AJ Prager is a leading investment banker focused on higher education mergers, acquisitions, and strategic partnerships. With over 25 years of experience in financial services, he combines deep Wall Street analytical rigor with a higher education background to help inform the distinctive governance, operating profiles, and mission complexities of colleges and universities.

AJ has served as engagement lead on landmark transactions including Seattle University's combination with Cornish College of the Arts and Woodbury University's merger with the University of Redlands, along with a number of additional non-public transactions. His practice spans the full transaction lifecycle: sourcing strategic partners, building integrated financial and operational models, coordinating accreditor and regulatory processes, leading cross-functional due diligence, restructuring debt, and negotiating agreements designed to accelerate institutional mission and create intergenerational value. He has also served on seven WSCUC reaffirmation teams, giving him direct experience with accreditors as both a regulatory process and a strategic lens.

A frequent speaker on higher education M&A and innovative partnership structures, AJ works nationally with college and university clients from his base in Los Angeles (with his wife and four children). Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at Bear Stearns, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Prager & Co., and Hilltop Securities. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.