Kip R. Caffey
Managing Partner
Kip Caffey is the Managing Partner of Cary Street Partners where he is responsible for developing and executing the firm’s overall business strategy. He has worked in wealth management and investment banking firms in the Southeast for more than 30 years. As the Managing Partner, Kip Caffey defines his job very simply, “It is my responsibility to marshal the firm’s resources in support of our number one goal; to always produce a great result for our clients. I also believe that how you play the game determines whether you win or lose. That’s why you’ll find Cary Street Partners’ core values and beliefs framed and hung in every associate’s office.”
Despite what many on Wall Street might think, Kip understands Cary Street Partners is really in the relationship business. “In wealth management or investment banking, the objective of the advisor is to help the client define and achieve his goals”, he says. “That doesn’t happen in a single transaction that happens as a relationship is built over time.”
Personally, Kip has played a role in financing or advising some of the Southeast’s best companies. That list of organizations includes; Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, First Financial Management, Total System Services, Longhorn Steakhouse, O’Charley’s, Logan’s Roadhouse, Landry’s Seafood, J. Alexander’s, Advanced Telecommunications, Resurgens Communications, MindSpring Enterprises, Medifax, Education Networks of America and others.
Kip began his career in 1981 in the Corporate Finance Department of J. C. Bradford & Co. and became a partner there in 1990. In 1996, he opened the firm’s first satellite investment banking office in Atlanta. From 1999 to early 2004, Kip was a Senior Managing Director with The Robinson Humphrey Company and its successor, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, where he served as co-head of Investment Banking. In addition, he was a driving force behind the creation of that firm’s high-end wealth management business, Alexander Key, now part of SunTrust Securities. Kip currently serves on the Board of Directors of Caribou Coffee Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOU) and chairs its Audit Committee.
Kip is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the Harvard Business School.
