Donald S. Collat​​

Biography

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Donald S. Collat is a consultant on M&A and corporate governance. Previously, Don completed more than 14 years as a partner/principal of Ernst & Young, where he provided strategic advice about mergers and acquisitions to large global companies. Before joining EY, Don worked as an investment banker. He spent twelve years in investment banking—at Salomon Smith Barney, where he was a managing director, Bankers Trust, and Lehman Brothers. At Salomon Smith Barney, he was the lead author of a monograph on such transactions as spin-offs, split-offs, and the issuance of tracking stock.

Between investment banking jobs, Don taught at Harvard Business School for five years as a professor of finance. While teaching at HBS, he also advised financial and industrial companies as well as foundations. One of his publications at HBS was a case study he co-authored on the privatization of Rhone-Poulenc, a large nationalized French company.

Having served on a number of boards, Don has extensive boardroom experience. He was a member of the board of Stonyfield Farm, a leading maker of yogurt, and of Affinity Biotech. He served as a member of the board and the chair of the finance committee of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation. Don also served as a member of the Governing Board of the Portola Valley School District in northern California for four years and as its president in the final year of his term. He is currently a trustee of the board of the International School of Paris, where he is its vice president and the chair of the governance committee.

A Rhodes Scholar, Don received a doctorate in economics from Oxford University, a J.D. from Yale Law School (where he was editor of the Yale Law Journal), and an A.B., summa cum laude in economics, from Princeton University.