Bill Burgess joined Sandler O'Neill in February 2009 as a Managing Director in its Investment Banking Group and became a Principal in 2011. Based in the firm’s Chicago office, Mr. Burgess has extensive industry experience and maintains a specific focus on mergers & acquisitions and capital raising for depositories and insurance institutions.
Since joining Sandler O'Neill, Mr. Burgess has been involved in a number of transactions for depository institutions, including First National of Nebraska’s sale of its merchant acquiring business, FirstMerit Corp.’s acquisition of George Washington Savings and Midwest Bank & Trust, and equity capital issuances by FirstMerit, Wintrust, MB Financial, Marshall & Ilsley and Whitney Holdings, among others.
Prior to joining Sandler O’Neill, Mr. Burgess was a Managing Director in the Financial Institutions Group of Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he worked in investment banking for over 10 years. As a senior investment banker, he was responsible for coverage of Midwestern financial institutions, including over 35 publicly traded companies. Mr. Burgess advised clients on a wide range of transactions, including Fifth Third Bancorp in its acquisition of First Charter; Sears Roebuck in its sale of Sears Credit to Citigroup; Household International in its sale to HSBC Holdings; and U.S. Bancorp in its merger with Firstar Corp. Over the course of his career, Mr. Burgess has been involved in more than 15 domestic and cross-border M&A transactions whose total value exceeds $55 billion and over 20 capital underwriting and corporate finance transactions with proceeds of over $15 billion.
Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Mr. Burgess was a Lieutenant in the United States Navy from 1994-1998. His military service included leading a 135-man division on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk and two deployments to the Persian Gulf in support of U.N. no-fly zones over Iraq. He was awarded Navy Commendation and Navy Achievement Medals for exemplary performance and leadership during his deployments in the Persian Gulf, South America and the Caribbean.
Mr. Burgess holds a Masters of Business Administration in Finance from the Graduate School of Business at The University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in economics with honors and distinction from the United States Naval Academy.