Joe Sweeney is a former owner and now a strategic director at Corporate Financial Advisors, LLC, a middle-market investment banking firm which specializes in providing merger and acquisition advisory services, capital sourcing, exit planning, and general corporate advisory services.
Joe has had a unique and interesting career. He has successfully blended his love of business and his passion for sports to accomplish positive results for himself and for his clients. He has a wealth of hands-on business experience. Joe has owned and operated four manufacturing companies and has more than three decades of experience in the business and sports worlds. Prior to acquiring an equity position in Corporate Financial Advisors, he was founder and president of SMG, a sports marketing and management firm that specializes in assisting and representing dozens of coaches and pro athletes (including three-time NFL MVP Brett Favre) in securing lucrative contracts and marketing deals.
Joe was also president of the Wisconsin Sports Authority and has served on 28 boards of directors over the past 30 years and is currently active on six including Wintrust Financial Corporation (WTFC), the Bradley Center Sports and Entertainment Corporation, The University of Notre Dame Graduate Alumni Board for the Mendoza College of Business, Dielectric Corporation, DMT Corporation, and Town Bank. Joe received his BA from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota where he graduated with honors in Industrial Psychology and his MBA from the University of Notre Dame. Joe is a successful investment banker specializing in mergers and acquisitions, a very active private equity investor, and a nationally renowned speaker and author.
Based on the success of his New York Times bestseller, #2 Wall Street Journal and #1 USA Today top selling business book, Networking Is a Contact Sport (BenBella Books), Joe has given hundreds of keynote addresses worldwide to a variety of businesses and top corporations such as Northwestern Mutual,
General Electric, Wells Fargo, CUNA Mutual, Manpower Group, Merrill Lynch, Minnesota Wild NHL team, Morgan Stanley, Rockwell Automation, Travelers Insurance, UBS, the U.S. Navy SEALs, and numerous universities. Joe was also the keynote speaker for the GE World Leadership Conference in Buenos
Aires, Argentina.