J.P. Morgan announced that Jimmy Elliott, a 14 year veteran of J.P. Morgan, will become Global Chairman of Mergers and Acquistions and Jim Woolery will join the firm from Cravath, Swaine & Moore to become co-head of North America M&A with Chris Ventresca.
“Jim Woolery is a well-respected M&A adviser to top businesses across multiple industries. His extensive knowledge and experience is a great addition to our firm,” said Jes Staley, CEO of the Investment Bank. “I look forward to seeing this team use its collective strengths to serve our clients and to grow our business.”
The Investment Bank also will revamp its healthcare practice. Jeff Stute will become head of J.P. Morgan’s North America Healthcare coverage group. Stute has been the primary M&A partner and a member of the firm’s healthcare practice for 17 years. Robbie Huffines will become Vice Chairman of Investment Banking and focus on deepening J.P. Morgan’s relationships with the firm’s most important clients.
“We expect that these changes will allow us to offer even better service to our clients and we’re delighted that we and our clients will continue to benefit from Jimmy Elliott’s deep expertise and counsel,” said Kevin Willsey, co-head of North America Investment Banking.
“As one of J.P. Morgan’s senior partners at Cravath, we’ve had the opportunity to work closely with Jim Woolery and have a long, deep relationship with his firm. We are delighted that he will partner with Chris to further strengthen our leading M&A practice,” said Jeff Urwin, co-head of North America Investment Banking.
Woolery will join J.P. Morgan on February 7. He currently is a partner in Cravath’s Corporate Department, handling mergers and acquisitions, public company board of directors and general corporate matters. He is also chairman of the firm’s Business Development Group. His recent clients have included Affiliated Computer Services, Air Products & Chemicals, Crown Castle, National City, TXU and Universal Health, and he regularly represents investment banks in the U.S. Woolery received a B.A. cum laude from Wake Forest University and a J.D. from University of Kentucky. He joined Cravath in 1994.
Elliott will work with the firm’s most important clients on strategic transactions. He has served as head of J.P. Morgan’s Global M&A practice for more than five years and under his leadership, the firm rose to rank #2 in M&A fee wallet share. He has advised clients including Duke Energy, savofi-aventis and Exxon.
Elliott, Woolery, Ventresca, Stute and Huffines will report to Urwin and Willsey.
D.C.