George Johns

George Johns is a managing director in the financial services group at Piper Sandler.

Previously, he was a principal in the investment banking group of Sandler O'Neill + Partners, L.P. He spearheaded the firm's insurance investment banking activities, bringing over 30 years of experience to this role. Johns’ work encompassed merger and acquisition advisory and capital raising services for the life, property/casualty, reinsurance and insurance distribution sectors.

Since joining Sandler O'Neill in 2007, Johns advised the boards of directors of several publicly traded insurance companies on merger and acquisition transactions including, most recently, the sale of The Phoenix Companies, Inc. to Nassau Reinsurance Group Holdings. Johns also recently advised MetLife, Inc. in the announced sale of its captive retail agency force to MassMutual.

Prior to joining Sandler O'Neill, Johns headed the financial institutions corporate finance group at Wachovia Securities. Prior to Wachovia, he was co-head of the financial institutions investment banking team at Banc of America Securities for over five years. Johns started his career in the M&A Group at The First Boston Corporation and also worked in Salomon Brothers' Financial Institutions Group.

Johns holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.