Vice President, Mergers - Secaucus, NJ, United States

Description · The Corporate Strategy and M&A Group is focused on driving growth across the business through acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships.  Quest Diagnostics' strategy is to increase revenue each year by more than 2% through accretive, strategic acquisitions. Acqu ...

Job description

Description

The Corporate Strategy and M&A Group is focused on driving growth across the business through acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships.  Quest Diagnostics' strategy is to increase revenue each year by more than 2% through accretive, strategic acquisitions. Acquisition opportunities may include IDN outreach businesses, regional laboratory consolidation and businesses that will provide Quest with new capabilities.

Quest has closed significant acquisitions in the last 3 years.  In 2024, Quest Diagnostics accelerated international expansion with the acquisition of LifeLabs, a leading Canadian diagnostics testing service provider. In 2023 and 2024, Quest invested in Oncology and Genetics with the acquisition of Haystack Oncology and PathAI assets.  Finally, Quest has continued to execute many deals with Health Systems and Independent Labs.

The Vice President, M&A will play a key role in this overall effort and will have the opportunity to lead all phases of strategic acquisitions & divestitures including market assessment and target screening, M&A target cultivation, deal structuring, due diligence, contract negotiations and deal closing while continuing to be a guide and touch point during integration. The role is not directly responsible for leading integration of acquired businesses but is expected to influence successful integration to position Quest for successful business outcomes. 

This leader will play a key role in ensuring proposed deals and structure aligning with Quest Diagnostics' business model, and risk appetite.  He/she will have responsibility for coordinating with other teams as appropriate to ensure acquisition models are accurate, risks to the model are fully identified and accounted for to the maximum extent possible and that due diligence is robust. This will be accomplished by managing work streams and virtual teams on each deal and will help develop and execute negotiating strategies with investment banks and directly with the acquisition target. 

The Vice President, M&A will also provide expertise to identify and review corporate opportunities aligned with the inorganic growth strategy, will communicate frequently with business leaders across Quest Diagnostics to determine strategic fit and feasibility of a deal, and will vet the structure according to financial targets for profitable growth. This role will develop relationships with key internal and external stakeholders, including banks, other financial institutions and target companies and will help keep these external parties apprised of areas of strategic interest for Quest.  The VP will be a relationship builder and influencer, will provide leadership in the sourcing and execution of opportunities, and will monitor and report on post-close performance. 

Pay Range: $400,000 - $450,000/year + 50% Annual Incentive Plan + Long-Term Incentive

Salary offers are based on a wide range of factors including relevant skills, training, experience, education, and, where applicable, certifications obtained. Market and organizational factors are also considered. Successful candidates may be eligible to receive annual performance bonus compensation.

Benefits Information:

We are proud to offer best-in-class benefits and programs to support employees and their families in living healthy, happy lives. Our pay and benefit plans have been designed to promote employee health in all respects – physical, financial, and developmental. Depending on whether it is a part-time or full-time position, some of the benefits offered may include:

• Day 1 Medical, supplemental health, dental & vision for FT employees who work 30+ hours

• Best-in-class well-being programs

• Annual, no-cost health assessment program Blueprint for Wellness

• healthyMINDS mental health program

• Vacation and Health/Flex Time

• 6 Holidays plus 1 "MyDay" off

• FinFit financial coaching and services

• 401(k) pre-tax and/or Roth IRA with company match up to 5% after 12 months of service

• Employee stock purchase plan

• Life and disability insurance, plus buy-up option

• Flexible Spending Accounts

• Annual incentive plans

• Matching gifts program

• Education assistance through MyQuest for Education

• Career advancement opportunities

• …and so much more

Responsibilities

• Work with the senior leadership team and General Managers to identify acquisition targets and other opportunities consistent with Quest's strategy.

• Develop relationships with M&A targets' senior executives

• Oversee market assessments related to Quest's inorganic growth vectors

• Work with business leaders to form and challenge strategic theses for deals

• Lead all aspects of deal process

• Lead & direct team for due diligence including liaison with business units and corporate functions

• Develop risk mitigation approaches

• Present deal assessments to the Business Development Committee

• Oversee and review financial modeling

• Lead internal alignment and issue resolution on a transaction. Manage subject matter experts (legal, finance, tax, etc.) in preparation for closing

• Negotiate with key stakeholders on behalf of Quest Diagnostics

• Maintain post-close performance metrics to track short- and long-term business performance

• Work with the Functional leaders to develop and enhance the M&A Playbook, and regularly drive lessons learned reviews

• Annually support the review of deal performance

• Will lead, mentor, and manage a team of ~5-7 people

Qualifications

• A bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, or Accounting, as well as an MBA or other advanced degree, is required

• A minimum of 10 years of M&A experience, including leading all aspects of M&A transactions

• A minimum of 5 years within a strategic consulting practice

• Strong leadership, financial, analytical, communication, relationship building, coordination and organizational skills, particularly associated with administering and directing activity under complex M&A agreements

• Excellent financial modeling skills

• Strategic Agility: Sees ahead clearly; can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately; has broad knowledge and perspective; is future oriented; can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods; can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.

• Presentation Skills: Is effective in a variety of formal presentation settings; one-on-one, small and large groups, with peers, direct reports, and bosses; is effective both inside and outside the organization, on both cool data and hot and controversial topics; commands attention and can manage group process during the presentation; can change tactics midstream when something isn't working.

• Dealing with Ambiguity: Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having total picture; isn't upset when things are up in the air; doesn't have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.

• Building Effective Teams: Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in his/her team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.

• Business Acumen: Knows how businesses work; knowledgeable in current and possible future policies, practices, trends, and information affecting his/her business and organization; knows the competition; is aware of how strategies and tactics work in the marketplace.

• Decision Quality: Makes good decisions (without considering how much time it takes) based upon a mixture of analysis, wisdom, experience, and judgment; most of his/her solutions and suggestions turn out to be correct and accurate when judged over time; sought out by others for advice and solutions.

• Intellectual Horsepower: Is bright and intelligent; deals with concepts and complexity comfortably; described as intellectually sharp, capable, and agile.

• Perspective: Looks toward the broadest possible view of an issue/challenge; has broad-ranging personal and business interests and pursuits; can easily pose future scenarios; can think globally; can discuss multiple aspects and impacts of issues and project them into the future.

• Directing Others: Is good at establishing clear directions; sets stretching objectives; distributes the workload appropriately; lays out work in a well-planned and organized manner; maintains two-way dialogue with others on work and results; brings out the best in people; is a clear communicator.

• Conflict Management: Steps up to conflicts, seeing them as opportunities, reading situations quickly; good at focused listening; can hammer out tough agreements and settle disputes equitably; can find common ground and get cooperation with minimum noise.

• Ethics and Values: Adheres to an appropriate (for the setting) and effective set of core values and beliefs during both good and bad times; acts in line with those values; rewards the right values and disapproves of others; practices what he/she preaches.

• Integrity and Trust: Is widely trusted; is seen as a direct, truthful individual; can present the unvarnished truth in an appropriate and helpful manner; keeps confidence; admits mistakes; does not misrepresent him/herself for personal gain.

• Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people, up, down, and sideways, inside and outside the organization; builds constructive, effective relationships; leverages diplomacy and tact; diffuses high-tension situations comfortably.

• Negotiating: Can negotiate skillfully in tough situations with both internal and external groups; can settle differences with minimum noise; can win concessions without damaging relationships; can be both direct and forceful as well as diplomatic; gains trust quickly of other parties to the negotiations; has a good sense of timing.