M&A Science

Last week was a great interview with Neil McNamara, Co-founder of Virtas Partners, which is an advisory firm specializing in preparing companies financially and operationally for M&A. The topic of discussion is how to plan divestiture from an accounting perspective. First thing that you should do is set up your deal perimeter. Clearly define what you're selling so that you can create the structure...

In case you didn't know, in the middle of this pandemic, we were able to pull off a successful M&A Virtual Conference. One of the sessions that we had was hosted by Ben Sutton, senior manager of corporate development at NCR corporation. This session was all about  Aligning Strategy with Your M&A Process, featuring our two guest speakers: Scott Kaeser, executive VP of corporate development, US secu...

Last week's interview was with Ivan Golubic, former VP Corporate Development at Goodyear. Prior to Goodyear, Ivan spent 10 years with Whirlpool, Deloitte and Ford in various finance and M&A roles. Our topic of discussion is how to make joint ventures more successful. To make joint ventures more successful, first you need to define what success means to you. Each party has their own rationale so yo...

On this recap from the M&A Science Virtual Summit, Kison moderates a panel featuring Devorah Bertucci, Director of Corporate Development at Microsoft, and Kim Jones, Senior HR M&A Manager at Microsoft. They discuss the topic of how to bridge the gap between corporate development and integration functions. Making an acquisition successful and creating value for both sides isn't easy. There needs to...

This is a session from our M&A Virtual Conference which was held on June 10 and 11. The topic of discussion is avoiding valuation surprises and accounting for M&A transactions, hosted by PJ Patel, co-CEO and Senior Managing Director at Valuation Research Corporation. Our guest for this interview is the Vice President of Corporate Strategy and M&A at Church and Dwight, Brian Buchert. Together, Bria...

Last week's interview was with Erik Levy, Group Head Corp Dev and M&A at DMGT PLC. Erik has completed over 150  acquisitions, minority and venture investments and strategic partnerships. The topic of discussion is how successful Diligence and Integration planning frames success of M&A and valuation. Kison and Erik cover topics such as different approaches to valuation, causes of failures, and the...

In this recorded session from our M&A Science Virtual Summit, Laura Lane, Chief of Staff at VMware, Kimberly Baird,  Corporate Development Integration Leader at Cisco, and Dawn White, Manager of M&A Integration at Corning discuss how to virtualize the people experience during integration. They cover topics such as maintaining enthusiasm, boosting morale, and what tech tools they use during this un...

On this episode, Kison interviews Jeff Desroches, VP of Corporate Development at Atlas Copco, about how to identify issues during diligence in M&A. Jeff is a high-impact Corporate Development executive adept at identifying, developing and executing strategic growth opportunities. He's a resourceful problem solver with proven ability to manage large, cross-functional teams to drive complex commerci...

In this interview, Kison discusses the topic of international transactions with Jeff Baker, EVP Mergers and Acquisitions at InComm. Jeff has extensive international experience and will be offering his advice on how to be sensitive towards other cultures and how to work with outside governments when completing a deal.  

Kison sits down with Sachin Kumar, Senior Director - M&A and Regional Lead for HR North America at Conduent, to discuss the topic of the not so famous process of Rebadging. Together they break down the process step by step and explain the use case. Some tips: Don't forget to get the HR team involved quickly.  Without having an HR plan, focused job descriptions, and performance standards, rebadging...

On this episode, Kison speaks with Kim Jones , Senior HR M&A Manager at Microsoft. She c onducts due diligence research and completes all HR-related integration activities as part of Microsoft's M&A programs.  Together they discuss what company culture is, at what of the deal to consider it, and how to assess the company culture. Hear Kim's advice on identifying the early signs of a bad fit, how t...

In this episode, Kison interviews Dev Sirur , Director of M&A Integrations at Intel.n He has spent over 23 years at Intel and w orked on 40+ transactions over a 10 year period. Dev is a proven executive experienced in helping business leaders and executive management on M&A strategy and synergy drivers. Together they discuss p reserving a company's value during integration and give advice on how n...

