Brown Brothers Harriman & Co, the venerable US private bank, has appointed former IBM senior executive Douglas Maine as a senior advisor to the firm, focusing on private equity investing.

In his previous roles, Mr Maine worked at IBM between 1998 and 2005, joining as chief financial officer after a 20-year career at MCI Communication Corp.

Mr Maine currently serves as a director and chairman of the audit committees of Alliant Techsystems and Rockwood Holdings Corporation.  He is also a director and member of the audit committee of BroadSoft, a privately held provider of VOIP software applications to telecom service providers. He sits on the boards of a number of other firms.

Founded in 1818, BBH says it is the oldest and largest privately held bank in the US, and structured as a limited partnership.