Coming Home

Jim Merli believes that although it has been more than three decades since he attended Montclair State, his college experience was not much different than that of the industrious, hardworking students at the Feliciano School of Business today.

Having lost his father when he was 18 years old, the idea of going out of state or to an elite private school was just not realistic financially. So Merli chose Montclair State for its affordability and proximity to his family’s home in Rutherford, New Jersey, from where he commuted. Merli’s determination and sacrifices paid off, as he was the first member of his family to graduate from college, paving the way for his success at several Wall Street firms.

Merli graduated in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in finance and marketing. After graduation, he started his career at Shearson, recalling, “My first job was on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center.” Through the years, he outlasted a number of mergers and acquisitions, starting with the Shearson acquisition of Lehman Brothers in 1984. Merli spent more than 25 years at Lehman Brothers rising through the ranks to become the global head of fixed income syndicate, where he raised capital for many blue-chip companies worldwide. Following the 2008 financial crisis and the subsequent upheaval at Lehman Brothers, Merli first moved to Barclays before joining Nomura Securities International in 2010.

Two years ago, Merli retired from Nomura, where he was managing director, global head of debt syndicate and head of global finance for the Americas.

During his 33-year career, Merli has helped companies around the world raise hundreds of billions of dollars in global capital markets so they could expand operations, diversify their businesses, make acquisitions and build new plants and equipment.

Today Merli is still busy, but in a new role at his alma mater as an adjunct professor, a member of the Feliciano School of Business Advisory Board, an executive in residence and a donor. He recently made a gift to the School to name an executive conference room. He has been married to his wife, Sandy, for 32 years and they have four children, all college graduates.

“I didn’t really appreciate the benefits and opportunities that I received from Montclair State until later in life,” says Merli. “My education certainly helped me achieve career and financial success, and so I wanted to give back and help some of the students that might be in a similar situation that I was in 35 years ago.”

He recalls that after graduation, he hadn’t set foot on campus for more than 20 years when a professor reached out to him to lecture about investment banking. That led to a former dean inviting Merli to join the board. When Merli decided to retire, Dean Greg Cant invited him to join the faculty. “I went from doing the occasional lecture to joining the board to teaching and now starting the student investment fund,” Merli says. “The more things I get involved in, the more I like the idea of giving back and seeing the benefits of that.”

Today Merli has high praise for the School and its facilities. “It’s a state-of-the-art building in terms of the facility itself – 150- seat lecture hall, conference rooms with video capabilities, a 3D printer lab and the Center for Entrepreneurship,” Merli says. “There’s a Bloomberg room with terminals for the students to use – the same terminals I used every day on Wall Street. I would encourage anyone who has not been back on campus for a while to reconnect in some way and try to get involved in some of the many interesting and exciting things going on at Montclair State University.”