Catherine Lawton J.D.

Kate Lawton is a Principal in the Investment Banking Group of Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P., a full service investment banking firm serving the financial institutions industry. Since joining Sandler O’Neill in 1993, she has been responsible for providing a wide range of investment banking services to community banks and thrifts, including general strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions and public and private capital raising transactions. She has over 30 years’ experience serving financial institutions, including two years as a certified public accountant on the audit staff of KPMG and nine years as an attorney in the financial institutions group of a large New York law firm. Ms. Lawton holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Georgetown University and a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law. She is a frequent speaker at industry and regulatory conferences on issues impacting financial institutions .