www.acquisition-international.com • November 2026 Featuring: What Building GoHenry Taught Louise Hill About Leadership
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Contents 4 News - S&P Global Completes Acquisition of OpenZeppelin - High Awareness, Low Adoption: New Survey Reveals Nearly Half of Security Professionals Still Rely on Passwords 6 What Building GoHenry Taught Louise Hill About Leadership 8 Auto Glass Xperts: Forth Worth’s First-Class Fix 9 Global Media Foundation LBG: Youth Development NPO of the Year 2026 – Ghana 10 Mrs Anomi I Wanigasekera: Sri Lanka’s IP Law Expert 11 The AHA Group: Best Luxury Consulting Firm 2026 12 Webs Solution: Digital Growth Agency of the Year 2026 – Canada 10 8 12
NEWS S&P Global Completes Acquisition of OpenZeppelin S&P Global announced it has completed its acquisition of OpenZeppelin, the security standard for onchain finance. The transaction, first announced on September 17, 2026, complements S&P Global’s risk assessment capabilities in digital asset markets and brings OpenZeppelin’s deep expertise in onchain ecosystem development, enhancing its ability to create the next generation of onchain security assessments and benchmarks, and deliver essential intelligence as capital markets transition onchain. Founded in 2015, OpenZeppelin combines leading onchain security assessments and secure development services with one of the world’s leading open-source smart contract libraries, OpenZeppelin Contracts. Its security team has conducted 900+ engagements for the protocols and institutions defining digital asset markets, surfacing 10,000+ vulnerabilities before production, while OpenZeppelin Contracts underpin over $38 trillion in value transferred, including many of the largest stablecoins and tokenized funds. Alongside its security and open-source work, OpenZeppelin’s engineering team builds secure onchain infrastructure for leading blockchain networks and institutions. The acquisition expands S&P Global’s risk assessment capabilities into the onchain technology-risk layer that underpins onchain financial products, while S&P Global’s trusted brand, deep institutional relationships, and global distribution accelerate OpenZeppelin’s reach into traditional finance. “Completing this acquisition is an important step for our digital assets strategy,” said Yann Le Pallec, President, S&P Global Ratings. “As more of the financial system moves onchain, market participants need a clear view of the technology risk that sits beneath the assets they hold. OpenZeppelin’s expertise, from blockchain and smart contract security assessments and secure development to its widely used open-source library, is already foundational to that infrastructure. Together, we can help traditional financial institutions and DeFi-native companies alike understand and manage those risks with greater confidence.” “Today OpenZeppelin begins its next chapter as part of S&P Global,” said Demian Brener, Founder, OpenZeppelin. “Our team will keep doing what it does best: security assessments and secure development for the world’s leading protocols, networks and institutions building onchain finance, while OpenZeppelin Contracts remain open source, free and publicly maintained. With S&P Global, we can expand the reach and impact of those standards across global markets.” OpenZeppelin will continue to operate as its own business unit under the OpenZeppelin name. Brener will continue to lead the business, reporting to Yann Le Pallec, President, S&P Global Ratings. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on the financial results of S&P Global. Jefferies LLC served as financial advisor to S&P Global; Clifford Chance acted as S&P Global’s legal advisor. FT Partners served as exclusive financial and strategic advisor to OpenZeppelin; Cooley acted as OpenZeppelin’s legal advisor.
