About this episode
Mergers and acquisitions can take years—and they don’t always deliver the intended value. Learn how program and project managers on the front lines can ensure the success of mission-critical integrations. Plus, one of Google’s M&A program managers shares his industry expertise. Stephanie Blanco, VP of M&A integration and program management for Sound Physicians in Washington, D.C., USA discusses how to balance transparency and confidentiality on sensitive M&A projects. Kash Ahuja, a mergers and acquisitions program manager for Google in Seattle, Washington, USA, outlines how his team overcomes change and uncertainty on fast-moving M&A initiatives. We hope you’ve enjoyed our podcast series, Projectified™ with PMI. To join the conversation online, we ask you to use #Projectified and @PMInstitute. We also encourage you to subscribe and leave a rating on Apple Podcasts or Google Play Music by clicking on the links below. Thank you very much, and stay tuned as we release more episodes of Projectified™ with PMI. For an easy way to stay up-to-date on Projectified™ with PMI, subscribe to our podcast at: Apple Podcast, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher, or PMI.org/podcast. Key Themes: [00:30] 2019 M&A trends [02:40] The M&A project roadmap [04:35] Transparency vs. confidentiality [06:15] Lessons from the Whole Foods buyout [08:30] Unique M&A project challenges [13:00] Unifying systems and processes [17:30] Delivering the intended value