Dennis Carey Corporate Strategies » CEOs

Lessons for Master Acquirers: Dennis Carey

admin — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 08:27:46 +0000

Dennis Carey wrote an article entitled “Lessons from Master Acquirers: A CEO Roundtable on Making Mergers Succeed.”

In short, the article discusses: “The announcement in January of the merger between America Online and Time Warner marked the convergence of the two most important business trends of the last five years- the rise of the internet and the resurgence of mergers and acquisitions. M&A activity is at a fever pitch, spurred in a large part by the breathtaking influx of capital into the internet space. And all signs indicate the trend will only accelerate. Against this background, an impressive group of experienced deal makers came together to share their experiences of what makes mergers work. They were assembled in Scottsdale, Arizona, under the auspices of the M&A Group, a professional society formed in 1999 for CEOs interested in M&A as a business strategy. Participants included top executives from internet start-ups like Teligent; venture capital firms like Baroda Ventures; financial institutions like Merrill Lynch and PricewaterhouseCoopers; and major corporations like Allstate, Tyco International, SmithKline Beecham, Rohm and Haas, VF, Crown Cork &Seal, and Hughes Space and Communications. The spirited and surprisingly frank discussion cut a wide swath, considering issues such as whether most mergers fail to pan out as well as expected, how to increase the odds of success, the nuts and bolts of the integration process, the trade-offs between acquiring a company and growing from within, the important of cultural issues, and why anyone would want to be on the board of a merged company.”

Dennis Carey Advises: “Build a Great Team”

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:38:01 +0000

Executive recruiting is what Dennis Carey does, in his capacity as Vice Chairman of Board and CEO Services at Korn/Ferry, specializing in the recruitment of corporate directors and CEOs. According to a brief bio and description of Mr. Carey which appeared in BusinessWeek some of the qualities he looks for when recruiting emerging leaders are: an excellent record of performance, a well-grounded and well-rounded individual, a person who is disciplined, focused and has a global vision or mindset.

Dennis Carey feels comfortable recruiting for any industry or market sector, with an emphasis on senior executives, such as CEOs and board directors. He has an international focus and has recruited for such highly successful companies as Tyco; 3M; Northrop; Grumman; GlaxoSmithKline and Sprint.

When asked to share a piece of advice, Mr. Carey offered the following:

“Quickly understand the importance of competitive differentiation; know what you don’t know and build a great team; realize that the acquisition, motivation, training, and retention of talent on a global scale will separate the winners from the losers.”

Ex-CEOs Stepping In To Help

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:50:35 +0000

Many big businesses, as of late, have been installing independent chairman who were previously CEOs elsewhere to help out with their companies. This is certainly happening more in troubled companies, but isn’t exclusively occurring in these locations. A governance research firm called The Corporate Library, said that 46 former CEOs are chairmen of other companies, up from 14 in 2004.

Dennis Carey, a senior client partner at recruiters Korn/Ferry International says, “These chairmen are strategic equal partners of the CEO because they already demonstrated a successful ‘in the trenches’ style of management.”

At Delphi Automotive LLP, for instance, John “Jack” Krol was named in 2009 as an outside chairman of this auto-parts company. He was working on the daily matters of the company, and helped to adise Delphi CEO Rodney O’Neal on his 2010 and 2011 operational plans. A Delphi spokesman says that Mr. O’Neal views the new chairman “as a partner and coach.”