IMAA Faculty

Meet our experts, faculty, staff and our advisory board to find out who stands behind the Institute.

Prof. Dr. Christopher Kummer

Founder and CEO

Dr. Christopher Kummer is the President of IMAA and a Professor of Finance at IUBH, Lecturer at University HAG St. Gall, and Affiliate Faculty at Institute for Strategy & Competitiveness at Harvard Business School. In his expertise, he combines profound knowledge as an academic, with hands-on knowhow and real-world insights as a practitioner in M&A that he gained at PwC and as an adviser in M&A and integration.

Prof. Dr. Aswath Damodaran

Faculty

Professor Aswath Damodaran is the Kerschner Family Chair Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University. Over decades he has created and helped shape the field of valuation. He teaches the corporate finance and valuation courses in the MBA and executive programs. Being at NYU since 1986, he has received the Stern School of Business Excellence in Teaching Award. His research interests lie in valuation, portfolio management and applied corporate finance. He has published papers in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, the Journal of Financial Economics and the Review of Financial Studies.

Meet our faculty

Compounding both academic excellence and internationally renowned business experience, the IMAA faculty have helped propel our institute to the forefront of M&A global education. Our growing faculty of more than 60 professors represent a diverse group of professionals, coming from over 20 countries; they work as corporate executives, entrepreneurs, researchers, consultants and professors. Their expertise makes them subject matter experts, groundbreaking researchers, and award-winning authors. This intersection of practical industry insight, theoretical knowledge, and passion for teaching that our faculty brings to each training strikes at the heart of what IMAA seeks to be.

Andre Gan

Faculty

Andre heads the Corporate, Commercial & Securities and Competition Practice Group of Wong & Partners, and the regional mergers & acquisitions (M&A) practice of Baker McKenzie's Asian offices. His practice covers mergers and acquisitions, corporate securities, venture capital and private equity, and competition. Andre is recognised in the leading legal directories including Chambers and Legal 500, and has published numerous articles in leading business publications in relation to corporate and competition law. He has also worked in the Singapore and London offices of Baker & McKenzie International.

Darryl Kinneally

Faculty

Darryl is EY Asean Private Equity Tax Leader and Partner, International Tax and Transaction Services at Ernst & Young Solutions LLP in Singapore. He has extensive experience in international tax and the tax aspects of M&A and infrastructure funding. Darryl handles tax structuring and due diligence relating to M&As for businesses locally and internationally. His clients include listed Singapore companies and multinationals from sectors such as precision engineering, travel, private equity funds, and food and beverage. He is a Chartered Tax Adviser of The Tax Institute, Australia, and member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand. Darryl holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University of Queensland, Australia.

Dhruv Mehra

Faculty

Dhruv Mehra is a Partner in Mercer US & Canada M&A Advisory Services business, based in San Francisco. Prior to his current role, he led the M&A Advisory services business for Mercer for the Asia Middle-east Africa region. He has over 20 years of human capital consulting experience and has worked on a broad range of assignments including cross-border M&A due diligence, do-by-close and post-close support for mergers, joint-ventures, spin-offs, carve-outs and reorganizations.

Roula Khaled

Faculty

Roula Khaled is a lawyer and regional senior legal counsel with Majid Al Futtaim Ventures in Dubai, UAE. She specializes in corporate, commercial, IP and litigation. Roula has 16 years of experience as a legal consultant with a diversified and strong background in internal and international business law. Roula has extensive knowledge in directing all external litigation matters and negotiating as well as advising on and drafting documentation in relation to high level transactions, including dispositions, mergers and acquisitions and the restructuring of companies.

Seng Leong Teh

Faculty

Seng Leong is a partner with Ernst & Young in Singapore. He runs the ASEAN Transaction Diligence practice and is also EY's Global Real Estate, Hospitality and Construction M&A Leader. Seng Leong has been with Ernst & Young Singapore for more than 20 years. He spent 3 years with the Ernst & Young Transaction Advisory Services group in New York where he was involved in various real estate transactions including the merger of Hilton USA and Hilton PLC and the acquisition of a stake in Kerzner by lstithmar JSPC.

Rick Marchese

Faculty

Rick Marchese (Director, Head of Corporate Finance) is an experienced Wall Street and Silicon Valley investment banker having executed over 50 transactions in excess of US$10 billion in aggregate value. His expertise includes capital raising and M&A advisory assignments for a wide range of public and private clients. Previously, Rick served as a senior banker at Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch. He began his investment banking career at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (subsequently acquired by Credit Suisse). He is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) and is a member of The Family Firm Institute and The Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors.

Brian Kenet

Faculty

Brian Kenet, MBA, is a Senior Business Advisor at Anchin who advises architecture, engineering, environmental, and construction (A/E/C) firms on growth, transition, and exit strategies. Brian came to Anchin after 15 years as a consulting principal at a boutique financial advisory firm, where he advised many dozens of prominent A/E/C clients to complete successful M&A transactions – both on the ‘sell’ and ‘buy’ side, along with advising them on the entire spectrum of topics related to growth and transition, valuation, succession and leadership development, operations benchmarking and performance improvement. Throughout his career, Brian has excelled at assisting clients on strategic acquisitions, helping these firms spark organic growth, while bringing in new, entrepreneurial leadership talent into the firm. His experience working on successful talent retention strategies and helping firms plan for the next generation is second to none. Brian taught popular Professional Practice courses as a faculty member at Harvard Graduate School of Design for ten years, and more recently at Yale School of Architecture and Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. He continues to return to Harvard and Yale annually as a guest lecturer. Brian received his Bachelor’s Degree from Harvard College and his MBA from Pace University.

