We got a thoughtful comment on Monday's post about the prospects for i-bankers making the
transition to corporate development work. The gist of it is that for both cultural and compensation issues, it's a lot easier for junior people to make the switch.
That fits with our own reporting, both in our cover story last September on
corporate development careers, and in a 2003 article published in The Deal as we were about to launch Corporate Dealmaker.
That article was called
"From making deals, to making deals work," and we spoke to multiple people who had made the switch from Wall Street to a corporate setting during the severe downturn that (as it turned out) was ending at that point.
It's worth revisiting amidst Wall Street's current contraction -- among other reasons, to see what's happened since to some of the folks in the story. Here's an update on two of them:
- Bob Jeffe, a former Credit Suisse First Boston energy banker, was hired by General Electric Co. CEO Jeff Immelt as senior VP, leading corporate business development, in December of 2001. He didn't stay too long, though. In November 2004 he returned to Wall Street as chairman of the corporate finance advisory group for Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. He was succeeded in the GE role by company veteran Pamela Daley.
- At the age of 35, Jeff Kip became VP of corp dev at Panera Bread Co. in St. Louis, having previously worked at UBS Warburg and Goldman, Sachs & Co. Among his reasons for moving: a lifestyle change, including more reasonable hours and an easier commute. Today he's the CFO at Panera, which unlike many restaurant chains is doing well.
We'll have more posts of these kinds of transitions soon, including a look at some of the jobs out there. -
Kenneth Klee
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Juergen Lasowski
And the winners are...
As a former banker, who now runs M&A for a Corp Dev group, let me say that the grass is always greener on the other side. Having to deal with other corp execs, that have their own agendas, and frequently axe acquisitions based on whatever strategy book they are reading that week, it is really tough to get deals done.
Bankers looking to make the move, buyer beware.