Jimmy Dunne, the Wall Street deal maker who helped architect the PGA Tour’s controversial deal with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund and then resigned from the Tour’s Policy Board, has been named as a member of the board of directors of one of golf’s most influential companies.
The West Palm Beach, Florida, resident was named Thursday to the Troon Golf board, which manages nearly 1,000 golf clubs worldwide. He is also the vice chairman and senior managing principal of Piper Sandler, an investment bank and financial services company.
Dunne is a member of Augusta National Golf Club and the president of the exclusive Seminole Golf Club. He’s played rounds with everyone from Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth to retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady. In a headline last year, after he was appointed to the PGA Tour’s policy board, one magazine dubbed him the sport’s “ultimate power broker.”
In a call with Golfweek back in May, Dunne explained his decision to leave the PGA Tour’s Policy Board.
“There’s a group that decides things and I’m not in it and I’m not consulted,” he said, referring to the board of the new for-profit entity, PGA Tour Enterprises. “I’m superfluous. It’s time to move on.”
A Long Island native and Notre Dame graduate, Dunne got his foothold on Wall Street by working at Bear Stearns before leaving to co-found the investment banking firm Sandler O’Neill & Partners in 1988. The firm later took up residence on the 104th floor of the south tower of the World Trade Center, where 83 of its employees reported to work on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
Dunne would have been among them, but he had traveled to Bedford, New York, that day in an attempt to qualify for the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship. Sixty-six of his coworkers, including his longtime friend Christopher Quackenbush, died in the attack on the South Tower. Golf, quite literally, may have saved his life.
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Dunne and his firm were repeatedly profiled by media outlets who spotlighted their resolve as they began to rebuild. “(Osama) Bin Laden set out to kill me and my colleagues,” he told Newsday in 2002. “What would he like us to do: Build a new business, or to quit and run?”
Here’s more on his background, per a release from Troon:
Dunne began his career on Wall Street working at L.F. Rothschild and later Bear Stearns. He was a co-founder of Sandler O’Neill & Partners, which was acquired by Piper Sandler in 2020. Under his leadership, Sandler O’Neill grew to become the largest independent full-service investment banking firm focused on the financial services sector.
Over the past three decades, he has advised on some of the financial industry’s largest M&A transactions. In addition to serving on Troon’s Board of Directors, Dunne currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees at the University of Notre Dame, and is a board member of American International Group, Inc. (AIG) and Chime Financial, Inc.
“We are thrilled to welcome Jimmy Dunne to Troon’s board,” said Troon President and CEO Tim Schantz in a release. “His leadership, experience, business acumen and passion for golf will help the company continue to touch new areas in and around golf and golf-related hospitality. Jimmy’s commitment to excellence aligns perfectly with Troon’s vision, and we’re confident he’ll have a strong impact on the company.”
Dunne joined the Policy Board in January 2023 at the request of Commissioner Jay Monahan. Six months later, on June 6, the Tour announced a shocking Framework Agreement with the Saudis, who fund the LIV Golf circuit. The deal was forged in a series of top-secret meetings involving Dunne, Monahan and board chairman Ed Herlihy. The deal has yet to be finalized.
“I’m excited to join the Board of Troon and work closely with Tim and the rest of his terrific team. I have always enjoyed playing the Troon golf courses and the more I’ve learned about the entire company, the more impressed I have become by all its offerings. I’m looking forward to helping Troon any way I possibly can,” Dunne added.
Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Troon has completed 14 acquisitions over the last decade and has also ramped up its offerings to clubs.
Golfweek columnist Eamon Lynch and Tom Schad of USA Today Sports contributed to this reporting.