Integration is where deals are won or lost. You can have the most sophisticated financial model, the most compelling strategic rationale, and the most celebrated deal team, and still leave value on the table if integration is treated as an afterthought. Systems, culture, operations, and talent all have to move in concert while the business keeps running. Integration is not a workstream. It is the work.

Drawing on integration leadership across the $30 billion ViacomCBS merger, NBCUniversal's $39 billion Sky acquisition, and a PE-backed consumer goods merger with a $250M synergy case, this session lays out what to read first when walking into an integration, what separates good integration from great, and the single move that changes an integration's trajectory in the first 100 days. It covers how due diligence carries into integration without a restart, how the first 100 days build the operating capability the multi-year program runs on, and how value realization is governed through year three.

Key takeaways: the three things to read first in any integration; the difference between an integration that closes and one that delivers; a first-100-days structure that becomes the integration management office and value realization office for the life of the program.

Delivered as the keynote fireside chat, Post-Merger Integration: Realizing Enterprise Value, for the Cornell Technology and Business Network Forum (May 2026). Formats: 45 to 60 minute keynote or case study, 20 minute version, fireside chat, or panel. Level: advanced. Audience: corporate development, PE operating partners, integration leaders, boards, and executive teams. Drawn from the Integration, Due Diligence, First 100 Days, and Value Realization segments of Leading at Scale. Available in person and virtually.