Senior Investment Banking Professionals
James E. Bunn
Managing Director
Co-Head of Technology Services Investment Banking Group
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Mr. Bunn joined Raymond James in 2009. Most recently, he was a managing director and the head of financial services technology and Technology Services investment banking of Lane, Berry & Co. International. Prior to Lane Berry, Mr. Bunn was with Citigroup Global Markets for six years in the electronic financial service group focusing exclusively on the financial technology, payment and transaction processing industries. Mr. Bunn received both his undergraduate degree and his MBA from the University of Michigan.
Joseph H. Estes
Managing Director
Co-Head of Technology Services Investment Banking Group
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Mr. Estes joined Raymond James in 2005 as head of the Technology Services Investment Banking Group, which focuses on companies that provide information, financial, outsourcing, human capital and processing services. Mr. Estes’s experience includes 24 years in investment banking, most recently serving as head of JPMorgan’s investment and private banking practices in the Southeast. He opened the Hambrecht & Quist investment banking office in Atlanta in 1999, and subsequently co-headed JPMorgan’s software and services investment banking practice nationally. Mr. Estes also served as a member of JPMorgan's technology, media and telecommunications operating committee. From 1985 to 1998, he was responsible for the technology and communications investment banking practice of Robinson-Humphrey. Mr. Estes’s previous experience also includes four years at Bain & Company, IBM and Shattuck Hammond Partners. He graduated with honors from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Science in Economics, and received a Master of Business Administration in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Patrick D. Curran
Managing Director
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Mr. Curran joined Raymond James & Associates in 2009. Prior to joining Raymond James, Mr. Curran was a Managing Director of Lane, Berry & Co. International, where he focused on financial services technology, technology, business services and financial services companies. Mr. Curran was also the Head of Private Equity for Lane Berry and oversaw the firm’s merchant banking activities. Before joining Lane Berry, Mr. Curran was a Partner at Great Hill Partners where he specialized in technology enabled business services investments. He has also worked for UBS Securities as Head of IT Services Corporate Finance (formerly UBS Warburg Dillon Read), Wasserstein Perella & Co. and Bankers Trust Company. Prior to Wall Street, Mr. Curran was with Ernst and Young where he received his CPA. Mr. Curran received his BS from Boston College in 1984 and his MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1991.
J. Stephen Hufford
Managing Director
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Mr. Hufford joined Raymond James in 2008. Within the firm’s Technology Services practice, he is actively engaged in its financial technologies, payments and transaction processing initiatives. He has more than two decades of investment banking, legal, corporate development and operational experience. In addition to his service as an investment banker, Mr. Hufford’s professional experiences include roles as a partner of a major Southeastern law firm, Hunton & Williams; a senior corporate development executive for two NASDAQ-listed technology companies; and the co-founder of two successful start-ups in the financial services and technology arena, VerticalOne Corporation and Proficient Systems, Inc., both of which were venture-funded and achieved successful exits. He graduated with highest honors from James Madison University with dual degrees in political science and Russian language, and received his JD from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Jonathan D. Steele
Managing Director
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Mr. Steele joined Raymond James & Associates in 2009. Within the firm’s Technology Services group, he covers sectors including digital marketing, information services, human capital management and financial technology. Prior to Raymond James, Mr. Steele was a co-founder of a boutique investment banking firm, Lane, Berry & Co., which was acquired by Raymond James. Mr. Steele also worked for Credit Suisse, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) and Ernst & Young. Mr. Steele has over 13 years of investment banking experience and has worked on over 50 transactions that span mergers, acquisitions, corporate divestitures, public equity and debt financings and private equity capital raises. Mr. Steele graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BBA in finance and computer applications.
Brendan T. Ryan
Senior Vice President
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Mr. Ryan joined Raymond James and Associates in 2009. Prior to joining Raymond James, Mr. Ryan was a Vice President at Lane, Berry & Co. International focusing on the capital markets technology, transaction processing and the managed/IT services sectors. Before joining Lane Berry, Mr. Ryan was a Summer Associate in Bear Stearns’ Leveraged Finance Group. Prior to that, Mr. Ryan was an Associate and Analyst with Landmark Partners where he concentrated on the firm’s private equity secondary acquisition program with specific focus on the venture capital and leveraged buyout markets. Mr. Ryan received his AB from Bowdoin College in 1999 and his MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business in 2005.
Chip M. Kelso
Senior Vice President
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Mr. Kelso joined Raymond James Technology Services Investment Banking Group in 2006. Prior to Raymond James, he was an investment banking associate at Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin. While at Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Kelso was responsible for engagement management and analysis within the firm’s investment banking product area, which included mergers and acquisitions, private placements, financial opinions, and restructurings. He also previously worked as a financial analyst in Houlihan Lokey’s Atlanta office. Mr. Kelso holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina, where he graduated with honors.
Kate MacLeay Crespo
Vice President
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Ms. Crespo joined Raymond James in 2009. Most recently, she was a vice president at Lane, Berry & Co. International where she focused on financial technology, Technology Services, and consumer products and services. Prior to that, Ms. Crespo was an associate at First Albany Capital where she focused on public and private equity financing and M&A advisory for emerging growth companies, and she also interned in the new business development group at DePuy Mitek, a Johnson & Johnson company. Ms. Crespo received her BA from Colby College and her MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where she graduated as a Tuck Scholar.