Post Merger Integration Experts

Post-Merger Integration Experts Who've Actually Run the Close

Real post-merger integration expertise isn't something you learn from a framework. It's earned in deal rooms — on the morning the books have to close combined, when a key plant manager threatens to quit, when the synergy case meets the messy reality of two companies that did everything differently.

Stonehill is a team of post-merger integration experts who have been in those rooms. We integrate acquisitions for PE-backed and founder-led middle market companies, and the people who scope your engagement are the same senior operators who execute it. No bench of analysts learning on your deal.

What actually makes a post-merger integration expert

Anyone can call themselves a PMI consultant. The expertise that matters is harder to fake. A genuine post-merger integration expert brings four things at once:

• Operating scar tissue. They've run the close before — multiple times, across functions — so they know what breaks on Day One and where value quietly leaks in the first 100 days.

• Cross-functional range. Integration touches finance, operations, technology, commercial, and people simultaneously. An expert can move between the controller's reporting problem and the org-design fight without losing the thread.

• A disciplined method. Experience without a repeatable framework is just war stories. Stonehill pairs a structured, process-driven approach with Design Thinking so the work is both rigorous and human.

• The judgment to sequence. Knowing what to do is table stakes. Knowing what to do first — and what can wait — is what separates an expert from a checklist.

That combination is rare in the middle market, and it's exactly what we're built to provide.

Where our experts make the difference

We're brought in across the full integration arc, wherever the expertise gap is widest:

Before close. Our experts build the integration strategy, Day One readiness plan, and a 100-day roadmap tied directly to the value thesis — so the moment the deal signs, the plan is real and owned.

Day One. We make sure the operational, financial, and communications steps that have to land on the first day actually land — calmly, without disrupting the business that's still running.

The first 100 days. We stand up and run the Integration Management Office, coordinate the workstreams, protect the people and customers that carry the deal, and capture the early synergies that fund everything after.

Through steady state. We drive the value model home and hand a stable, integrated business back to your operators — then get out of the way.

Expertise across every workstream that matters

Integration fails at the seams between functions. Our experts cover all of them and keep them coordinated under one integration office:

• Finance & accounting integration — combined close readiness, reporting, controls, and synergy tracking

• Operations & supply chain — keeping the production and service backbone running through transition

• Commercial & go-to-market — protecting revenue, retaining customers, capturing cross-sell

• People, organization & change — org design, key-talent retention, and the cultural work most deals underestimate

• Technology & systems — pragmatic systems integration sequenced to the business, not the IT wish list

• Synergy capture — converting the thesis into tracked, owned, dollar-denominated initiatives

One team, one plan, named owners, real dates.

The experts behind the work

Stonehill became a post-merger integration boutique because clients kept asking our strategists to stay past the recommendation and help them execute the close. That operating experience — across financial services, consumer, logistics, and multi-site businesses — is what every one of our experts brings into the deal room.

Note for Doug: if you want named senior bios or a credibility band (Valley National Bank, PODS, FIS, Red Bull, Starbucks Latin America, The Melting Pot), confirm naming/permission and I'll drop in a "meet the experts" or logo section here.

Frequently asked questions

What is a post-merger integration expert? A post-merger integration expert is a specialist who combines an acquired company into the buyer's operations after close — planning Day One, running the integration office, coordinating workstreams, and capturing the synergies behind the deal. The expertise is operational and cross-functional, not just advisory.

What's the difference between a PMI expert and a management consultant? A general management consultant analyzes and recommends. A post-merger integration expert executes — they've run combined closes, stood up integration offices, and retained key talent through a merger. Integration is a doing discipline, and that's where the expertise shows.

Do we need a PMI expert if we already have a deal team? Usually, yes. Deal teams are built to source, diligence, and close — not to run an integration on top of their day jobs. A dedicated expert keeps Day One and the 100-day plan from slipping while your team stays focused on the business and the next deal.

When should we bring in post-merger integration experts? Before close, ideally. The strongest outcomes come from planning integration while the deal is still being signed, so readiness is set on Day One. We're also brought in mid-integration to reset a deal that has stalled.

What kinds of companies do Stonehill's experts work with? Middle-market companies, generally $50M–$1B in revenue — PE platforms, portfolio companies, and founder-led businesses absorbing an acquisition without a standing integration team.

Put a real expert in the room before Day One

The deal model assumes integration works. Make sure the people running it have done it before.

Stonehill's post-merger integration experts bring senior operating experience, a disciplined framework, and a Design Thinking approach that protects your people and your synergies from signing through steady state.