NEWS “Security leaders know hardware-backed passkeys – specifically hardware security keys – offer the highest level of protection, yet nearly half still rely on basic usernames and passwords daily. The gap isn’t expertise; it’s overcoming the friction to user adoption.” This operational disconnect begins early: over 50 percent of security professionals inherit legacy credentials on day one, establishing password dependency by default and perpetuating unsafe habits. Generative AI worsens this risk, as seasoned cybersecurity experts struggle to spot synthetic messaging, making user vigilance unreliable. Furthermore, deploying autonomous AI agents compounds these issues, as the 91 percent who want a human approval step will need a reliable way to confirm a real person is behind it. “Bridging this gap requires organisations to build security directly into the onboarding experience,” said Charlotte Wylie, SVP and deputy CSO at Okta. “When legacy login habits persist, enterprises remain vulnerable to modern attack vectors. Together with Yubico, we are providing a unified approach that ensures every employee is protected by zero-trust, phishing-resistant authentication from their first day on the job.” To overcome these structural hurdles, Yubico and Okta are partnering to streamline how enterprise identity systems issue, manage, and enforce hardware-backed credentials. By embedding phishing resistance directly into modern access management platforms, the companies aim to help IT teams eliminate password dependencies without creating operational friction for employees. High Awareness, Low Adoption: New Survey Reveals Nearly Half of Security Professionals Still Rely on Passwords A new survey from Yubico, the pioneer of phishing-resistant authentication and creator of the original passkey, the YubiKey, and Okta, Inc, reveals a significant gap between security knowledge and everyday practice. While security leaders overwhelmingly recognise phishing-resistant passkeys as more secure than passwords, nearly half still rely on vulnerable login methods in their daily work. Conducted by Talker Research, the annual 2026 Global State of Authentication report surveyed nearly 2,000 cybersecurity and IT professionals across nine countries. The report highlights that cybersecurity’s primary vulnerability is no longer a lack of education or awareness, but a structural problem driven by operational friction and outdated onboarding defaults. Organisations cannot rely solely on additional security awareness training to resolve this gap. Rather, real progress starts with what employees are handed on their first day. Key findings include: • 43 percent rely on passwords at work – despite many knowing passkeys are more secure. 31 percent cited hardware passkeys as the gold standard, 27 percent voted synced passkeys as most secure and 23 percent said device-bound passkeys through a mobile device are best • 52 percent inherited passwords on day one, proving that legacy onboarding defaults dictate long-term security habits • 44 percent suffered an AI-driven attack in the last 12 months with Singapore experiencing the highest rate globally (58 percent), contrasting sharply with Japan (30 percent) and Germany (38 percent) • 39 percent of security pros failed to distinguish AI-generated text from human writing • India (68 percent), Australia (60 percent), and the US (56 percent) show the highest proportion of workers who are “very familiar” with passkeys • 91 percent would like a ‘human-in-the-loop’ approval step before autonomous AI agents execute critical actions • Indian professionals lead global markets in willingness to delegate client/colleague communications to AI agents (41 percent “very comfortable”), compared to just 4 percent in Japan and 12 percent in France • 50 percent of US security pros use passwords at work, leading all surveyed global markets in legacy password dependency despite having the highest technical awareness “Enterprise cybersecurity has a critical execution gap,” said Poupak Enbom, chief market and growth officer at Yubico. Global study from Yubico and Okta highlights a critical execution gap in enterprise security, showing how modern identity controls can eliminate password dependency
Feature 6 | Acquisition International, September 2025 What Building GoHenry Taught Louise Hill About Leadership Louise Hill co-founded GoHenry in 2012 to help children learn how to manage money. Her experience building the business has since taken her into fundraising, acquisitions and campaigning for financial education in schools. Speaking exclusively to Female Motivational Speakers Agency, Hill reflects on the leadership lessons that came with those responsibilities, including why sharing every investor rejection with her team proved demotivating. She also explains how GoHenry’s mission has guided difficult business decisions, why the company took its case for financial education to government, and what she hopes fellow entrepreneurs learn from the setbacks as well as the successes. 1. What did leading GoHenry through funding rounds, acquisition and exit teach you about leadership? Louise Hill: “So many things, not least how to keep standing back up after a knockback, because there were plenty of knockbacks. “One thing I learned with funding rounds, in the early days, was that I was very focused on bringing the whole team along with us. I would share the fact that we were meeting prospective investors with the whole team, thinking that was really motivational and exciting. “But some funding rounds are not easy. If you keep getting knocked back, you have to deal with that rejection yourself, and then you have to go back to the team and tell them it was a no as well. It can end up being really demotivating for the team, which, in my case, was the opposite effect to the one I was after. “As an exec team, we learned to share with everybody that we were working on a funding round, but not share every hopeful meeting we went along to, and certainly not every single rejection we got. We learned to compartmentalise that. Not hiding things, but being selective about what we shared with the team. “In regards to funding or acquisition, it carries on from that same point. I learned not to drag the whole company into it. We learned to set up specific project teams. We would have a project team working on that funding round, or a different project team working on the acquisition. “We would still update the whole company at our all-hands meetings, but not bring them into the detail all the time. That enables you to keep the business running smoothly while small, specialist teams work on high-intensity projects to take the business forward.” 