Build a World Class M&A Team

Traditionally, corporate development professionals come from banking roles. And while nothing is wrong with that, it is always fascinating to hear other ways that professionals start their careers in M&A. Sharing his career development in M&A is Caleb Shafer, Corporate Development Associate at RS Group plc.

Implementing your GTM Strategy is one of the most crucial parts of integration. Learn all the challenges of implementation featuring Hannah Leung, Senior Manager, M&A at Salesforce.

While some companies bring the integration team in the diligence process, some take it even further. In this interview, Jim Buckley, Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions Integration at VMware, talks about how to run an integration-led confirmatory diligence process.

Too many times, we've seen M&A used as a strategy to grow businesses. But in fact, M&A is not a strategy, and it's a tool that organizations use to achieve their corporate strategy. Let's all learn how to formulate an M&A strategy with Matt Arsenault, VP of corporate development at Jamf.

The importance of integration has never been more prevalent. And standing up a dedicated function to oversee integration is becoming more of a necessity as your company grows bigger. Learn from Ian Burk, EVP of integration at Upland Software, as he talks about how to stand up an IMO.

With so many companies out there, how do you know who to approach as your M&A targets? Helping us learn how to tie deal origination to strategy development is Scott Hile, Senior Director, Corporate Strategy & Development at Enviva.

In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Sreepathy Viswanathan, Chief Corporate Development Officer, HGS Healthcare, who has 25 years of experience in Corp Dev, talks about how to build a great M&A strategy.

From zero revenue to a billion-dollar market capitalization, Upland Software has been able to grow its business through M&A acquisitions exponentially. Learn from Austin Woody, Senior Vice President of M&A and Corporate Development at Upland Software.

Are you looking to pivot into an M&A integration career? Over the past decade, the importance of integration has become more prevalent. Practitioners have realized that integration is where you make or break value.

Is your company’s M&A process out of date? M&A has dramatically changed over the past few years, and practitioners have realized that there are better ways to do acquisitions. In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Naomi O'Brien, Head of M&A Integration at Honeywell, talks about how to modernize a process-based company.

The majority of Corporate Development involves their integration team a couple of weeks before closing the deal. And while this is good practice, it’s not the best. According to Kerry Perez, Head of M&A at AMN Healthcare, there is a real benefit in involving your integration team earlier than that.

Acquiring additional capabilities is one of the best ways to do M&A. In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Henry Schuck, co-founder and CEO of Zoominfo, shares his experience on how to acquire capabilities.

Kison speaks with Tomer Stavitsky, Corporate Development, Partnerships, and M&A Lead at Intuitive about building a steering committee that doesn't slow down the deal and what the M&A process looks like.

Let’s learn how great leadership and focus on culture made one of the biggest M&A deals possible. In this episode Tim Wentworth, CEO of Evernorth, shares the story of the deal between Cigna and Express Scripts, and what made it a success.

The decision to pull the trigger and sell your business could come with many complexities. Sharing his experience and the complexities of sell-side M&A is Noah Waisberg, Co-Founder & CEO of Zuva. In this episode, he talks about his learnings as his company Kira Systems got acquired by Litera.

M&A is a tool to achieve your strategy, and your strategy should dictate how you hire your head of corporate development. In this episode, Charles Breed, VP of Corporate Development at Corel Corporation, talks about the skills and roles of a great corporate development leader.

The biggest value leak in an M&A deal is people leaving your company after the deal is done. In this interview, Klint Kendrick, Chair of the HR M&A Round Table, talks about how empathy, strategy, and integration can all contribute to a better people experience in M&A.

We all know that integration can make or break the deal. In this interview, Jim Buckley, Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions Integration at VMware, talks about how to succeed in M&A integration and measure that success.

An NDA is not a routine document in an M&A deal. It is vital in setting up the relationship of both parties as they move forward. Discussing in-depth how to negotiate and structure NDAs in an M&A deal is Mark Khavkin, CFO at Pantheon Platform.

A go-to-market plan should be a top priority during an acquisition. In this episode of the M&A Science Podcast, Gwen Pope, Head of Global Product M&A at eBay, talks about how to make our M&A GTM successful.

