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May 26, 2025 56 mins

John Romeo, CEO of the Oliver Wyman Forum and Head of M&A at Oliver Wyman

We sit down with John Romeo to explore Oliver Wyman’s disciplined, strategic approach to M&A. Romeo shares how his team sources deals through a bespoke pipeline, aligns incentives with founder-led businesses, and plans integrations that prioritize people and long-term value creation. From cultural diligence to pricing discipline, this episode reveals what it really takes to execute successful deals in a high-touch, people-driven industry.

What You’ll Learn:

  • How to build and manage a bespoke M&A pipeline

  • The difference between banker-led and buyer-led deal processes

  • What cultural alignment looks like in professional services deals

  • How to structure integration and retention plans to protect long-term value

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This episode is sponsored by DealRoom! Turn your chaos into control.

Tired of chasing updates across spreadsheets and email threads? Discover how DealRoom helps corporate development teams bring order to M&A.
👉 Learn how you can run a repeatable, buyer-led process  

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Join Kison at the DealMakers Forum in New York City!
This event connects the most active players in M&A and corporate finance. Meet top M&A executives, investors, and deal advisors and discover how senior leaders structure and close high-value deals.

Register Today!
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Episode Chapters

[00:01:00] – John’s career journey and role at Oliver Wyman
[00:04:00] – Purpose of the Oliver Wyman Forum and strategic M&A outlook

[00:09:00] – Oliver Wyman’s M&A philosophy: strategy, culture, math
[00:15:00] – Sourcing strategy: bespoke vs. banker-led deals
[00:20:00] – How they build a deal pipeline and prioritize targets
[00:24:00] – Building long-term relationships with potential targets
[00:30:00] – Aligning incentives and structuring fair deal terms
[00:34:00] – Real-world example: Oliver Wyman’s acquisition of Avascent
[00:39:00] – Integration best practices and measuring success
[00:44:00] – Retention strategy for people-based businesses
[00:47:00] – Applying lessons from private equity to internal M&A
[00:50:00] – Creating an M&A culture across the organization

Questions, comments, concerns?
Follow Kison Patel for behind-the-scenes insights on modern M&A.

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