Johanna Jaakola

Tesia Hostetler, leader of Cisco's Acquisition Integration Practice, and Johanna Jaakola, Integration Lead at Cisco, delve into Cisco's robust M&A strategies. They discuss the critical role of integration leads in orchestrating due diligence to ensure strategic alignment before finalizing deals. Highlights include insights from Cisco's $28 billion Splunk acquisition, the importance of crafting integration theses alongside deal theses, and how their dual approval process establishes essential checkpoints throughout the negotiation stages. Cultural differences and adaptability are also key themes.