Dear Seun:
I love your question as a company I know has recently created a Corporate Development Department with 4 positions which have been filled with 1 person from HR, 1 person from Finance, 1 person from QA, 1 person from Corporate Communications. This group reports into the CEO. There is a strong collaboration with other areas of the business, such that it is not imperative for the members of the group to have the experience. The interesting piece also is that they are not involved in the deals – that is done by Business Development. The PMI is led by Corporate Development, and so they are involved by BD shortly before non-binding offer is made. It works well because of the diverse nature of the people on the team and their collaboration with all the functions.
