Mike McFadden

Mike McFadden
McFadden speaking in April 2014
Personal details
Born	Michael McFadden (1964-09-07) September 7, 1964 (age 52) Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) Georgetown University Law Center

Michael "Mike" McFadden (born September 7, 1964) is an American businessperson and the co-CEO of Lazard Middle Market, a Minneapolis-based investment bank. McFadden was the Republican candidate in Minnesota for U.S. Senate against incumbent Al Franken in 2014.

McFadden was born in 1964. He grew up in a Roman Catholic family of Irish descent in Omaha, Nebraska, the eldest of five siblings.

McFadden attended the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, graduating magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. He played varsity football for the Tommies alongside his friend and roommate Vince Flynn, the late author of the New York Times best-selling Mitch Rapp book series. After college, McFadden earned a J.D. from Georgetown University.

Between college and law school, McFadden worked as a marketing representative for IBM. After law school, he worked briefly as an attorney in New York City before deciding to move back to Minnesota.

After moving back to the Twin Cities in the early 1990s, McFadden joined Goldsmith, Agio, Helms and Co., the investment firm that would later become Lazard Middle Market. The firm had approximately a dozen employees. By 2007, the company grew to over 90 employees in five cities. That year, McFadden was named co-CEO and the firm was sold to Lazard. McFadden's role at Lazard Middle Market was to advise privately held companies on mergers and acquisitions. When asked by the Minneapolis Star Tribune to describe what Lazard Middle Market does for its clients, McFadden replied, “it’s pretty simple. If you want to sell your house, you hire a Realtor. If you want to sell your business, you hire me.”

On May 31, 2013, Lazard Middle Market announced that McFadden had taken a leave of absence from the firm.

In 2006, McFadden represented Wisconsin-based Allen Edmonds Shoe Corporation in its sale to Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison. After the deal, McFadden was invited to serve on the shoe company's board of directors. Allen Edmonds is in a small minority of companies that still produce most of their shoes domestically. When the Great Recession hit, McFadden and the other board members stopped taking pay, and, in 2009, McFadden invested in the company to help keep it afloat. The company bounced back from the recession, even selling its American-made shoes in countries like China.