In this episode, Kison discusses the impact COVID-19 is having on M&A with Toby Tester, a Senior Consultant and Project Manager at BTD, Kevin Robbins a General Partner at Blue Delta Capital Partners and Co-Founder of Wolf Den Associates, and Fred Thiel, Chairman and Chief Advisor of Thiel Advisors, Inc .  For this discussion, Kison wanted to bring in industry professionals to talk about market shi...

On this episode, Kison and Ritch Schaafsma , VP of Corporate Development, Global Mergers and Acquisitions at General Motors, discuss the ins and outs of international joint ventures. Ritch is an accomplished and internationally seasoned Senior Corporate Development Executive, with over 15+ years of experience offering execution, valuation, strategy and restructuring expertise for driving multi-bil...

On this episode Kison speaks with Briana Elkington , Program Manager at VSP Global. Previously she was a Lead Project Manager at Oracle where she assembled a project management office responsible for the successful integration of acquired assets. She's led i ntegration efforts for roughly 10 acquisitions throughout her career.  Together they discuss how to build an effective internal communication...

On this episode, Kison Patel speaks with Russ Hartz , VP of Corporate Development at ANSYS, Inc. / former VP of Corporate Development at SAP. He's an experienced Corporate Development professional with specific expertise in M&A and investments and post-merger integration. His role at ANSYS involves M&A strategy and deal sourcing, as well as managing transaction execution. Together, Kison and Russ...

Kison Patel gives a sneak-peek into a panel discussion of the highly anticipated M&A Science Virtual Summit, featuring over 40 industry-leading practitioners. This panel discussion features Christina Amiry, Head of M&A Strategic Operations and Integrations at Atlassian and Steve Elliott, Head of Jira Align at Atlassian. Together they discuss the ways in which Atlassian ensured the acquisition of J...

On this episode, Kison speaks with Kimberly Baird , Corporate Development Integration Lead at Cisco . She's responsible for driving the successful integration of acquired organizations into Cisco by implementing best practice methodology rooted in M&A-specific project and change management developed over 200+ acquisitions. Today she shares tips on how to adjust your M&A practice to a virtual proce...

On this episode, Kison speaks with Ben Sutton, a senior manager of corporate development at NCR Corporation, about executing transactions and what a senior manager's role looks like. Together they discuss how to measure the success of a transaction, the difference between revenue synergy and cost synergy, and how you can predict what a leader wants out of a transaction. Ben breaks down legal terms...

On this episode, Kison speaks with Sallie Cunningham about how to plan a divestiture from HR's perspective. Together they discuss the process of moving employees, how to approach ringfencing, and what Transition Service Agreements (TSAs) are. Sallie also explains what the key materials HR must have when it comes to preparing for due diligence during a divestiture and which transition records are r...

On this episode, Toby Tester interviews Kison Patel about his newly published book, Agile M&A ,  and how Agile can transform the traditional M&A deal process. They discuss topics such as how companies can apply Agile techniques to the antiquated M&A process and take a deep dive into how Agile is a unique project framework that increases efficiency and closes deals faster. The two also address the...

On this episode, Kison Patel speaks with Stephanie Carty . Stephanie is a corporate communications professional with more than 15 years of experience at GE, KPMG and other companies. Her expertise is in executive communications and ensuring top leaders communicate with honesty, clarity, and credibility. Currently, Stephanie is a strategic advisor, specializing in employee communications. Learn com...

On this episode, Kison speaks with Karen Isely of Isely Associates International regarding the impact people experience has on the outcome of M&A deals. Karen is an M&A specialist and the founder of Isely Associates International, an Australian-based global consulting business providing M&A advisory services to organizations growing by merger, acquisition or other similar business transactions. Sh...

On this episode, Kison talks with PJ Patel , Co-CEO and Senior Managing Director at Valuation Research Corporation (VRC) . VRC is a full-service, independent, global valuation firm that focuses exclusively on valuations that offer judgment beyond modeling. Kison and PJ discuss how to navigate intangible asset valuation in today's market, how the current M&A climate is affecting valuation, and how...

In this episode, Kison Patel discusses the groundbreaking research done by Dr. Keith Dunbar . As a Managing Partner at JKD Talent Solutions , his team delivers actionable leadership intelligence. With this intelligence, we enhance clients' long-term profitability and growth by providing a unique, holistic view of leadership capabilities.   Keith gives insight into how leadership has more of an imp...