Jeffrey E. Johnston

Jeff Johnston is a Managing Director and Head of the Diversified Mergers & Acquisitions Group of KeyBanc Capital Markets (KBCM). Jeff’s team is primarily responsible for Industrial, Real Estate, Oil & Gas and Consumer M&A transactions at KBCM. Jeff also serves as Chairman of both the Valuation and Fairness Opinion Committee and the Mergers & Acquisitions Commitment Committee and is a member of KeyCorp’s Executive Counsel. He joined the firm in 1999 and has sector focuses in Industrial & Business Services, Industrial Distribution and Industrial Manufacturing. His mergers and acquisitions experience includes public and private sell-sides, buy-sides, minority sales, corporate divestitures, management and leveraged buyouts, fairness opinions, hostile tender offer defense and going private transactions. He has successfully completed transactions for numerous public and private corporate clients as well as notable private equity and financial sponsor clients nationally.

Jeff also serves as the sole Director of Clearwater UK, a leading M&A and debt advisory firm with deep corporate and private equity relationships. Acquired by Key in 2026, Clearwater UK represents Key’s strategic entry into Western Europe. The firm has sector teams covering the business services, consumer, energy and utilities, financial services, healthcare, industrials, real estate, and technology industry verticals. A successful collaboration partner with KBCM since 2020, Clearwater UK serves clients across four offices: London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, England.

Jeff received his MBA with a concentration in Banking & Finance from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and a BBA in Finance from Ohio University.