The Streamlined AMC Search

The board of a close-knit, highly-networked trade association decided that they needed a new management partner. They expressed a need for transparent, defensible, and speedy AMC search that minimized the potential for politicking and recognized the sensitivity of working with the most respected and successful leaders of the industry. The leaders had committed to transitioning the employees to the new partner. The board designated a talented group of volunteers to serve as the AMC search task force. The initial challenge was that all of them were experts in the AMC search process, and they all had different ideas on how it should be done. Bloch & Reed Association Advisors was invited to design and manage a search process and help transition the organization to a new strategic partner.

The consultants began with interviews of the individual members of the search task force. The interviews revealed what the end task force members were looking for, and elements of the search process that they thought might effective in identifying a new strategic partner. The results of the interviews were analyzed and then a set group of criteria and attributes were discussed and agreed upon in a focus group setting.

The consultants designed a streamlined process that required proposals to address the specific needs of the organization and describe their cultural attributes to determine the best possible match. A group of approximately 20 prospective AMCs that met the task force’s criteria was winnowed down to three organizations who submitted proposals. The task force members used a quantitative and a qualitative methodology to score the proposals and determine the best fit out of three competitive proposals.

After a successful negotiation process, the staff and AMC entered into an expedited transition phase, and a year later, everyone reports that it was a successful match.