Edward J. Dawson

In his thirty-year tenure as Chairman and CEO of Capital Alliance, Ed Dawson has been internationally hailed as one of the premier negotiators in the world, twice earning the title “Deal Maker of the Year” by M&A International. The author of four books and a contributor to Business Week, Ed oversees all of the firm’s transactions, bringing unmatched negotiating experience to the role of “hands on” manager.

Prior to Capital Alliance, Ed contributed to the development and growth of several Texas Instruments business lines, where he helped to design and implement a number of strategic business plans for electronic products over a nine-year career. Previous to TI, Ed worked in Marketing for IBM, Computer Analysis at Continental Illinois Bank, and Engineering at Whirlpool.

Ed earned his BS from Carnegie Mellon University and his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He coordinates many of the firm’s external activities, including its twenty-year relationship with the forty member firms of M&A International. Additionally, he teaches "Power Negotiating in Merger and Acquisition Transactions," "Deals 101," and "Deals 301" at the SMU Cox School of Business, where he has received The Business Leadership Center's Teaching Excellence Award a record-setting forty times. My LinkedIn Profile.

Key Achievements

Ed has been the lead dealmaker in over thirty multi-million dollar transactions. He has represented and closed transactions for:

• Modernfold, Inc.: the world’s second-largest manufacturer of moving walls for hotels.
• Gatan, Inc.: the world’s leading manufacturer of accessory equipment for electron microscopes.
• Morgan Corporation: the largest U.S. manufacturer of truck bodies.
• Superior Coaches, Inc.: the largest U.S. manufacturer of funeral coaches.
• Semco, Inc.: the world’s largest manufacturer of frac tanks for the oil industry.
• Thompson Companies, Inc.: the acquirer of the second largest U.S. provider of specialized motorist services.
• Transportation Rentals, Inc.: a rental car provider and Avis franchisee.
• Acadian Marine, Inc.: a provider of marine services to offshore oil platforms.
• Numerous other systems integration providers and technology based companies.

Focus Industries
Business Services
Construction and Engineering Services
Energy
Healthcare
Manufacturing
Technology