M&A Integration Manager - Remote

Summit School Services companies share a strong commitment to provide the highest level of transportation safety, quality transportation, outstanding customer service and positive employee relations. Our corporate headquarters, located in Warrenville, Illinois, houses the administrative and corporate support functions for the organization. Our 250+ local customer service centers (CSCs) are supported by regional operations teams located throughout North America.

The Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Operations Integration Manager is responsible for leading the operational integration of acquired businesses from pre-close planning through post-close stabilization and full integration. This role serves as a critical link between Corporate Development, business leadership, functional teams, and acquired-company management to ensure acquisitions are integrated efficiently while maintaining business continuity, customer service, employee engagement, and operational performance.

The M&A Operations Integration Manager develops and executes integration plans, establishes governance and accountability, identifies operational risks and synergies, and ensures that integration commitments are delivered on time and with measurable business results.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead operational integration planning and execution for mergers, acquisitions, and other strategic transactions from pre-close preparation through post-close integration.

• Develop comprehensive integration plans, including milestones, dependencies, owners, timelines, risks, and performance measures.

• Partner with Corporate Development and functional leaders to translate the transaction plans and diligence findings into actionable integration priorities.

• Coordinate cross-functional integration activities across Operations, Finance, Human Resources, IT, Maint/Procurement, Legal, Compliance, Commercial/ BD/ Facilities, and other functions.

• Develop and manage Day 1, first 30/60/90-day, and longer-term integration plans.

• Identify operational risks, business continuity concerns, interdependencies, and potential integration barriers; develop mitigation and contingency plans.

• Track synergy commitments, cost savings, productivity improvements, operational efficiencies, and other transaction-related value-creation initiatives.

• Assess acquired-company processes, systems, organizational structures, policies, and operating practices and develop recommendations for alignment with the acquiring organization.

• Facilitate decisions regarding process standardization, technology migration, organizational alignment, vendor consolidation, facilities, and operating-model changes.

• Maintain focus on customers and day-to-day operations throughout the integration process to minimize disruption.

• Partner with Human Resources to support effective employee communications, organizational transitions, and adoption of new processes and systems.

• Develop integration dashboards and KPIs to provide leadership with visibility into progress, risks, decisions, financial impact, and overall integration health.

• Facilitate cross-functional meetings, resolve competing priorities, and escalate critical decisions or risks to executive leadership.

• Conduct post-integration reviews and capture lessons learned to continuously improve the organization's M&A integration methodology, playbooks, and tools.

• Support the development of repeatable integration standards and capabilities that enable the organization to successfully execute multiple acquisitions.