JPMorgan Chase hires Lissauer for activism defense

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

NEW YORK, ‌Aug 5 (Reuters) - JPMorgan ​Chase ​is hiring Bank of America executive Amy Lissauer, a veteran adviser to companies facing pressure from activist investors, to ‌bolster its global shareholder engagement practice, according to a memo ⁠seen by Reuters.

JPMorgan said on Wednesday that Lissauer will join later this year as ‌the global head of Shareholder ‌Engagement and M&A Capital Markets (SEAMAC). She will be a global chair and be based in New York, the memo said.

She was global head ​of Activism & Raid Defense at Bank of America.

JPMorgan has over the last 18 months expanded its team that works with corporate ⁠clients under attack from prominent hedge funds that push for changes. Activism defense, once a nice-to-have ​add-on service, is now a lucrative business that major investment banks and many boutiques are scrambling to offer clients.

Activist ​investors stepped up campaigns against global companies ‌in the first half of 2026, with calls for businesses to sell themselves emerging as the most common ⁠demand, Barclays data showed.

Bank of America hired Lissauer from Evercore in 2019. Since then, she has advised companies including Southwest Airlines in its defense against Elliott ⁠Investment Management and Norfolk Southern its fight against Ancora Alternatives. At Evercore she worked ​with Bill Anderson, one of the industry's most prominent defense bankers.

The Financial Times first reported the move.

At JPMorgan she will report to Filippo Gori and John Simmons, co-heads ‌of Global Banking, the memo said, adding that "the SEAMAC senior leadership team will report to Amy."

Lissauer is the ‌latest in a string of bankers to leave Bank of America. The ⁠bank announced earlier on Wednesday ‌that technology banker Ed ​Liu has resigned and plans to join a competitor.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Mark Porter, Nick Zieminski and ‌Sanjeev Miglani)

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