2. How can a company’s founding purpose guide its commercial growth? Louise Hill: “I believe having a very clear central mission or purpose to the business is a secret superpower. It helps you drive growth. “At GoHenry, if we’re debating the right course to take, whether that’s a product feature, a wider business decision or pretty much anything, it’s amazing how often asking the simple question, “What is the right decision for the customer?”, gives you the right answer. “Suddenly, all the other arguments fall away, and it’s blindingly obvious which route we should take. Following that path drives growth because it drives trust. It reinforces that what you do, you are doing for the benefit of your customer first and foremost. “That trust means customers come to you and stay with you. I really mean superpower when I say that word.” 3. What did GoHenry’s campaign for financial education in schools teach you about influencing government policy? Louise Hill: “I can only really talk about what we did at GoHenry. Our mission statement has been the same for years: to make every kid smart with money. “Six years ago, when we were looking at how we could best deliver on that, setting strategy for the next period, it was easy to see that, as a subscription business, we were never going to reach every child in any of the countries we operate in. “So we started thinking about other ways to deliver on the mission. One was to go into schools and youth clubs ourselves and run financial education classes, but we didn’t have the bandwidth or the funds to do that. “The second idea was to set up a GoHenry foundation, hopefully get corporate sponsorship for it, and then gift GoHenry for free to deserving families. We got quite excited by that. But when we started to think about what rules we would use to decide which families would get GoHenry for free and which would have to pay, it became incredibly complicated. “That left only one route that made any sense to me. We needed to persuade the government to make financial education mandatory in schools. Because we know money habits are formed by the age of seven, it needed to start in primary schools, not wait for secondary school. “If we could do that, we knew we could reach 98% plus of all kids in the UK, basically every kid who goes to school. “Not to be put off by the fact that none of us had any experience in lobbying government or changing policy, that’s what we started working on. “One of the key things we did, which I think truly helped, was share our data, anonymised obviously, and research with both the Treasury and the government, giving them clear evidence that teaching kids about money changes behaviours for life. “That sounds incredibly worthy. I’m going to hit you with a couple of statistics. If somebody has had financial education as a child, they are 46% more likely to start a business. “That sounds great. What does it actually mean? If that happened across the UK, that would be 75,000 new businesses every year. It would be 123,000 new jobs every year, which would bring down unemployment in the UK by around 8% and add 7 billion pounds every year to our GDP. “If you think about the societal impact of that, it’s huge. For an individual, somebody who’s had financial education as a child will have £70,000 more in their pension pot when they reach retirement age. This exclusive interview with Louise Hill was conducted by Tabish Ali of the Motivational Speakers Agency.
September 2025, Acquisition International | 7 “Even more impactful, if they are specifically taught about investing, they will have £250 to £300,000 more in their investment pot than somebody who has not been taught about that as a child. “Absolutely life-changing outcomes for individuals and society, and that’s why it matters. “I’m absolutely delighted to be able to say that, at the end of last year, on the back of a report from the curriculum and assessment review, the government announced that they would make the national curriculum mandatory, which it wasn’t previously, and that financial education would be added to the curriculum, starting in primary schools from September 2028. “A huge win for society as a whole, and something I’m very proud of. I know the whole team at GoHenry are very proud of having had a hand in that.”
8 | Acquisition International, November 2026 Auto Glass Xperts: Forth Worth’s First-Class Fix No one ever wants to find themselves needing an auto glass replacement, but when the unexpected happens, having a trusted expert by your side makes all the difference. Communities of North Texas need look no further than Auto Glass Xperts, a Fort Worth-based authority in vehicle safety and the trusted service provider of choice for local dealerships, fleet accounts, and insurance firms. We took a closer look at the standout services of Auto Glass Xperts below, as the company is named in the Global Excellence Awards 2026. Contact: Paula Titus Company: Auto Glass Xperts Web Address: www.autoglassxperts.net Auto Glass Xperts is a locally owned and family-run company that has proudly served the North Texas community for more than four decades. Standing as the preferred provider for many local car dealerships and insurance companies, the company provides auto glass repair services both in-store at its brick-andmortar location and as a mobile service at the client’s work or home. These exceptional services are delivered by a dedicated team of highly skilled technicians and customer service representatives, each boasting years of experience in the field. Every member of the team is united by a shared commitment to providing excellent customer service and quality craftsmanship, which has played an instrumental role in establishing Auto Glass Xperts as a trusted pillar of its local community. Alongside dedicated auto glass repair and replacement services, Auto Glass Xperts is also trained to provide camera calibration services to all newer vehicles equipped with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). This ensures that the vehicle is returned with all critical-safety components aligned with the standard of manufacture guidelines. With a fleet of industry-leading mobile units, a standout team of leading professionals, and an unwavering commitment to customer satisfaction, Auto Glass Xperts has certainly cemented its position as the provider of choice to communities across North Texas. The company has earned more than 350 reviews on Google that not only attest to its stellar 4.9-star rating, but also its recognition as North Texas’s Best Auto Glass Repair and Replacement Company 2026. One happy customer reported: “After doing extensive research before making my decision, I chose to call Auto Glass Xperts to get my 2018 Honda CRV Sport windshield replaced and calibrated. They were so nice from the beginning phone call and all the way through the whole process. They were able to get me in the following day and did a great job replacing it. I highly recommend Auto Glass Xperts to do your auto glass repair or windshield replacement. You won’t be disappointed.” While another shared, “Auto Glass Xperts is our go-to auto glass company! We run a small nonprofit organisation with several vehicles, and they have always done a great job. From their friendly office staff to their prompt and attentive scheduling coordinators to their truly expert glass technicians, they always go above and beyond to take care of our needs. This all speaks highly of the owners’ leadership. We are big fans!”
