Diligence
Integration
·  EPISODE
47
The Virtualization of M&A
On this episode, Kison speaks with Kimberly Baird, Corporate Development Integration Lead at Cisco. This discussion encompasses everything from tools to utilize when going virtual, how onboarding events shift during social distancing practices, to creating adjacent value drivers.
“One of the things that was, has been, and will continue to be challenging is some of our flagstone abilities that we highly regard in our M&A practice like our discipline for employee orientation. That’s when we bring acquired teams into Cisco and we work very hard to make them productive quickly. Of course, that normally consists of a whole bunch of in-person interactions and meetings.” - Kimberly Baird

On this episode, Kison speaks with Kimberly Baird, Corporate Development Integration Lead at Cisco. This discussion encompasses everything from tools to utilize when going virtual, how onboarding events shift during social distancing practices, to creating adjacent value drivers


Kimberly Baird

Kimberly Baird is Principal and Founder of Maximize M&A LLC, where she advises companies on M&A integration, operating models, and transformation during inorganic growth. She has held M&A integration leadership roles at Cisco, SentinelOne, and Alteryx, with experience helping both mature and high-growth companies manage the operational realities of acquisitions. She has appeared on M&A Science to discuss agile M&A at scale, virtual integration, people experience, and tailoring integration plans to the acquirer’s culture and deal objectives.

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