Baird Adds Jim Conniff

Baird has added Jim Conniff to the firm’s investment banking industrial team as a managing director. He will be based in Chicago. Jim returns to Baird from Goldman Sachs where he was a senior member of Goldman Sach’s Industrial Banking team. Earlier in his career, Conniff was a director in Baird’s Industrial Investment Banking team.

PRESS RELEASE
Baird, an employee-owned, international capital markets, private equity, wealth and asset management firm, today announced that Jim Conniff is set to join the firm’s Investment Banking Industrial team as a Managing Director, focusing on coverage of large, diversified Industrial companies. With 20 years of investment banking experience, Conniff will further strengthen Baird’s existing Industrial practice, working alongside the firm’s other senior sector bankers to enhance overall idea flow to and service of large companies that operate across multiple industries. He will be based in the firm’s Chicago office.
Jim returns to Baird from Goldman Sachs where he was a senior member of Goldman Sach’s Industrial Banking team. Prior to his nearly seven years at Goldman Sachs, Jim was a Director in Baird’s Industrial Investment Banking team, where he supported origination, execution and idea generation for M&A and capital raising assignments. Jim holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“We are very pleased that Jim has decided to return to Baird to continue his career,” said Paul Rogalski, Head of Baird’s Consumer and Industrial Investment Banking teams. “He has extensive experience with and knowledge of the Industrial space – particularly with large, diversified Midwestern companies. We are excited for and confident of the contributions he will make to the team as he works alongside our existing Industrial bankers.”
Steve Booth, Director of Baird’s Investment Banking group added: “Baird’s senior sector bankers have very deep expertise, which consistently enables us to give our clients the best advice. Adding Jim in this role will enable Baird to better coordinate and share that sector expertise with companies that cover a diverse range of industries. And because our business operates on a single P&L, we are structured to bring that extensive sector knowledge to our clients in the most integrated fashion.”
Jim’s appointment represents Baird’s continued emphasis on investing in the growth of its global M&A platform. In recent months, the firm has added several senior level bankers, including Chris Harned in Milwaukee, Paul Bail and Jonathan Bourn in London, Jason Abt and Owen Hart in San Francisco, Jim Hemmer and Rob Rosenfeld in Chicago and David Schechner in Boston. These and other investments in talent and capabilities have paid significant returns as Baird’s Investment Banking department posted record revenues in 2011, 42% higher than the firm’s previous record set in 2007.