Culture is one of the most controversial and hot topics in the world of M&A. Most people say that Culture isn’t a deal killer. But not for Trish Mosconi, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer & Corporate Development at Synchrony. In our interview, she talks about how they walked away from an almost perfect deal due to cultural differences.

PE firms have a very short-term holding period and need to grow businesses fast. Adam Coffey, CEO at CoolSys, Refrigeration and HVAC Systems, is an expert on growing these companies using the buy and build strategy. In this article, he will share what it is and how to create sustainable success.

A GTM strategy is one of the most important parts of an integration plan. In this episode, Pragnya Kashinath, M&A Consultant at Deloitte, talks about creating a successful GTM strategy from the very beginning of the transaction and the challenges that go with it.

Before you start any acquisition, you should always consider whether to buy it or build it yourself. In this episode of the M&A science podcast, Cameron Weiner, VP of Strategic Development, Head of M&A at Shopko Optical, shares how they source deals and determine whether they should buy or build.

M&A deals are never easy, and requires rigorous planning. In this interview, Punit Micocha, Executive Vice President, Business and Corporate Development at Zscaler, is going to help us execute successful deals by planning the end game.

In this episode, Peter Linas, CPO & EVP Corporate Development at Bullhorn, talks about how his corporate development team looks like in an infrequent acquisition environment, and how they hire external consultants to make their deals successful.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a dedicated M&A team to execute successful transactions. With proper team alignment and motivation, getting deals done is very much possible.

We all know that M&A can transform a business overnight if the deal is done correctly. However, not everyone knows how to make transformative M&A successful. In this article, Duncan Painter, CEO at Ascential Plc, talks about transformational deals for their company and how they make it successful.

In this episode, Jay Dettling, CEO of Ansira, talks about preserving value in M&A. Learn how Jay creates value during integration, retains value when being acquired, and the importance of communication. Jay shares his experience being on both sides of the deal, the best tips for communicating, how you can manage FUD, and what CEOs going through acquisition should expect and prepare for.

Kison interviews Mike DeVita, Business Value Advisor at Salesforce, about how to assess value realization, what is it, how it works, the steps, and the common challenges. Mike has an impressive career history, previously serving as Salesforce's Success Strategy Lead and prior to that as Director of M&A Integration at Walgreens.

Reliance Retail is one of the fastest-growing retailers in the world. Learn how they manage multiple deal structures to make their partnerships successful directly from their President and CEO, Darshan Mehta.

Divestiture is not the reverse of an acquisition, and it certainly takes more work and more preparation. In this episode, Rhonda Rein, Director, Corporate Development at Thomson Reuters, helps us understand where divestiture starts, how TSA work and what happens after close.

Do you need a team of dedicated M&A professionals to successfully execute M&A deals? Jason Lippert, CEO of LCI Industries (NYSE : LCII) shares how they were able to conduct M&A deals with a tiny team.

Randy Tinsley, Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at Synopsys, talks about how to manage the internal dynamics of your organization. Learn how to assemble your team, steps to take to ensure internal alignment, and how Randy tracks deals 3 years out post-close.

Jay Jester, Partner at Plexus Capital, LLC, talks about the key differences between corporate development and private equity and how investment bankers source deals. Learn about how the perception of investment bankers is changing, the banker selection process, and how private equity employees source deals.

Most of us are always negotiating in our everyday lives but do you want to learn how to negotiate like a pro? Mladen Kresic, Founder and CEO of K&R Negotiation Associates LLC, shared a lot when it comes to negotiating effectively in this episode.

William (Bill) Stone, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of SS&C Technologies, a global provider of software and investment/financial services. Bill shares how their strategies have changed and the key lessons he has learned from conducting over 50 acquisitions.

In this episode, Darren Lampert, CEO at GrowGeneration Corp, talks about what it's like going from a private to a public company. Darren lived through this transition and discusses how M&A has changed from private to public, how life as a CEO changed, and the benefits of becoming a public company.

Managing a multi-vertical M&A strategy requires a high-performing team, full of perpetual learners and with a strong appetite for risk-taking. In this episode, Ailene Holderness, Head of M&A at IAC, talks about how they manage their multi-vertical strategy and how to build a high-performing M&A team.

What does it take to manage M&A on a high scale? Jeff Bender, CEO at Harris, shares what their entire process looks like and how they are able to manage massive volumes on M&A deals in their organization