Willsey puts weight behind IPO

Kevin Willsey, (Finance ‘85) played a major role in the recent VISA IPO, the largest initial public offering in the U.S.

As Managing Director and Chairman of Global Equity Capital Markets for J.P. Morgan Chase & Company, Willsey personally closed the VISA IPO for J.P. Morgan. The sale brought in $17.9 billion, from which J.P. Morgan netted fees of $1.25 billion.

VISA offered its stock publicly on March 18 at an offering price of $44. The shares closed that day at $56.50, a surge of 28 percent. The success of MasterCard’s IPO in 2006 and the company’s positive share prices since it went public helped fuel enthusiasm for a similar step by VISA.

Willsey first joined J.P. Morgan Chase & Company in 1989, when he earned his MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. He worked as managing director for 11 years, beginning in the Latin American Mergers and Acquisitions Group. He has spent the majority of his career with this firm, assuming positions of increasing responsibility. In his current capacity, Willsey directly supervises all equity underwriting for J.P. Morgan worldwide.

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