Leading M&A Teams Master Class

This highly interactive M&A Master Class will provide a rare opportunity to learn about performance incentives, career paths, recruiting approaches, and skill development. Inspired by a long-term study that showed a direct correlation between highly-skilled M&A teams and deal performance, this member-driven program will consider approaches for building and leading corporate development, M&A legal, and integration professionals.

  • Determining the optimal size for the M&A team
  • Ensuring high-levels of performance and retention of key talent
  • Building career paths, incentives, and organizational design

$1,500 | $0 for Members Learn About All Access Membership Accounts

Friday, November 14, 2025 | 10:00 - 3:30 (CST)

Live Online

Building the M&A team

  • Determining the optimal team size and core vs. extended deal team roles
  • Setting expectations and decision rights with executive leadership
  • Engaging investment bankers, legal counsel, consultants, and auditors
  • Crafting governance and decision-making protocols with clear authority
  • Recruiting into corporate M&A teams from internal and external roles
  • Designing base and incentive compensation structures
  • Building team culture and collaboration methods

Leading through the deal phase

  • Establishing deal objectives and success metrics
  • Managing cross-functional workstreams – finance, HR, IT, legal, tax, operations
  • Information governance – clean teams, data rooms, internal communication protocols.
  • Balancing seed vs. rigor in diligence and integration planning
  • Preparing for negotiations - mapping deal points and positional bargaining
  • Methods for pressure testing assumptions and contingencies.
  • Crafting incentives for abandoning bad deals

Leading through the integration phase

  • Working with the business on integration planning and execution
  • Engaging advisors for select workstreams and milestones
  • Retaining and motivating key talent with non-compensation perks
  • Building governance steering committees, decision rights, reporting lines.
  • Implementing an optimal communication strategy for employees, shareholders,and customers
  • Measuring post-close performance KPIs and ensuring accountability structures
  • Designing advancement opportunities for corporate M&A professionals


The Institute is an accredited provider of CLE in Illinois. This M&A Master Class offers 4.75 CLE credits. An Illinois certificate will be issued. If you are licensed in another state, please check for reciprocity regarding continuing education credits.