November 2026, Acquisition International | 9 Youth Development NPO of the Year 2026 – Ghana “Global Media Foundation was formed to address the woes of our continent, which have made life very miserable for the people, especially the youth, children, and women of Africa. ” Global Media Foundation was established in 2005 by Raphael Godlove Ahenu Junior, a young human rights and anti-corruption journalist. With its establishment, Raphael aimed to create a vibrant, dynamic, and smart media to fight against corruption and seek social justice in Africa, while ensuring sustainable development through the promotion of Millennium Development Goals, peace, democratic governance, human rights, youth and women development, and the free flow of information. Today, Global Media Foundation works closely with communities to build upon their awareness of human rights, sensitise governments for positive responding towards human rights violations, and organise peaceful third-party negotiations between conflicting groups. The organisation serves as a voice for the voiceless: soliciting, linking, and facilitating the resources needed for sustainable development. Global Media Foundation focuses on ten core areas of operation: Primary Health Care, Water and Sanitation, Protection and Human Rights, Environmental and Natural Resources Management, Education and Empowerment, Livelihood and Enterprise, Food Security and Climate Change, Media and Communications, Democracy and Good Governance, and Peace and Security. Since its inception in 2005, Global Media Foundation has made significant waves throughout communities across Africa. To date, the organisation has sensitised 1,450 young people in Junior and Senior High Schools in the Brong-Ahafo region on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights; provisioned 12 boreholes for 12 communities in the Sunyani West and Tain Districts; and constructed two unit classroom blocks for Fiapre Methodist Primary and JHS. What’s more, the organisation has also constructed a community centre for Asuotiano in the Dormaa East District; sensitised 25,000 people in the Sunyani Municipality on stigmatisation and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS; counselled and tested 650 people for HIV and AIDS in the Sunyani West District; disbursed a small loan to 25 rural women to aid them in starting or expanding their economic activities; and trained 115 women in soap making in the Sunyani West District of Brong-Ahafo. Global Media Foundation was awarded the SMK International Campaigner Award 2009, organised by the UK-based Sheila McKechnie Foundation for its campaigning for access to clean water and improved sanitation facilities for rural communities, schools, and health centres in Ghana. The organisation was also honoured with the AMCOW AfricaSan Award 2009, which recognises CSOs and NGOs for their contribution towards promoting sanitation and hygiene issues in Africa. Now, we at Acquisition International Magazine are delighted to announce that Global Media Foundation has seen further success in the Non-Profit Organisation Awards 2026. The organisation has been recognised for its exceptional work in promoting human rights, mitigating conflict, and building peaceful societies across Africa. From training and empowering marginalised women to sensitising and destigmatising communities on life-threatening diseases, Global Media Foundation has truly earned its recognition as Ghana’s Youth Development NPO of the Year 2026. Contact: Raphael Godlove Ahenu Company: Global Media Foundation LBG Web Address: www.glomef.org Formerly known as African Media Aid, Global Media Foundation is a registered non-profit organisation centred on human rights and anti-corruption media advocacy. At its core, Global Media Foundation is dedicated to the betterment of the underprivileged and marginalised sections of society. The organisation aims to promote human rights, mitigate conflict, and build peaceful societies across Africa. We took a closer look at the organisation’s unwavering mission below, as Global Media Foundation is named in the Non-Profit Organisation Awards 2026.
