Keith Meyers: Investment Banker and Armchair Psychologist – Navigating the Choppy Waters of M&A

Atlanta-based Keith Meyers, Managing Director at Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods (KBW), leads the firm’s new financial services group that serves clients in the specialty finance, mortgage finance, securities, alternative asset management, and financial technology sectors.

Mr. Meyers brings more than 17 years of relevant experience serving both strategic and private equity investors in the financial services sector. He came to KBW from Raymond James where he was a Managing Director in the Financial Services Investment Banking Group. Previously, he served as Head of the Financial Services and Transaction Processing Investment Banking Group at Morgan Keegan & Company. Earlier in his career, he worked in the business advisory and assurance practice at Deloitte.

Mr. Meyers has an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis.

Here is a glimpse into what Keith Meyers shared in his interview.

Mr. Meyers discusses the psychology of deal making: “Deals meander many different ways. Many times when we work with clients, this is the biggest transaction of their careers and transformative for the companies we work with. A lot can happen in a deal – positive or negative – so a lot of what we do is keep our clients calm. We joke that deals die 3 times before they close.”

Regarding the value and importance of a good team: “The way we look at it is, the more we train our team, the better they become and the more work they can take on. In today’s world, people have a lot of opportunities to move elsewhere.”