James J. Dunne, III
USINFO | 2013-07-03 11:26
Senior Managing Principal
Jimmy Dunne is Senior Managing Principal of Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P., and heads the firm’s Executive Committee. He co-founded Sandler O’Neill in 1988 with the senior management team of Bear Stearns’ Financial Services Group. Today, Sandler O’Neill is the largest independent full-service investment banking firm focused on the financial services sector.
While Mr. Dunne oversees Sandler O’Neill’s long-term strategy and growth, he also plays a very active role in many of the firm’s key client relationships. Under his leadership, the firm has built upon its longstanding strengths in fixed income, capital markets and investment banking, and has expanded its efforts in research, equity sales, trading and mortgage finance. In addition to its New York headquarters, Sandler O’Neill has established offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, and an affiliated mortgage finance company in Memphis.
Mr. Dunne has been a crucial contributor to Sandler O’Neill’s investment banking practice. Among others, he was instrumental in advising Comerica Inc. in its merger with Sterling Bancshares, Inc.; Capitol Federal Financial in its conversion from a mutual holding company into the stock form of organization; PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. in its acquisition of National City Corp.; Countrywide Financial Corp. in its merger with Bank of America Corp. and Compass Bancshares, Inc. in its merger with Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.
On September 11, 2001, Sandler O’Neill lost 66 of its 171 partners and employees in the World Trade Center attacks, including Herman Sandler and Chris Quackenbush, two of the three executives who ran the firm. Mr. Dunne, who had been Managing Principal with responsibility for all aspects of the day-to-day operations, spearheaded the firm’s recovery process and set the tone for its determination to succeed. Currently, Sandler O’Neill has a total of more than 300 professionals in its various business units, is a market maker for approximately 425 financial stocks, and writes research on more than 300 companies.
Mr. Dunne is a frequent financial industry commentator and is often invited to speak on leadership, management and the financial services sector to business, academic and civic organizations.
Mr. Dunne began his 35-year career on Wall Street after graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. In 1978, he started at L.F. Rothschild’s Bank Service Group and joined Lehman Brothers in 1982. Two years later, he continued on to Prudential Bache and in 1986 became part of Bear Stearns’ Financial Services Group.
Mr. Dunne is an avid golfer and active with numerous charitable organizations. He is a member of the University of Notre Dame Board of Trustees. He serves on the Board of Directors of the NYU Langone Medical Center, Jacob Marley Foundation and Chief Executive Leadership Institute at Yale University. He also serves on the Notre Dame Wall Street Leadership Committee.
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