Members

Bill Blandford *Manager M&A, Nokia, Retired* Bill has participated in over 50 transactions including the de-merger of Motorola, which led to the creation of two separate companies within Motorola. He successfully integrated more than 25 acquisitions and led the divestiture of 15 businesses. Bill also has extensive experience in divestitures, spin-offs, and internal reorganizations across the globe with a primary focus on IT. MBA, Illinois Institute of Technology	John Christman *VP, Corporate Development & Global Head of M&A Integration, Cognizant* John Christman has over 25 years of experience leading M&A Integration and business transformation, including his current role leading the global M&A Integration team at Cognizant Technology Solutions, a former Senior Partner with M&A Partners, and executive level positions at Dell Inc., where he built and led global cross-functional program and post-merger integration management teams as well as finance organizations. He has led integration strategy, IMO and finance integration teams in due diligence, integration strategy, pre- and post- acquisition integration planning and cross-functional integration. MBA, Temple University	Anthony Enlow *Partner, Transaction Advisory Services, BDO* Tony Enlow has over 15 years of experience providing financial due diligence and transaction advisory services. He has worked on over 300 transactions ranging in size from $5 million to $40 billion and has assisted buyers and sellers that include private equity, public and private companies focused on transactional quality of earnings, cash flows and working capital. He has experience in a number of industries including agriculture companies, multi-location retail and restaurant, manufacturing, textiles, regulated and unregulated energy and energy related services, professional services, technology and many others. MBA, Kaplan University BBA, Washburn University	Bruce Fleming *EVP Strategy & Growth, Calumet Specialty Products* A noted business executive and competitive strategist, Bruce directs internal and external growth initiatives including alliances, acquisitions and targeted divestitures for Calumet. He has held senior business development and planning roles with Amoco Oil, Orient Refining, and Tesoro Corporation where he most recently directed acquisition of BP’s Carson, CA refinery including FTC approval, which Barron’s noted as “Acquisition of the Year” . PhD, Princeton University BS, University of Delaware
Mark Herndon President, M&A Partners Mark helps acquirers build internal M&A capabilities to maximize deal value across the M&A lifecycle, from strategy through post-merger integration. He also serves as Chief Knowledge Officer for the M&A Leadership Council and as Board Director for various companies and faith-based organizations. A dynamic and professional speaker, Mark has presented keynote addresses and training sessions to nearly 400,000 people in 45 states and 12 countries. Mark is the co-author of “The Complete Guide To Mergers and Acquisitions: Process Tools to Support M&A Integration at Every Level, Third Edition” (John Wiley / Jossey-Bass Publishers, July 2014). MBA, University of Texas, Dallas BS, Oklahoma State University	Jim Jeffries *Chairman, M&A Leadership Council* Jim is chairman and co-founder of the M&A Leadership Council, a global organization delivering best practice training to the M&A community. He spent 25 years leading consulting companies in performance improvement, private equity and M&A, providing advice to Fortune 1000 C-level executives on M&A valuations of more than $23B. BS, Emporia State University	Alexandra R. Lajoux* *Principal, Capital Expert Services* Alexandra is a cofounder of the Art of M&A Series, author of The Art of M&A Integration, and coauthor of all other titles in the series, currently owned by McGraw-Hill Education. She recently retired as Chief Knowledge Officer of the National Association of Corporate Directors. She is a Principal in Capital Expert Services, LLC, providing M&A transaction and litigation support. *Board Member Emerita PhD, Princeton University MBA, Loyola University of Maryland	Dan Menge *Senior Director, Head of M&A Integration, Xilinx* Dan joined Xilinx – a leading fabless semiconductor company - to build a scalable M&A Integration practice and team in support of corporate strategy. Prior to Xilinx, Dan spent close to 20 years at Cisco in a variety of roles, which included leading the M&A Integration Lead team and integration management office. In that capacity, he led and engaged on over 60 transactions, ranging from multi-billion $ acquisitions to point product and talent deals to strategic divestitures. He also contributed to building Cisco’s industry-leading, workstream-based Acquisition Integration methodology. MBA, San Diego State University - California State University BA, University of Notre Dame
Ellen Owens VP of Global PMO, Avnet Ellen Owens is the VP of Global PMO at Avnet, a global electronics company with abilities that can support customer from concept thru creation and design to distribution. In her current role, she leads highly collaborative global business transformation initiatives that result in growth opportunities, cost savings, and process efficiencies. Most notably, Ellen served as the global lead for the divestiture of a significant portion of the Avnet business in 2016-17. BS, Ball State University MEL, Northern Arizona University	Wendy Parkes *Managing Director HR, Global Acquisitions and Divestitures, BMO Financial Group, Retired* Wendy Parkes is an HR Professional who has 30+ years of experience working in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. Her most recent role was Managing Director and Head of Human Resources International for BMO Financial Group (BMO) in London, U.K. where she was instrumental in building the International HR team and enhancing the HR operating model as BMO acquired a new business in the UK. MBA, Dalhousie University	Sue Rider *VP Global M&A Integration, World Fuel Services* Sue is a human resource leader with over 30 years’ experience in more than 35 M&A transactions spanning Europe, Asia, and Americas. She led due diligence and integration for 23 strategic acquisitions with focus on organization design, talent retention, communications, change management and compliance. Sue created the “People/HR Standards of Excellence” playbook. MBA, St. Leo University