The 2011 merger of AED and FHI is just one of many such operations which continue to shake up the development business, like the more recent takeover of Merlin by Save the Children.
Combing the resources of both organizations during the transition process wasn’t easy, but FHI 360 COO Patrick Fine looks back on lessons learned and now believes he knows the way to go, whether if you’re looking at a merger or just analyzing your own operation to see where you can improve your development impacts.
The key, he explained during an interview with Devex at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York, is clarity of communication and objective so “it’s clear to everybody what we’re doing, why we’re doing it and how it’s going to result in our being able to carry out our mission.”
Fine recalled how one of the first things he did when he arrived at FHI was structure the operations so the organization had very clear units that created clear lines of accountability and responsibility across the firm.
That allowed a smooth transition process that brought together the assets, talent and expertise of both AED and FHI to establish FHI 360, today one of Washington, D.C.’s leading development organizations.
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