Nigel Savage MacEwan (born March 21, 1933) is an American

investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

who served as

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

and chief executive of Kleinwort Benson North America from 1987 to 1993. Prior to Kleinwort Benson, he was the president of investment banking and co-chairman of private equity at

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

from 1978 to 1987 and the president of White Weld & Co. and its subsidiary Credit Suisse White Weld from 1977 to 1978, when the firm merged with Merrill Lynch.

Early life

Nigel S. MacEwan was born on March 21, 1933. His father was an Episcopal priest. MacEwan graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

''magna cum laude'' in 1955 and received an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

in 1959.

Business career

After graduating from

, he began his career as an associate at

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

before moving to White Weld in 1962, where he would eventually be named president. At White Weld, MacEwan's most prominent deal was the IPO of

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

Stores in 1970, alongside Stephens Inc. In 1978, White Weld merged with Merrill Lynch and MacEwan was named head of the investment bank and co-chairman of Merrill Lynch - White Weld Capital Partners, a $400 million

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

fund. In 1987, MacEwan left Merrill to join Kleinwort Benson, a British investment and merchant banking firm, where he was named chairman and chief executive of its U.S. operations. MacEwan was a board member at different times of

Kleinwort Benson Kleinwort Benson was a leading investment bank that offered a wide range of financial services from offices throughout the United Kingdom and Channel Islands. Two families, the Kleinworts and the Bensons, founded two different merchant banks in ...

, and the New York branch of the

Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) is a United States industry trade group representing securities firms, banks, and asset management companies. SIFMA was formed on November 1, 2006, from the merger of the Bond Mar ...

. He was also an adjust professor of business and finance at

New York University Stern School of Business The New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business (commonly referred to as NYU Stern, The Stern School of Business, or simply Stern) is the business school of New York University, a private research university based in New York City. I ...

from 1973 to 1975. MacEwan is a member of

Kappa Beta Phi Kappa Beta Phi () is a secret society, best known for its surviving Wall Street chapter that is made up of high-ranking financial executives. The purpose of the organization today is largely social and honorific. The current honor society meets o ...

Personal life

He married Judith Sperry, the granddaughter of

Sperry Corporation Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroughs ...

founder

Elmer Ambrose Sperry Elmer Ambrose Sperry Sr. (October 12, 1860 – June 16, 1930) was an American inventor and entrepreneur, most famous for construction, two years after Hermann Anschütz-Kaempfe, of the gyrocompass and as founder of the Sperry Gyroscope Company. ...

on September 2, 1995. His previous two marriages ended in divorce. MacEwan and his wife reside primarily in

New Canaan New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. About an hour from Manhattan by train, the town is considered part of Connecticut's Gold Coast. The town is bounde ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, but they also maintain a home in

Islesboro, Maine Islesboro is a town in Waldo County, Maine, United States, comprising Islesboro Island and several smaller islands. The population was 583 at the 2020 census. It has a summer colony accessible by state ferry service from Lincolnville Beach th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacEwan, Nigel 1933 births Living people American investment bankers Harvard Business School alumni Merrill (company) people Morgan Stanley employees Yale University alumni