Company: Tasman Consulting, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Entry Submitted By: Energia Communications
Company Description: Tasman Consulting is a San Francisco-based boutique consultancy firm specializing in Human Resource Mergers and Acquisitions services. The firm is dedicated to designing customized solutions and cost-effective strategies to help its clients make any acquisition as smooth and successful as possible... First-hand experience on more than 140 transactions in over 50 countries...
Nomination Category: Company/Organization Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Company of the Year – Business Services – 10 or Less Employees

Nomination Title: Tasman Consulting, a leader in Human Resources Mergers and Acquisitions Services

Describe for the judges the activities and accomplishments of the nominated organization since the beginning of July last year (up to 525 words):

Founded in 2011 by former Cisco executives, Tasman Consulting is a women-owned Silicon Valley-based consultancy firm specializing in Human Resource Mergers and Acquisitions services. The firm is dedicated to designing customized solutions and cost-effective strategies to help its clients make any acquisition as smooth and successful as possible.

With first-hand experience on more than 140 transactions in over 50 countries, from small domestic deals ranging from US$1M to global transactions and industry-changing acquisitions worth as much as US$7B, Tasman’s team is prepared to handle and advise on the full spectrum of human capital integration challenges that may be faced in M&A, divestitures, and corporate restructuring.

In 2012 in particular, Tasman witnessed an increased appetite for M&A within the technology industry – a highly competitive and fast moving sector that leverages acquisitions as a means to grow. Objectives such as retaining talent, capitalizing on synergies and mastering smooth and productive integrations became even more central to business strategies because tech companies are increasingly being acquired for their talent, and integration success or failure directly impacts future potential financial performance.

From July 2012 until July 2013, Tasman Consulting continued to serve the technology industry and doubled its client portfolio, adding LinkedIn, salesforce.com, Flextronics, Dell, Cisco, Flextronics, HGST and Polycom to its client roster. Prior to this, American Express, SAP/SuccessFactors, and Mavenir, among others, made up the firm’s portfolio.

Specifically, on the Cisco-Cloupia (Cross Border: U.S./India) deal, Tasman provided acquisition support from due diligence, key negotiations through post-close integration and led on-boarding activities by overseeing the delivery of all milestones in order to meet an accelerated close deadline.

On the Dell/Credant deal, (Global: UK, Australia), Tasman led the HR components from term sheet through to post-integration and helped navigate the TUPE (Transfer of undertakings-protection of employment) process to ensure a quick and expedient integration of the UK employees.

For Cisco/Meraki (Global: Mexico, UK), Tasman provided front-end deal support to Cisco including due diligence, key agreement negotiation, retention distribution and advisory on equity issues.

During the Flextronics/Google divestiture, (Global: Brazil and China), Tasman managed the due diligence process for Flextronics, partnering with the HR Leaders from China and Brazil to identify red flags, integration challenges and develop a cost model to help Flextronics understand the financial impact of the additional headcount.

During Cisco/Intucell Systems (Global: Israel, UK, Singapore), Tasman provided front-end deal support to Cisco including due diligence, negotiating key agreements, retention distribution and advisory on equity issues.

During Polycom’s acquisition of Sentri, Inc.(Domestic), Tasman led all of the HR deliverables from diligence through post-close, retaining 100% of the critical talent.

During HGST's acquisition of Velobit (Domestic), Tasman integrated a team of highly specialized and critical engineering organization into the company in less than one week. It was a seamless transaction for the employees with no down time. The deal announced and closed in July 2013. Velobit is just one of the key steps HGST is taking to strengthen its position in the SSD (Solid State Drive) market.

Provide a brief biography of the person or persons who lead the nominated company (up to 125 words):

Shari Yocum and Niki Lee are Managing Partners of Tasman Consulting, a strategic M&A human capital advisory firm based in San Francisco which offers a broad range of human resource integration consulting and solutions.

Shari Yocum has more than 18 years of experience working in global firms, becoming an industry leader in HR, M&A, change management, and process re-engineering. She has held various HR executive and consulting roles at Cisco, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Nortel, and MSA. Shari holds a Master of Business Administration from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Prior to co-founding Tasman, Niki was an executive at Cisco Systems, where she led their HR Mergers and Acquisitions organization. Over the last eight years, Niki has managed over 50 domestic and cross-border acquisitions.

Choose one (even if both apply):

The CEO (or other principal manager) of this company is a woman, and at least 40% of the management team is comprised of women.