Michael Lavery is a director and senior research analyst covering consumer staples and cannabis. Prior to joining Piper Sandler in 2017, he was a senior analyst at CLSA. He was named the No. 1 stock picker in tobacco in 2013 and 2016 by Thomson Reuters/Starmine. Prior to CLSA, Lavery worked at Kraft Foods and covered food manufacturers as a research associate at Citigroup for four years before spending two years in a consulting role at Booz & Co working with consumer companies. Lavery holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia Business School and a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of Virginia. Prior to business school, he was in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Richmond, VA.