The combination of two large companies serving associations better equips them to handle a more complex environment for the industry, their leaders said.

Two of the largest and most deeply established association-focused companies are joining forces.

On March 4 the AMC Smithbucklin announced that it had acquired McKinley Advisors, a strategic advisory firm focused on association clients. According to a Smithbucklin press release, the acquisition brings total staffing to nearly 650 employees. Both companies will retain their names, branding, and senior leadership.

Smithbucklin President and CEO Matt Sanderson said the acquisition had been in discussion for about a year. “We’ve always been aware of each other and held one another’s organizations and work in high regard,” he said. “Over the years we’ve shared some clients, and we’ve certainly paid some attention to what the other was doing. It’s been gradual, but at some point last year it felt like the timing might be right.”

“The association sector, and our society at large, is at an extraordinary inflection point,” McKinley Advisors President and CEO Jay Younger, FASAE, wrote in a statement on LinkedIn. “The organizations we serve are navigating more complexity, more opportunity, and higher expectations than ever before. I believe that our combination with Smithbucklin puts us in a powerful position to help them rise to the occasion and meet the moment.”

Younger added that access to Smithbucklin subsidiaries now allows McKinley “to unlock solutions for our clients that simply wouldn’t have been possible independently.” Those subsidiaries include 360 Live Media, which focuses on meetings and events; the France Foundation, which supports continuing education programs for medical associations; and SDI Meetings and Incentives, an incentive travel and conference firm. 

Sanderson echoed the point. “Collectively, McKinley and Smithbucklin have a lot of talent, and we’ve been working on tackling some of the biggest challenges—structural challenges, strategic challenges, market challenges, execution, technology,” he said. “I think that joining forces gives everyone an opportunity to tap into the talent at the combined company for any situation that might surface.”

Sanderson said the move also reflects the increasingly complex needs of associations. “There’s a lot of change going on in the world, and in the associations that serve them,” he said. “Just as all organizations are acting with strength and urgency, I think we had a choice to move forward quickly and strategically.”

Still, Sanderson noted that clients of both companies shouldn’t expect substantial changes to their relationship with either. 

“What we’re hoping to put into place is just look for opportunities to leverage that collective know-how and use that talent to better create impact for our association clients,” he said. “I think that one of the things we’re anticipating is talking to some clients about the collective capabilities to test some of our early thinking. But there’s no dramatic change planned.”

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