10 | Acquisition International, November 2026 Mrs Anomi I Wanigasekera: Sri Lanka’s IP Law Expert stablished in 1879, Julius & Creasy is a full-service civil law firm based in Sri Lanka’s Western Province. Distinguished by its 147year legacy, during which some immensely high-calibre legal professionals have passed through its corridors, the firm’s extensive range of legal services spans the fields of corporate, commercial, banking, insurance, tax, property, construction, IT, telecommunications, infrastructure, shipping, commercial litigation, arbitration, employment law, and, of course, intellectual property (IP) law. Julius & Creasy’s Intellectual Property division advises across a number of areas, from patent, trademark, and copyright to industrial designs and domain names, in diverse fields such as biotechnology, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, software, media, and entertainment. As a result of this impressive scope, the firm’s clients come from numerous multinational organisations, including many Fortune 500 companies and several of Sri Lanka’s leading conglomerates, and the team are regularly instructed by leading trademark agents. Reflecting the encompassing approach present across the entire firm, Julius & Creasy’s Intellectual Property division offers a comprehensive service that includes a full range of prosecution, enforcement, management, and transactional matters. This includes advising local and foreign clients alike on registration, clearance, protection, and exploitation concerning their IP rights, as well as managing and coordinating their IP portfolios in Sri Lanka. Alongside this, Julius & Creasy’s Intellectual Property division will represent clients before the National Intellectual Property Office (NIPO), especially in application, registration, ex parte/opposition inquiry, assignment and license recording, and the renewal of registration for the likes of trademarks/patents or industrial designs to overcome objections. As an extension of this, the division will also undertake IP audits and due diligence exercises, as well as filing trademarks with customs and attending to all IP enforcement matters. The division has been showered with praise as a result of the high standards it upholds across this space, with esteemed institutions recognising its invaluable contributions to the IP landscape across Sri Lanka and beyond. Recent awards include being named the Sri Lanka Patent Firm of the Year for several years at the Asia IP Awards, being celebrated as an award-winning legal firm for four consecutive years in the Trademark Lawyer Magazine, and even being crowned the Asia IP Trademark Law Firm of the Year just last year. Mrs Anomi I Wanigasekera is at the helm of this division, guiding it through her wealth of knowledge and more than 42 years of experience across all aspects of IP law. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Wales in international trade law, as well as diplomas spanning IP law, international trade law, and banking and insurance law. Mrs Wanigasekera is also a Life Member of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka and the Colombo Law Society, as well as being a member of the International Trademark Association (INTA). As a result, Mrs Wanigasekera is co-chairing the INTA General Advisory Council South Asia region for the term 2026–2027, in addition to being a member of the INTA Unfair Competition Committee for the term 20262027. Mrs Wanigasekera is also a member and councillor of the Asian Patent Attorneys Association (APAA), as well as being the vice president of the APAA Sri Lanka Group, all of which contribute to her expertise. Outside of these memberships, Mrs Wanigasekera has contributed to many local and international journals relating to IP law. Her unrivalled experience in the field of IP law extends to prosecution and enforcement, and she also advises on all aspects relating to trademarks, patents, copyright, management, and transactional matters. Mrs Wanigasekera’s work has taken her before the NIPO on behalf of her clients, and she has represented multinationals, Sri Lankan conglomerates, and more right across this setting. Much like Julius & Creasy, Mrs Wanigasekera has also won more than her fair share of awards and recognitions, from being featured in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame to being named by us as the Leading Intellectual Property Enforcement Lawyer of the Year for Sri Lanka in 2025. We are delighted to recognise Mrs Wanigasekera again this year, and highlight how her knowledge and encompassing approach is shaping Julius & Creasy’s Intellectual Property Division. More on both her work and that of the wider firm can be found below. Contact: Anomi Wanigasekera Company: Julius & Creasy Web Address: https://www.juliusandcreasy.com/ With a rich history dating back almost 150 years, Julius & Creasy is today one of the oldest, most respected legal firms in Sri Lanka. Here, traditions and principles which have guided the firm for decades meet modern, well-informed lawyers, professionals whose expertise covers everything from infrastructure to intellectual property. As Mrs Anomi I Wanigasekera, attorney at law and senior partner at Julius & Creasy, is named the Leading Intellectual Property Enforcement Lawyer of the Year 2026 – Sri Lanka, we take a look at the legal excellence displayed by her and the firm. E
