How M&A is disrupting the federal market

When I went away on vacation, we had a couple people confirmed for our Aug. 17 WT Power Breakfast on the M&A Paradigm.

But when I returned: Boom! We had a full agenda. And I hardly had to do anything.

A big thank you goes to my boss Anne Armstrong and WT's senior writer Ross Wilkers for filling out the shell that I left behind before I ran off to Greece. (I’m proud to say I never checked work email for two weeks but I’m paying for it now.)

I’m excited about the event because few things have as much impact on the market as some of the deals we’ve seen happening over the last year. They disrupt the competitive landscape as companies add scale and capabilities to position themselves for opportunities.

The deals cause others to react, either through their own acquisitions or through strategic shifts and partnerships.

M&A is too important to ignore, so we are taking a deep dive into what it all means.

Before I left on vacation, I confirmed former CSRA CEO Larry Prior and CACI Chief Development Officer Michael Lewis as speakers; as well as Lorraine Corcoran, vice president of corporate and marketing communications at Perspecta.

The agenda was still a little nebulous, but it has shaped up quite nicely in my absence.

I’ll be doing a fireside chat with Prior where we’ll review General Dynamics' acquisition of CSRA. But then we'll dive more deeply into how M&A is reshaping the competitive landscape.

That’s the overall theme of the breakfast event: How does all the deal-making impact the market, from partnering strategies to contracts to employees. Nothing is untouched when mergers happen.

Our first panel will feature Tim Hurlebaus, president of CGI Federal; Mike Lewis from CACI; and Marc Marlin from the investment bank KippsDeSanto & Co. They’ll talk about game changing deals and how they impact corporate strategies.

I’ll be back with a second panel with Bob Lohfeld of Lohfeld Consulting, Ed Nemeroff, vice president of federal sales at Connection, and Kevin Plexico, senior vice president of information solutions at Deltek.

We’ll be discussing how deals affect partners, the channel and contracts. Think about it. There is a high likelihood that you, a partner, or a competitor will be acquired or will make an acquisition. The ripples on your business go out from there.

WT Senior Writer Ross Wilkers will lead our last panel looking at the people side of this equation. M&A transactions open a host of challenges and opportunities when it comes to recruiting and retention as companies rebuild and adjust their corporate cultures.

Lorraine Corcoran from Perspecta knows a lot about that first-hand given the company's launch in June via  the DXC-Vencore-Keypoint deal. She’ll be joined by Jon Barney from Korn Ferry and Sam Dinte from Dinte Global Executive Search, who will bring their perspectives.

It is a lot to pack into a few hours. But we should be done by 10:30.

Here is a link to register and get more information.