Donald H. Noble

Faculty

Donald H Noble has a proven track record in finance and technology at high growth and start-up companies. He has extensive experience in growth hacking in companies by integrating all components of finance accounting and technology into the strategic and tactical plans of the company.

Chris Mellen

Faculty

Chris Mellen is a Senior Managing Director with Valuation Research Corporation (VRC), leading its Boston office. Previously, he was president of Delphi Valuation Advisors, Inc., which he founded in 2000 and sold to VRC in 2015. His experience includes involvement in over 3,500 business and intangible asset valuations since 1989. He has served on several valuation committees, led over 100 seminars, published over 40 articles, and provided expert testimony in court. Chris is author of the third edition of a 480-page text book, Valuation for M&A: Building and Measuring Private Company Value, published by Wiley in 2018.

David Olsson

Faculty

David Olsson has over 15 years of experience in business integration, development and M&A in small and mid-market private, corporate and PE backed enterprises across UK and EMEA and North & South Africa. David has developed and delivered M&A deals, integrated, aligned and grown SME and corporate companies in UK, Russia, Turkey, Dubai, Egypt, Brazil, USA, Germany and Holland.

Dr. Alexander Herzfeldt

Faculty

People and results-oriented professional combining both strategy consulting experience (strategy development, M&A, reorganization) and software consulting experience (custom software development, digital service development, digital transformation) with a proven sales record. Offering 10 years of industry experience mainly in the LifeSciences and Software industries and being delivery responsible for multiple consulting and software development projects at any point in time. A leader who empowers, motivates and trains others to achieve exceptional results. Consistently surpassing clients’ expectations by building on strong team skills, analytical skills, an ownership mindset, and unique intercultural skills.

Available Programs

Mergers & Acquisitions Professional (M&AP)

The Mergers & Acquisitions Professional (M&AP) is a program designed to meet the needs of auditing, consulting, deal advisory, investment banking, and legal professionals. The M&AP covers all aspects of the transaction process and provides insight into running a successful M&A boutique. Gain knowledge in best practices for the M&A process, valuation, due diligence and also for a unique module on Running a Successful M&A Practice. Gaining the M&AP designation signals to employers, colleagues and clients that you invest in being the best M&A practitioner you can be.

Legal Mergers & Acquisitions Expert (LM&A)

Promising deals can go awry because of poor understanding of legal aspects or simply, a lack of preparation and negligence. The Legal Mergers and Acquisitions Expert certification training program covers all relevant topics within the M&A process from a legal standpoint: pre-deal, during due diligence and negotiations, as well as post acquisition. Join a global network of legal experts and M&A professionals interested in legal issues and become a LM&A Charterholder!

Certified Post Merger Integration Expert (CPMI)

The Certified Post Merger Integration Expert (CPMI) is a tailored program to address the needs of advisors, Human Resource professionals, Project Managers, management consultants, change specialists, corporate M&A and integration teams. The program covers all aspect of the post-merger integration process from planning to implementation. The CPMI program is the only globally oriented Post Merger integration certification in existence and is internationally recognized.

HR Mergers & Acquisitions Expert (HRM&A)

The HRM&A program is designed to meet the needs of Human Resource professionals involved in M&A transactions in both corporate and consulting roles. The HRM&A program covers all aspects of the transaction process relevant for HR including strategy, due diligence, Post Merger Integration (Best of PMI), and compensation and benefits. Gain knowledge in best practices for the M&A process and better understand the HR function and its significance during pre-deal or the post-merger integration phase. The HRM&A designation prepares HR practitioners in preparing for the challenges and practical realities of M&A transactions.

Valuation Training with Prof. Aswath Damodaran

The objective of the training is to provide the fundamentals of each approach to valuation, together with limitations and caveats on the use of each, as well as extended examples of the application of each.

International Hospitality Mergers & Acquisitions Expert (IHM&A)

As a dedicated training for professionals involved in transactions in the hospitality industry this program does not only provide introduction to M&A and its theoretical concepts but is designed with ready-to-use tools and practices for industry professionals. Every session is crafted and taught by our M&A veterans and Hospitality experts who share their insights and know-how gained through years of real-world practice.

Contact us

NEW YORK

276 Fifth Avenue, Suite 704
New York, NY 10001
United States of America

VIENNA

Nussdorferstrasse 52/5
1090 Vienna
Austria

ZURICH

Hagenholzstrasse 81a
8050 Zurich
Switzerland

10 Anson Road #29-04A
International Plaza
Singapore 079903

DUBAI

4th Floor
Building A2
Dubai South Free Zone
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Unit 21-S
Fifth Avenue Place
5th Ave. cor 21st Drive
Fort Bonifacio
1630 Taguig, Phillipines

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In order to become a charterholder you need to complete one of the IMAA programs