Delivering Strong Transactions

M&A Conference at the University of Chicago

JUNE 25 & 26, 2025

$2,000 | $0 for Members Learn About Membership Accounts

Exclusively for Corporate M&A Professionals


This prestigious annual M&A conference assembles corporate development leaders, in-house M&A and antitrust counsel, and private equity investors to discuss current challenges impacting complex transactions and consider innovative methods for improving the deal process and M&A performance.

The cross-disciplinary agenda will be unpacked by a diverse speaking faculty from various industries and roles, who will share first-hand experiences, best practices, and guidance on delivering high performing transactions.

DAY ONE AGENDA

Wednesday June 25, 2025

Welcome Lunch | 12:00 - 12:55

M&A Challenges and Opportunities | 1:00 - 1:10

William Jefferson Black, Executive Director, Transaction Advisors Institute

M&A Sentiment and Readiness | 1:10 - 2:00

What are the key considerations facing corporate M&A teams as they pursue strategic transactions?  How has uncertainty about timelines factored into dealmakers’ financial and strategic assessments. Are there ways to protect deals against sudden economic, regulatory, or geopolitical events? Can more sophisticated mechanisms be employed to ensure M&A performance?






Kathie Resteiner, Vice President, Corporate Development, Intel
Ken Monson, Global Head of Integration and Separation, Mondelez International

Mitch Krebs, President and Chief Executive Officer, Coeur Mining
Daniel Friedman
, Managing Director and Senior Partner, Transactions and Integrations Global Leader, BCG (Chair)

Developing Proprietary Deal Flow | 2:15 - 3:05

Are new data sources improving the proprietary pipeline development process? How are dealmakers using technology to more precisely filter and screen targets? What guidelines should be established to ensure initial discussions set the right tone? Is there an optimal level of detail on deal terms and valuation for an initial approach? What frameworks are being employed to improve decision making?





Chandradev Mehta, Chief Strategy Officer, Industrial Automation, Honeywell
Jeremy Choy
, Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer, UL Solutions
Jeremy Kottler
, Director, Corporate Development, Dataprise
Matt McClelland
, Managing Director - Mergers & Acquisitions at Accenture Strategy, Accenture (Chair)

M&A Target Diligence | 3:25 - 4:15

What are the key steps for executing human capital diligence with both speed and depth? Are there applications for AI to identify unrealistic integration costs and timing? What level of precision is realistic for identifying disruptive employees and unaddressed people-related issues? Are there new methods for uncovering financial, legal, and compliance issues and stress-test costs related to workforce expenses and liabilities? How should the operating model and FCPA diligence be executed properly?





Rachel Strick, Vice President of Business Development & Acquisitions: Immunology, AbbVie
Jason Baab, Vice President Corporate Development, Strategy & Sustainability, Toro
Holly Costa, Senior Director, M&A People Strategy & IntegrationWorkday  
Will Oppenheim
, M&A Principal, Mercer (Chair)

Shifting Antitrust Dynamics | 4:30 - 5:30

What is the current antitrust sentiment at the DoJ and FTC? How are the new EU merger guidelines taking shape? Should we anticipate an uptick in structural remedies? Can you ‘test the waters’ with antitrust regulators before agreeing to the deal?  How can corporate M&A teams effectively engage with state attorneys general and foreign competition authorities? What are deal teams disclosing on the deal rationale and past acquisitions to satisfy the new HSR requirements?





Melanie Hallas Kirsch, Assistant Vice President - Senior Legal Counsel, Antitrust, AT&T
Cassie Chong, Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Transactions, 
Bristol Myers Squibb
Amber MorenSenior Antitrust Counsel, Cargill
Rob Friedman, Senior Counsel, Compliance, ExxonMobil
Meghan Rissmiller
, Partner, Antitrust, Freshfields (Chair)

Wine Reception & Dinner | 5:30 - 7:00

The robust discussions will continue during the wine reception and dinner. 

Inside the Agencies | 7:00 - 7:30

This highly interactive after-dinner discussion will offer a candid assessment of the current regulatory challenges and the rapidly changing antitrust environment through a robust and frank fire-side-chat with former FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson and Head of US Antitrust, Competition and Trade at Freshfields.

