Charting Your Path – Let Your Experience Lead the Way
By Jim Jeffries, Chairman of the M&A Leadership Council
2018 is turning into a banner year for our M&A certification program. More and more companies are determined to garner success from their acquisitions, and they realize that – just like other capabilities in their organization – M&A’s require skills and expertise. Until recently, companies often appointed the responsibility of managing the integration of acquired businesses to inexperienced, untrained resources. It didn’t go well.
Companies have done a fairly good job of expensing their way to success versus growing their way to success. But organic growth typically will not get a company to double-digit growth. Now the business imperative is growth through acquisitions. This mean having trained, qualified and dedicated resources to lead the acquisition and integration effort. Companies have to equip their teams for M&A capabilities or risk getting left behind. Today, I am proud to note that our programs have trained over 3,000 executives in the Art of M&A, and we are the only organization offering a certification program that requires experience as a qualifier for credentials.
Our Certified M&A Specialist (CMAS) Program is uniquely designed for officers and company leaders who want to master the best practices within the M&A lifecycle by learning from experienced practitioners with real-world experience and luminaries in the M&A field. The path to becoming a Specialist combines flexible elective courses that let candidates focus on the subject areas of most value to them. The number of Certified M&A Specialists has more than doubled in the last year, and more than 160 candidates are going through the program.
Join the growing list of candidates today, and The Art of M&A Integration in Orlando or Art of M&A Program Management in San Diego are two great starting points. At these popular events, you’ll become equipped to more effectively plan and execute M&A integrations. We are excited to introduce a new session at the Integration program: "Best Practices for Modern M&A Playbooks." Secure your spot today! You can learn more by heading to our website.