Mr. Kirkland is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Global Financial Institutions Group at Morgan Stanley’s Financial Institutions Group in Investment Banking. The largest industry group within Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley, the FIG group includes 125 professionals around the world and has been a leader in its field for many years. Mr. Kirkland has been, at various times in the past, the head or co-head of the insurance practice, the bank practice, the European practice and the mergers and acquisitions practice.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 1986, Mr. Kirkland was Director of Card Marketing at American Express (1984-1986) and a Consultant at Booz-Allen and Hamilton (1982- 1984). Mr. Kirkland has advised many notable companies on M&A and capital raising over his years as a banker including, among others, St. Paul Travelers, Jefferson-Pilot, Barclays, Lloyds, John Hancock, CNA, Trust Company of the West, Swiss Re, Munich Re, General Re, Fortis, Prudential, Life, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Allstate, Manulife and Zurich Financial and Metropolitan Life.

Mr. Kirkland holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he was a JFK scholar in 1982, and a Bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, from which he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude in 1979. Currently a board member of The Hughes Foundation, Mr. Kirkland has been active on numerous charitable boards over the last decade. Mr. Kirkland is married to Lisa Hammersly, has three children and lives in New York City.