Our Team
Our projects range from leading M&A programmes for Fortune Global 500 clients down to one-off events such as training sessions, with everything in-between. These engagements are delivered by one of our permanent team of Partners, working with a team made up of our Associates and Strategic Partners.
We have built a global network of over 200 experienced M&A professionals, which collectively cover everything from the beginning to the end of the transaction lifecycle, and have specialisms across industry sectors, business areas and common downstream integration activities. Working with such a breadth and depth of resources allows us to customise project teams for each client with the most suitable consultants available locally or regionally.
Because we do not have a permanent headcount, we are far more flexible in finding the right resources for each project, and our costs are lower than traditional consulting firms. DD Consulting is based across the UK & USA, but our network of Associates and Strategic Partners is global, and we work collaboratively together to deliver cross-border engagements.
DANNY A.DAVIS
Danny M&A integration experience ranges from small to large deals, with recent deals including the pre-deal integration planning on a 50,000 person company purchasing a 25,000 person company, a $6bn global deal where he ran the European side across 30 countries, 250 business units, 26 functions through to a small private equity set of deals where he helped the CEO and management team for 12 weeks on a set of very small deals 200 people buying 25 and then 75 person companies. He is often brought in 6-12 months pre-deal to discuss M&A integration strategy, planning, capability, then runs alongside due diligence as deal lead for integration and delivers out the synergies.
Danny is a guest speaker at London Business School on M&A integration, was programme director of M&A at Henley business school, a Trustee on the Board of the Chartered Management Institute chairing the Marketing and Policy Committee.
He is author of the book “M&A integration: How to do it”
IAN NELSON
Ian has over 30 years experience of mergers & acquisitions, principally within the insurance and asset management industry. Ian held senior positions at Aviva where he managed over 70 transactions worldwide in life and general insurance and asset management. Ian also worked within the BNP Paribas group where he completed acquisitions for their insurance subsidiary Cardif Pinnacle. Ian then worked with a corporate finance advisory boutique in Mayfair.
Ian is chairman of the Corporate Development Association, a group of professionals who work principally in mergers & acquisitions.
CALUM BYERS
Following a 30-year career as an international telecoms & technology executive, and then as the founder of a small consulting business, Calum is now providing coaching to C-level executives and small business owners. He has managed sales, operational, product and R&D teams across EMEA, the US and India in a variety of line management and cost transformational roles. His advisory clients have included US multinationals, Indian public corporations and PE funded UK business. Calum’s experience across a wide range of functions and his ability to communicate effectively with different stakeholders to establish a common purpose, has been a key element of his consulting practice. He has been on the board of an Israeli JV and a German SAAS company and has worked extensively with Indian and Israeli companies, giving him a good insight into different corporate cultures.
Calum’s coaching initially developed in hands-on line management roles where he was responsible for major restructuring, transformation and M&A activities. He is now strengthening and widening this approach through a Masters programme in executive coaching with Henley Business School. He is an active member of the Association for Coaching.
ROGER LEWIS
During his 25 year career in the international insurance industry, Roger held multiple C-suite roles and has numerous M&A Integration and change programmes under his belt. He spent five years as Chief Underwriting Officer (CUO) of a highly profitable international market leading U$ 50m premium insurance company.
He was part of the leadership for an M&A integration programme combining five companies into a U$ 60m insurance premium business in London, Guernsey and North America.
He has a demonstrable track record of driving successful large-scale transformation and change programmes for financial services, technology and logistics companies.
MARK ELLIOTT
Mark is a Communications and Corporate Affairs expert with over 20 years’ experience leading reputation and stakeholder engagement strategies for blue chip businesses undergoing integration, transformation and change.
Failure to focus on Communications is a key reason why so many integrations under-deliver on their expectations. Mark is known for helping executives focus on the core integration narrative, helping businesses to transform successfully by ensuring employees, customers and investors understand and support the change.
Prior to joining DD Consulting Partners, Mark held Communications leadership positions both in industry and consulting. He served as Executive VP and Director of Corporate Affairs at Bank of America (MBNA), leveraging communications strategy to facilitate the divestment of MBNA and its integration into Lloyds Banking Group. Mark previously headed up Communications at Lloyds Banking Group when it acquired and integrated HBOS plc – Europe’s largest ever banking deal at the time – and subsequently divested multiple assets. He has also advised businesses including Royal Mail Group and Arriva Group on complex enterprise-wide business transformations.
Mark holds a BA Honours degree in Economics and Politics with the University of Durham (UK). He subsequently trained as an Economist and Business Analyst with BP, before developing a career in Communications and Corporate Affairs. More recently, he attained a Certificate in Business, International Relations and Political Economy from London School of Economics.
