John Palusci, Former Vice President of Transformation and Strategic Finance, BAYADA
In this episode of M&A Science, John Palusci, former Vice President of Transformation and Strategic Finance at BAYADA, joins Kison Patel to discuss how to build a repeatable, Buyer-Led M&A™ engine within a nonprofit structure. John walks through his journey from IT to finance to corporate development, detailing how he helped scale BAYADA’s deal strategy with a focus on long-term value, integration-led diligence, and mission alignment. He shares real lessons from joint ventures, cashless acquisitions, and how to avoid surprises in highly regulated industries like healthcare.
Things you will learn:
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How to structure healthcare M&A for long-term mission alignment
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What a “conceptual pro forma” is and why it accelerates early deal screening
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How to manage integration risk in people-first, regulation-heavy industries
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Episode Chapters
[00:01:00] John’s unconventional path from IT to M&A leadership
[00:05:00] Running joint ventures with hospital systems
[00:07:30] Third-party valuation in nonprofit deals
[00:10:00] How BAYADA sourced and filtered deals
[00:13:00] Key reasons to kill a healthcare deal early
[00:16:00] How BAYADA transitioned from for-profit to nonprofit
[00:22:30] Standardizing diligence with a conceptual pro forma
[00:27:00] Managing talent transitions in home healthcare
[00:34:00] Cashless deals: how they work and when they’re possible
[00:38:30] Integration-led diligence and DealRoom’s role in execution
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