Christine Wilson, Former FTC Commissioner and Head of US Antitrust, Competition and Trade, Freshfields
Alison Rhoten
, Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, North America,
 Kimberly-Clark

DAY TWO AGENDA

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Welcome Breakfast | 8:15 - 9:00

Start the day with a robust breakfast buffet as you connect with other corporate M&A professionals.

Shifting Deal Points | 9:00 - 9:50

What recent changes in the architecture of M&A agreements are coming under the microscope during negotiations? How do you view the strength of various closing conditions? Is it possible to engineer outside dates, efforts provisions, reverse break fees, and other deal points to work in concert? What can dealmakers do to improve the negotiation process and speed?





Rocco Gialanella, Senior Counsel - Corporate and M&A, HP, Inc.

Erik Axelson, Senior Associate General Counsel, Transactions, AbbVie
Jack Melamed, Associate General Counsel - Corporate and M&A, Fortune Brands Innovations
Paul Humphreys
, Partner, Corporate and M&A,
 Freshfields (Chair)

Crafting Deal Protections | 10:00 - 10:50

How are corporate M&A teams embracing more sophisticated risk allocation mechanisms? Where are specific indemnities being incorporated into the risk allocation strategy? What are the relevant differences between holdbacks and other protections? Where is the current market for coverage levels, caps, exclusions, retention, long tail reps, premium ranges, and other key terms? Are there standard best practices to ensure integration with diligence findings and negotiation schedules? What key decisions need to be made during the process?





Hans Grong, Vice President & Associate General Counsel - M&A and Ventures, 3M
Megan Prout
,  Senior Vice President - Commercial Law & Litigation, Plains All American

Brett Shawn, Managing Director, Assistant General Counsel, Warburg Pincus
Matthew Heinz
, Partner & Co-Practice Leader, Transaction Liability, Lockton (Chair)

Integration Frameworks | 11:10 - 12:10

How do you enhance visibility on sources of value across revenue, costs, talent, and technology? What’s the optimal level of engagement with the target in developing the integration thesis? What positive and negative synergies are often missed in deal models and discovered during integration?  How do you head off unrealistic change initiatives during the post-close period? When should a modified integration approach be considered (standalone, partial integration, or full integration)? What techniques can be employed to ensure momentum in the businesses during integration?





SDR Dutta Roy, Vice President, Global Integration - M&A Integration and Carve-Out/Divestiture Planning and Execution, Baxter International
Matt Brown
, Senior Director, Enterprise M&A, Cox Automotive
Cory Locke, Vice President M&A Integration, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Kristi Huntington, Associate Vice President - Acquisition Transition Lead, Eli Lilly and Company
Michael Oliveri
, Deals Partner,
 PwC (Chair)

Lunch | 12:10 - 12:55

The discussions continue over lunch, which is provided by Wolfgang Puck Catering.

Minority Investment Structuring | 1:00 - 1:50

How can minority investments advance the corporate development strategy? What are the key legal and financial terms that need to be negotiated for the initial investment? How are regulatory, cultural, and governance considerations most effectively managed? Are some dispute resolution mechanisms and enforcement approaches more effective than others? What is the current best practice in design for exit and buyout provisions?






Jen Miller, Director of Corporate Development, Oshkosh Corporation
Nick Hoffman
, Associate General Counsel - Mergers & Acquisitions and Venture Capital,
 Koch
Jeff Brown, Vice President, Corporate Development, The Clorox Company
Craig Lange, Vice President - Strategy & Business Development, Energy & Transportation, Caterpillar (Chair)

Joint Venture Structuring | 2:10 - 3:00

What are the most common capital structures and associated rights? How should leadership team incentives, transfers, and secondments be used to drive value? Are effective financial controls and audit rights necessarily unique to each JV? What buyout mechanisms, including auctions and shoot-out approaches, tend to be the most effective wind-down methods?





