A co-head Kathryn King Sudol as its new GC, replacing David Sorkin, who is moving aside to become the buyout firm’s chief legal officer.