For Lasting Mergers & Acquisitions, Put Culture First

Mention the term mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and what typically comes to mind is the cold hard math of business and boardroom deals.

But Vice President Chrissy Cox and Booz Allen’s M&A team look beyond the numbers to build long-term relationships with other companies. For Chrissy, ensuring a cultural fit built around shared values and complementary specialties is the “X factor” that leads to the best outcomes.

And this approach has served her, her team, and Booz Allen exceptionally well. Chrissy’s team was even recently recognized by the Association for Corporate Growth as Deal Team of the Year for public companies in the National Capital Region.

Chrissy shares highlights from her professional journey, including the $725 million acquisition of Liberty IT, as well as Booz Allen’s mentality when it comes to finding partners to support crucial government missions.

When Chrissy started out at Booz Allen, her day-to-day activities involved business and economic analysis for the intelligence community. But after earning her M.B.A., she charted a new course in M&A strategy and advisement.

Over a variety of roles and deals at different companies, she gained experience across the M&A lifecycle, from strategic sourcing to transactions to post-merger integration. This experience positioned her well for a career-defining move: her return to Booz Allen.

“I wanted to get closer to the mission with a values-based organization and make an impact,” she says.

This was in the early 2010s, when Booz Allen’s corporate development department was just getting off the ground. “I was brought in to help create the playbooks, build the team, and work with Booz Allen leadership on where we wanted to go with mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and other investments,” she says.

All this work served an overarching purpose: to support Booz Allen’s offerings to federal clients and the company’s VoLT (Velocity, Leadership, Technology) strategy for rapid growth by accelerating digital transformation. The Liberty IT acquisition, for example, brought to Booz Allen robust cloud, low code/no code, and DevSecOps capabilities.

“We're not just making acquisitions for revenue’s sake,” Chrissy explains. “We're acquiring capabilities that are at the core of our clients’ missions.”

But technology is just one part of the evaluation process. “Because Booz Allen’s purpose and values really drive our culture, we're also looking at other companies’ values to determine whether they are a cultural fit,” says Chrissy.

Booz Allen has passed on deals where it was clear there wasn’t a fit in terms of the companies’ purpose and values.

“When we're thinking about pursuing a deal with another company, a core part of our due diligence process is making sure there won’t be a cultural clash,” explains Chrissy. “Employees coming over from a merger should have a seamless transition and still feel connected to the same corporate values; anything less is only going to cause friction down the road.” 

Booz Allen’s M&A team doesn’t wait for deals to come to them or engage only when it’s time to start putting together the paperwork.

“We spend a lot of time in the M&A process interacting with a company,” Chrissy says. “It’s very purposeful engagement.”

This involves technology demos, site visits, and meetings with both senior leaders and functional teams across the organization.

“We’re learning the ins and outs of the organization,” Chrissy says. “What gets people out of bed in the morning? What risks and issues are they facing? How do they live by their purpose and values?”

This involves “really getting to know them” and sticking by a promising company as needed “to do right by the deal.”

“If I'm doing my job right, and the markets are doing their jobs right, we're meeting with these companies years beforehand,” she says. “We spend the time and energy to build relationships up front, to achieve the best position for creating value together.”