Who is Andrew Woeber? The lawyer Barclays hired to run its M&A business. This is the fourth piece in a series on the bankers who run Wall Street's largest mergers and acquisitions teams. The first looked at Tom Miles, global co-head of M&A at Morgan Stanley. The second looked at Stephan Feldgoise, head of global M&A at Goldman Sachs. The third looked at Anu Aiyengar, who ran JPMorgan's franchise before moving up to global chair. At Barclays things are done differently. Instead of an internal promotion, Barclays has been looking externally for its head of M&A. On April 8, 2025, Barclays announced that Andrew Woeber was joining as global head of M&A. The announcement described him as formerly a partner at Centerview. He is based in New York, sits on the Investment Banking Management Team, and reports to Cathal Deasy and Taylor Wright, the global co-heads of investment banking. He studied law at Harvard, economics at Stanford, and started his career at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. This was followed by leadership roles at Morgan Stanley, Greenhill and Centerview. Who runs M&A at Barclays? Two co-heads were in the job before Woeber. Gary Posternack asked to step back in 2024, to spend more time with clients, and became chairman of global M&A. He is still there. Ihsan Essaid, who had joined from Credit Suisse in 2021 and been made co-head with him in March 2022, became sole head that April. About six weeks later Essaid left to be the first finance chief at QXO, Brad Jacobs's building-products company. The role was open for close to a year. In April 2025 Barclays filled it from outside, with Woeber. The bank did not have anyone internally to promote. Essaid had gone to an industrial company, not to a rival bank, and Posternack had already left the operating role. How did Woeber get here? He started as a corporate lawyer at Cravath in New York, working on mergers, before he moved into banking. From Cravath he went to Morgan Stanley, then to Greenhill, then to partner at Centerview, where he advised chief executives on strategic transactions. The announcement describes him as formerly a partner at Centerview. His FINRA report shows that job ending in October 2022, then Industry Partners LLC until March 2025. In April 2025 he joined Barclays to run M&A. What is on his client list? Barclays' announcement names the companies he has advised on mergers and financing: Amphenol, Berkshire Hathaway, Blackstone, Clayton Dubilier & Rice, Comcast, Dolby, KKR, Safeway, Schwab, Sprint, Time Warner, Verizon, Volvo and Wells Fargo. What has Woeber said since he arrived? In September 2025, five months in, he said client mood had "shifted from caution to confidence and action," and that a deal above $100 billion in artificial intelligence would not surprise him within a year. "Big platforms are going to make big bets." In The Banker he said the bank was still investing "to strengthen Barclays' position as a durable, consistent, top global M&A practice." In January 2026 he sat with Deasy for a Barclays film about the outlook for the year. Since he arrived that is his public record: one interview, one quote, one film. No announcement since he arrived has named him as the banker on a deal. Is Barclays competing in M&A? The bank is certainly competing on the general M&A tables, but not near the top. In the first quarter of 2026 it was fourteenth in the Americas, on about $14.1 billion across 16 deals. Goldman was on $159.3 billion. Financial services M&A is a shorter list. It counts only deals for banks, insurers and asset managers. On that list Barclays was the top adviser by deal value in the first quarter of 2026, on $31.4 billion, up from eighth a year earlier. It remained first in the first half, on $37.3 billion, up 17.2 percent. Half of the deals were above $1 billion, including two above $5 billion. In that same first quarter the investment bank passed £4 billion of income for the first time. Advisory fees rose 78 percent, to £255 million. Equity capital markets income rose 31 percent. The advisory figure is still small next to the financing book. What does the bank want from the hire? On the appointment, Deasy said strategic advisory "forms the foundation of many of our most valued and long-standing client relationships, while also serving as an attractive and fee-based franchise for the Investment Bank." Barclays has treated a larger share of M&A as one of the income levers in its three-year plan. Advisory is the part of the investment bank that uses little capital. In the first quarter it was £255 million, against more than £4 billion of investment-bank income. What happens next? Posternack is still chairman. The operating job was empty for close to a year before Woeber arrived. First place in financial services is not the same as a top-five seat on the general table against Goldman, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. Will a hire from outside pay off if, a year and a half on, no announcement has named him on a deal?

Steve Swinney leaves role at QXO. Swinney had been appointed head of the LBM division at QXO following the company's acquisition of Kodiak Building Partners earlier this year. September 10, 2026 Longtime CEO of Kodiak Building Partners Steve Swinney announced he will leave QXO following the company's acquisition earlier this year. "After nearly 20 years in the building products distribution industry - first at ProBuild, then co-founding and leading Kodiak Building Partners for 15 years, and most recently leading the LBM Division of QXO following its sale this April - I have made the decision to step away from my role and begin a new chapter. After two decades in this industry, I can say without a doubt that it is the people who make it special. I've had the privilege of working alongside some of the best people I've ever known, and there are far too many to mention here. The past 20 years have been quite a ride. LBM Journal navigated the upheaval of the Great Financial Crisis, a period of massive industry consolidation, and the unprecedented disruption of the COVID era. Through it all, this industry continued to do what it has always done: show up, adapt, work hard and build. LBM Journal is a critical part of the fabric of its communities, helping build the homes, businesses and places where people live, work and pursue the American Dream. I'm particularly proud of what LBM Journal built at Kodiak. LBM Journal believed in entrepreneurship, collaboration, family, hard work and a locally led model that empowered people closest to the customer and the community. LBM Journal made plenty of mistakes along the way, but LBM Journal learned from them, grew together and ultimately built something enduring - creating tremendous value for its employees, partners, communities and investors. I've also become increasingly grateful for the system that makes that kind of entrepreneurship possible. Its constitutional republic and free-market economy have created generations of opportunity for people to build businesses, create jobs, generate value, support their families and give back to their communities. One of the things I hope to spend more time doing in this next chapter is helping preserve and strengthen those principles for future generations. And if you know me at all, you know that, above everything else, my faith and my family are what matter most to me. I am blessed with a wife, children and grandchildren who are far more than I deserve, and I could not have spent the last 15 years building Kodiak without Linda Swinney and my family beside me. I'm so excited for what comes next - the opportunity to spend more time making memories with the people I love most. I'm incredibly grateful for the people who have been part of this journey. The friendships, lessons, challenges and memories will stay with me always." Your Business Success Starts Here! Get the most important news and insights impacting your business.

QXO taps Honeywell veteran Ken West as president, COO. West will lead operations across QXO's growing building products platform following a series of major acquisitions. August 24, 2026 QXO has appointed Ken West president and chief operating officer as the building products company continues integrating and expanding a distribution platform that now spans insulation, specialty building products and other construction materials. He will report to CEO Brad Jacobs effective Sept. 1, 2026. West joined Honeywell in 2018 and rose to lead three major business segments within six years. Prior to leading Honeywell Process Technology, he served as president and CEO of the company's Energy and Sustainability Solutions segment, president and CEO of Honeywell UOP, and President of Honeywell Advanced Materials. In his most recent role, West helped shape Process Technology into a more growth-oriented business, including the spin-off of the independent company now known as Solstice Advanced Materials. He also led the acquisition of Sundyne and oversaw its integration with Honeywell's automation and digital platforms. Looking for a reprint of this article? From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today! JOIN TODAY To unlock your recommendations. Already have an account? Sign In