John Guzzo

John Guzzo is a Managing Director in the Financial Services Group at Houlihan Lokey, based in New York, where he joined in September 2025 to help build out the firm's Mortgage Services practice. He brings more than 25 years of M&A and financial technology & services investment banking experience, with a specialization in mortgage technology and services companies.

Guzzo began his career at Ernst & Young and its successor corporate-finance arm, Giuliani Capital Advisors, working on M&A advisory within their financial institutions groups and giving him a combined tax and investment-banking perspective. He then spent roughly 16 years (joining in 2005) at Berkery, Noyes & Co., an independent investment bank, where he co-headed the Financial Technology Group and founded and led the firm's Mortgage Technology & PropTech Group. In 2021 he moved to Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW), a Stifel company, where he led the Mortgage Technology & PropTech investment banking practice within the FinTech & Financial Services Group.

Over his career he has worked on 80–90+ M&A transactions representing several billion dollars in aggregate value. In 2012, while at Berkery Noyes, he was named a winner of The M&A Advisor's "40 Under 40" Award (Eastern Region), which recognizes leaders who achieve significant success in investment banking before age 40. He is also a frequent commentator on mortgage-technology M&A, having authored articles in outlets such as Mortgage Banking Magazine, HousingWire, and Bank Systems & Technology.

Guzzo earned a B.S. in Accounting and Finance (also cited as a B.A.) from Fordham University and an MBA from Columbia University.

• Guzzo does not make equity investments; he advises companies on M&A (sell-side and buy-side) and capital-raising transactions, primarily in mortgage technology, mortgage services, PropTech, and broader FinTech.
• Deep sector concentration in the mortgage and real estate technology value chain — origination, servicing, compliance, point-of-sale, data, and PropTech.
• Positions himself on the strength of a combined tax + investment-banking skill set and long-standing relationships across the mortgage-technology sector.
• Publicly bullish on consolidation in mortgage technology; his commentary (e.g., "The M&A Outlook in Mortgage Technology") frames the space as one with recurring waves of strategic and private-equity-driven M&A.