CFO Brew: Dave Carlino talks equity, ownership and acquisitions

In the CFO Brew piece, Dave acknowledges that "in the last two years, the amount of (M+A) activity has been intense" in the architecture and design industry.

CannonDesign has been central to that activity, navigating eight acquisitions over the past 24 months that bolster our company's service offerings, geographic reach and core brand. Dave has been central to all of this activity, helping evaluate acquisition partners and subsequent negotiations.

A core driver for this increased activity is private equity (PE). Dave shared that "PE is a big competitor of ours when it comes to acquisitions now. That competition wasn't there five or 10 years ago."

While CannonDesign can't necessarily compete with PE on price, Dave and the firm's leadership are able to package ownership, an increased role in a growing firm and a long-term vision for the firm's future to attract new partners.

This feature piece builds on other recent media coverage of Dave's role in CannonDesign's acquisition strategy. He previously contributed to a CFO trend piece titled, These CFO's put the 'strategy' in strategic acquisitions, and a feature story with Buffalo Business First.

CannonDesign most recently announced the acquisition of Ennead Architects, one of the most influential and distinguished architectural firms practicing today. Other acquisitions over the past two years include Jenkins•Peer Architects, Christner Architects and SRG Partnership. The firm has also expanded its consulting offerings through the addition of Yellow Brick Consulting, The Clarient Group, Scion Advisory Services and Cityfi.