November 2026, Acquisition International | 11 The world’s foremost luxury brands retain The AHA Group to change how wealthy customers perceive, choose and build relationships with them. The firm’s expertise in how these customers recognise authority, assign value and decide where to spend, informs work that drives revenue, acquisition, market share, spending and retention. Major consulting firms bring The AHA Group into engagements for the specialist luxury and wealth expertise the assignment requires. Headquartered in Las Vegas, with four offices and more than 45 employees, The AHA Group works across Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas. Its clients span luxury fashion, watches and jewellery, hospitality, private aviation, automotive, real estate, yachting, private clubs and wealth management. Proprietary research and original intellectual property underpin that authority. A private bank’s customer may judge their experience against an exceptional luxury boutique, club or aviation relationship. The AHA Group understands how expectations travel between categories and vary across cultures, generations and sources of wealth, thus identifying possibilities a single-industry perspective would miss. The firm’s consulting practice delivers four offerings which translate this intelligence into results: HNW & UHNW Client Acquisition & Growth helps businesses win new wealthy customers and grow existing relationships through stronger conversion, sales, spending and retention. Internal teams gain practical strategies to capture opportunities the business has yet to realise. Ultra-Luxury Customer Experience Consulting spans strategy, design and implementation. The AHA Group reshapes how wealthy customers perceive a brand, giving them compelling reasons to choose it through a complete, executable experience model teams can deliver consistently at the highest end of luxury. VIC & Private Client Loyalty strengthens relationships with a brand’s most valuable customers through Very Important Client strategy, luxury clienteling, private client programmes and membership strategy. Recognition, access and bespoke experiences reflect what these customers value. Finally, Special Projects addresses consequential ambitions requiring an original answer, from new luxury concepts to complex customer challenges without an obvious precedent. The Rolex Old Bond Street boutique in London, operated by Watches of Switzerland Group, demonstrates the scale of this expertise. The AHA Group designed and implemented the complete customer experience model, translating the ambition to create the world’s best Rolex experience into a scalable hosting model, a 140-page Experience Playbook, and training for 50 colleagues. Watches of Switzerland Group’s published disclosures reported performance exceeding expectations and more than 15,600 visitors in the first 13 weeks. Flagship insights subsequently informed an enhanced approach to client experience rolled out across 32 UK Rolex showrooms & boutiques, extending the work’s influence across the portfolio. “An extraordinary flagship creates an obligation to deliver an equally extraordinary experience,” Nicolas says. “The brand has to be unmistakable in the way people are treated, every day. That demands originality in the thinking and precision in the implementation.” Beyond consulting, bespoke One-Day Strategy Workshops help senior teams resolve important HNW and UHNW customer questions, establish direction and identify actions. Understanding Wealth Training develops a sophisticated grasp of the customer behind the wealth. Sales Activation Workshops help teams apply existing sales strategies in more effective customer conversations. Select keynotes by Founder and President Antonia J.A. Hock bring the firm’s thinking on luxury, wealth and customer behaviour to conferences and leadership audiences. Advisory Hours and Retainers provide continuing access to senior counsel as priorities evolve. Hock, former Global Head of The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center, leads a firm named a Top Ten Customer Experience Consulting Firm in the United States by Digital Reference for two consecutive years and Business Transformation Consultancy of the Year in Corporate LiveWire’s Innovation & Excellence Awards in 2025 and 2026. She was selected among just 50 executives worldwide for Luxury Marketer’s Luxury Women Leaders to Watch 2027. Following a record year, The AHA Group continues to build strategies and experiences that turn an exceptional understanding of wealthy customers into measurable business performance. “We improve how luxury brands perform with the world’s wealthiest customers,” Nicolas concludes. “Our extraordinary command of luxury and wealth produces strategies and experiences that set the standard for the industry.” Acquisition International is delighted to recognise The AHA Group as Best Luxury Consulting Firm 2026, in the LeadGen and Sales Performance Awards. Contact: William Andrews Company: The AHA Group Web Address: www.ahaexperience.com Best Luxury Consulting Firm 2026 The AHA Group is the leading global authority on ultra-luxury customer experience, exclusively focused on high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) clients. Its extraordinary command of luxury and wealth produces strategies and experiences that set the standard for the industry. Chief Delivery Officer Nicolas J. Orolin discusses the expertise behind its recognition in Acquisition International’s LeadGen and Sales Performance Awards 2026. The AHA Group
