Denitsa Balunas

SVP, Corporate Strategy at Edelman Financial Engines

Speaker

Denitsa Balunis is the Head of Corporate Strategy and Corporate Development for Edelman Financial Engines and responsible for the development and implementation of EFE’s enterprise strategy and planning, as well as mergers & acquisitions. She also serves as the Chief of Staff to EFE’s CEO driving cross-functional efforts at the CEO and business unit leadership levels.

With 20 years of strategy, finance and operations experience, Denitsa has spent her career helping companies build their long-term strategies and optimize financial performance while growing and scaling their businesses. Since joining EFE, Denitsa has held several key leadership roles at the company, including oversight of the diligence and integration of the deal that combined Edelman Financial Services and Financial Engines under Hellman & Friedman’s ownership in 2018 and the minority investment by Warburg Pincus in 2021. Since spearheading the EFE M&A function in 2020, Denitsa and her team have acquired seven RIA firms with over $5B in AUM. Denitsa’s team handles all parts of the deal process including opportunity sourcing, diligence, modeling/valuation, contract term setting, negotiation, deal closing and integration.

Before joining Edelman Financial Engines in 2018, Denitsa spent over a decade in progressively responsible strategic roles in the Financial Services and Technology industries - as a consultant and in industry, leading engagements focused on strategy formulation and execution, process improvement, new market entry and growth, M&A diligence and integration, and IPO Preparedness – both domestically and internationally.

Denitsa holds a B.A., Summa Cum Laude, in Economics with a concentration in Financial Markets from Colby College and an M.B.A. in Strategy from Duke University.