Joseph R. Perella (born September 20, 1941) is an American financier. In 1988 he formed Wasserstein Perella & Co., and in 1992 he joined

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

as head of mergers and acquisitions, and then the chairman of the Institutional Securities and Investment Banking Group. In 2005, he left Morgan Stanley, and in 2006, he formed

Perella Weinberg Partners Perella Weinberg Partners is an American global financial services firm focused on investment banking advisory services. The firm was founded in 2006 by Joseph R. Perella, Peter A. Weinberg and Terry Meguid, and went public in 2021. It is head ...

Early life and education

Perella was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, to an accountant. Perella attended

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, is a private university, private research university. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer. Lehigh University's undergraduate programs have been mixed ...

on a full scholarship. During his time at Lehigh, Perella was a member of

Phi Kappa Theta Phi Kappa Theta (), commonly known as Phi Kap, is a national social fraternity that has over 35 active chapters and colonies at universities across 21 U.S. states. The fraternity was founded on April 29, 1959, at Ohio State University in Columb ...

, Fraternity for men. Following his sophomore year at Lehigh, Perella took several years off before returning and graduating from the university in 1964 with a degree in

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entity, economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activit ...

. After serving in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

and the

New Jersey Air National Guard The New Jersey Air National Guard (NJ ANG) is the aerial militia of the New Jersey, State of New Jersey, United States, United States of America. It is a reserve of the United States Air Force and along with the New Jersey Army National Guard, an ...

from 1964 to 1970, he attended and graduated from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

in May 1972 with a

Masters in Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

Career

In the fall of 1972, he was hired as an associate at

First Boston : ''For the company after its acquisition by Credit Suisse, see Credit Suisse First Boston (known as CSFB and CS First Boston)'' The First Boston Corporation was a New York–based bulge bracket investment bank, founded in 1932 and acquired by ...

, where he worked in the

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

department. He remained with First Boston until 1988 when he teamed up with associate

Bruce Wasserstein Bruce Jay Wasserstein (December 25, 1947 – October 14, 2009) was an American investment banker, businessman, and writer. He was prominent in the mergers and acquisitions industry, credited with working on 1,000 transactions with a total value ...

to create their own mergers and acquisitions advisory business as Wasserstein Perella & Co. Their company was at the forefront of the 1980s/90s boom in corporate takeovers, and Perella was described by the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' as "famed on Wall Street for transforming mergers and acquisition into a glamorous, moneymaking business in the 1980s". Joseph Perella left Wasserstein Perella in 1992/1993 to join

, where he was first head of mergers and acquisitions, and then the chairman of the Institutional Securities and Investment Banking Group. In 2005, Perella and other top executives resigned from Morgan Stanley in the wake of policy disagreements with Chairman Philip J. Purcell. Purcell soon resigned following more high level departures from Morgan Stanley. One of the deals Perella advised on following his departure from Morgan Stanley was advising on the Bank of America takeover of credit card company

MBNA MBNA Corporation was a bank holding company and parent company of wholly owned subsidiary MBNA America Bank, N.A., headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, prior to being acquired by Bank of America in 2006. History The former Maryland National ...

. In November 2005, Perella and former Morgan Stanley banker Terry Meguid announced that they were opening an investment banking boutique. On June 15, 2006, Perella announced the formation of a new financial services firm,

, based in New York and London.

Philanthropy

Perella is a

trustee. In 2003, he and his wife Amy, a survivor of

Hodgkin's disease Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the lymph nodes. The condition was named a ...

, donated $10 million to the College of Business and Economics to endow the "Perella Department of Finance" and several faculty positions. They have also an endowed scholarship fund for Lehigh students from the Newark, N.J. area, where Perella grew up. They also supported the construction of Rauch Business Center. In addition, the couple created "The Amy and Joseph Perella Professor of Medicine" at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. He is also a member of the National Italian American Federation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perella, Joseph R. 1941 births Living people American financial analysts American financiers American people of Italian descent American philanthropists Harvard Business School alumni Lehigh University alumni United States Air Force airmen New Jersey National Guard personnel