12 | Acquisition International, November 2026 Digital Growth Agency of the Year 2026 – Canada Founded by Tanya Pachkalov, Webs Solution is a Canadian digital growth agency on a mission to aid businesses in achieving measurable growth through a better use of digital technology. Here we take a closer look at the agency’s services as it was recently recognised in our LeadGen and Sales Performance Awards 2026. Contact: Tanya Pachkalov Company: Webs Solution Website: https://webssolution.net/ Working with a myriad of clients, with a strong focus on healthcare and related services, Webs Solution prioritises clear communication and user experience excellence to elevate its clients’ connection with their customers, consumers, and audience. However, extensively collaborating with trades, local service companies, and other small- and medium-sized businesses across Canada, while also expanding to the USA, Webs Solution is highly flexible and extremely results-driven. Beginning each partnership by learning everything its team needs to know about their client, Webs Solution starts by understanding their clients’ position in the market, their customers or end users and how they search, limitations to conversions, and which services create the most value while also learning where opportunities are being missed, all in order to figure out how to help them achieve more. Moving forward, Webs Solution then combines website development, SEO, local search, paid advertising, conversion optimization, analytics, and digital strategy to build an efficient structure around measurable business objectives. Founder Tanya Pachkalov told us: “We don’t believe success should be measured simply by launching a new website, publishing content or increasing a keyword ranking. We want to know whether our work is generating qualified leads, phone calls, appointments, sales and ultimately helping the business grow.” Providing six core services to create a comprehensive suite of digital growth tools, all tailored for the era of AI, Webs Solution offers solutions to modern growth-stunt problems. For example, its agentic AI solutions support clients in deploying sophisticated AI agents to help their company scale with marketing operations that are capable of autonomous decision-making systems. Another outstanding offering from Webs Solution is its PPC management service which makes precision-targeted growth more attainable. Ultimately, combining granular data analysis with creative excellence, the agency helps clients to scale efficiently through AI-powered bidding strategies and intelligent optimisation. From Google to social advertising, conversion tracking to high converting landing page optimisation, Webs Solution has everything covered. Across all of its services, Webs Solution’s goal is to connect websites, advertising, SEO, analytics, automation, and real-world business information to ensure decisions can be made with all the accurate knowledge needed to guarantee success. “Technology will continue to change. Our job is to understand those changes, test what actually works and turn them into practical advantages for our clients while continuing to improve the experience for the people using the technology. ” For Tanya, it’s integral for her influential role to continue shaping Webs Solution’s direction with regards to innovation, accessibility, and emerging technology. Her approach is rooted in the belief that technology isn’t static or permanent, as Tanya understands that continuous learning, experimentation, and evolution are fundamental elements to Webs Solution’s development. This extends out to each client with whom Webs Solution works, especially as clients look for ways to keep up with their own industry. Atop its services for growth, Webs Solution is committed to empowering web users through digestible and accessible solutions. One of Tanya’s long-term priorities is to make the internet more accessible and easier to navigate, particularly for neurodivergent individuals. For people with ADHD, autism, and other neurodivergences, Webs Solution will continue to shape the technology that helps to include individuals of all needs and abilities. For the rest of this year and beyond, Webs Solution is devoted to growing into a company that sits at the intersection of digital growth, technology, accessibility, and innovation. Tanya continued: “We want to continue growing our client base, particularly within healthcare, while continuing to support trades and local businesses. However, growth for us is not simply about taking on more clients. We want to expand what we are capable of delivering and create measurable improvements in leads, conversions, efficiency and overall business performance.” In closing, Tanya told us: “I do not want Webs Solution to become a larger version of a traditional digital marketing agency. I want us to continue evolving into a technology-driven growth partner that can help businesses understand what is coming next, implement it responsibly and turn innovation into measurable results. “Our long-term direction can be summarized quite simply: keep learning, keep adapting, make technology more accessible, and use it to create meaningful growth for the businesses and people we serve.” Awarded the title of Digital Growth Agency of the Year 2026 – Canada, Webs Solution’s recognition in the LeadGen and Sales Performance Awards this year is truly testament to its dedication not only to its craft but to the individuals it so efficiently supports.
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