Investment Banking Director​/Vice President, Business Development & Referral Partnerships

Investment Banking Director / Vice President, Business Development & Referral Partnerships Overview

CMA is a leading middle-market advisory firm with an investment banking arm that advises privately held and family-owned businesses on mergers and acquisitions, recapitalizations, capital raises, divestitures, and other strategic transactions. With more than 100 years of experience and a hands-on, senior-level approach, CMA combines deep industry expertise, extensive buyer relationships, and an owner-investor perspective to help clients maximize value and achieve their strategic objectives.

CMA is seeking a New York-based business development professional to help manage and expand an established wealth-management referral channel with a leading national financial institution, while also driving direct outreach and relationship development with privately held business owners. This is a relationship-driven business development role, not a generic sales position. The right candidate will be polished, proactive, highly organized, and comfortable developing trust with financial advisors, entrepreneurs, family-owned businesses, founders, and senior decision-makers.

The role will focus on identifying and developing potential M&A advisory opportunities across CMA’s three core industry verticals:
Industrial Technology, Consumer Products, and Business Services. The role will involve meaningful travel for advisor meetings, market visits, industry conferences, business-owner meetings, and targeted outreach initiatives.

• Manage and expand an established wealth-management referral program, including regular engagement with financial advisors and related contacts.
• Develop direct relationships with owners and executives of privately held and family-owned businesses.
• Identify, qualify, and help advance potential advisory opportunities.
• Support targeted industry outreach campaigns across Industrial Technology, Consumer Products, and Business Services, including building prospect lists, coordinating messaging, and following up with potential clients.
• Coordinate market visits, advisor meetings, business-owner meetings, conferences, and other new business development initiatives.
• Work closely with senior bankers to prepare for meetings, develop talking points, and tailor messaging for referral sources and prospective clients.
• Maintain a disciplined pipeline of referral relationships, direct owner conversations, follow-ups, and potential opportunities.
• Represent the firm professionally in external meetings, events, and relationship-building settings.

The ideal candidate is someone who can build relationships that create real opportunities. The right person will be comfortable managing sophisticated referral relationships, but will also have the initiative and persistence to develop direct conversations with business owners and be able to distinguish attractive engagements for the firm.

This is an opportunity to help build and institutionalize a meaningful business development function at a growing M&A advisory firm with focused industry.

The strongest candidates will likely have experience in one or more of the following areas:

• Private wealth management
• Direct business development with privately held companies
• Strategic partnerships
• Investment banking origination
• Family office or private client relationship management
• Middle-market services, consulting, or financial services business development
• Industry-focused business development across CMA’s core verticals

• 8+ years of relevant experience in business development, wealth management, financial services, investment banking, strategic partnerships, consulting, or a related field.
• Strong ability to build trust with financial advisors, business owners, entrepreneurs, family-owned companies, and senior executives.
• Experience developing new relationships through direct outreach, market visits, conferences, referral networks, and targeted campaigns.
• Ability to communicate credibly about business-owner issues and strategic alternatives.
• Interest in developing industry expertise across CMA’s core verticals.
• High degree of polish, judgment, discretion, and follow-through.
• Comfortable with regular travel.
• Organized and process-oriented, with the ability to manage multiple relationships, campaigns, and follow-up processes at once.
• Experience with M&A, private capital, or business-owner advisory is helpful but not required.

Candidates must either currently hold, or be willing to obtain, the required FINRA licenses. Acceptable licensing paths include SIE + Series 7 + Series 63 or SIE + Series 79 + Series 82 + Series 63. CMA Group will consider sponsoring the licensing process for otherwise qualified candidates, with the expectation that all required licenses will be obtained within six months of start date.