Kevin Freeman, Vice President & Chief Counsel, Finance & Transactions, Tenneco
Rashmi Gautam, Director, Corporate Development, ADM

Sarfraz Taj, Director, Corporate Development & Strategic Projects (M&A), Constellation
David Hernand
, M&A Partner, Simpson Thacher (Chair)

Divestiture Structuring | 3:15 - 4:05

How are the most effective corporate development teams evaluating divestitures? Are there insights from the wave of activist campaigns pushing for divestitures? What is the key to running an intentional and well-considered separation? What are the key differences in carve outs, spin-offs, and hybrid structures? How do you avoid delays in the deal process? Are the recent calls for 'corporate clarity' a fad or a trend that also shapes the buy-side strategy?





Derek Devgun, Deputy General Counsel - Business Development, M&A, Baxter International
Brian Crannell
, Senior Vice President - Strategy and M&A, Knowles
Jim Rosenwald
, Mergers and Acquisitions / Corporate Development, Chevron
Kimberly Spoerri
, M&A Partner, Cleary Gottlieb (Chair)

Effective M&A Teams and Performance Measures | 4:20 - 5:00

This lively, candid, and highly interactive session will provide a rare opportunity to hear about compensation levels, 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 roundtable will consider approaches for building and leading corporate development, M&A legal, and integration professionals, including performance measurements and even incentives for abandoning bad deals.






Gina Sandon, Director, Corporate Development, Mergers & Acquisition Synergy, Integration and Transition, IBM
Orla Muldoon, Vice President, Global Business Development and M&A, ADM
Mike McDonald, Director, Corporate Development, WESCO
James Harris
, Principal, Corporate Development Integration, Google (Chair)

Closing Reception | 5:00 - 6:00

The Institute is an accredited provider of CPE and CLE in Illinois. This M&A Conference offers 9 CLE credits and 11 CPE credits. An Illinois certificate will be issued. If you are licensed in another state, please check for reciprocity regarding continuing education credits.

M&A Intelligence

Program Materials

Participants will receive both digital and print materials with more than 100 charts with information on recent shifts in deal volume, negotiation points, and best practices, including the selection below

Show Charts
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Global M&A Value as a Percentage of GDP

A 30-year breakdown of total deal value with overlays that show total M&A as a percentage of global GDP

Chart 1

Buy v. Build Analysis

A trend chart that displays M&A v. CapEx for S&P 500 constituents with CAGRs for each

Chart 2

Buyer Initiated Approaches

A breakdown of friendly deals for a U.S. public target with a transaction value greater than $1B with market checks

Chart 3

Enterprise Value-to-EBITDA Valuations

Deal valuations at historic low against public market valuations

Chart 4

Human Capital Considerations in the Deal Theses

Survey of public and large private corporate acquirers by Transaction Advisors Institute

Chart 5

New HSR Obligations for Corporate M&A Teams

A table with key changes from the new HSR Pre-Merger Notification Form

Chart 6

Share of Total US Imports

Data on Canada, China, and Mexico since 2020 from the J.P. Morgan M&A Outlook

Chart 7

Revenue and Cost Synergy Capture

Data on high-performing M&A teams propensity for capturing synergies

Chart 8

Corporate M&A Approaches for Diligence

Survey of public and large private corporate acquirers by Transaction Advisors Institute

Chart 9

Average Days to Close

Slow close deals are adding complexity and risk

Chart 10

M&A Integration Frameworkd by Deal Intent and Complexity

M&A Integration Master Class materials that map approaches by deal type and operational relatedness

Chart 11

M&A Performance by Deal Thesis

Survey of public and large private corporate acquirers by Transaction Advisors Institute

Chart 12

Exclusively for Corporate M&A Professionals

M&A Conference at the University of Chicago


Wednesday, June 25, 2025
12:00pm - 7:30pm CST

Thursday, June 26, 2025
8:15am - 5:00pm CST

$2,000 | $0 for Members Learn About Membership Accounts

Registration is not open to M&A consultants, advisors, vendors, or members of the media. Unqualified registrations will be canceled and refunded, less a $100 bank processing fee.

Also at the University of Chicago Gleacher Center

M&A Academy | June 24 & 25, 2025

Join the Institute at the start of the week for the M&A Academy, an in-depth course that covers best practices in the deal process from strategy development through closing
Transaction Advisors Institute M&A Conference