AI in the Deal Room: The Evolution of Due Diligence due to AI

AI is fundamentally changing how deal teams approach due diligence, compressing timelines, expanding the volume of information that can be reviewed, and redefining what it means to be thorough. This panel brings together perspectives from across the deal ecosystem to explore how AI is being used to analyze data rooms, identify contract risks, validate financial information, and accelerate transaction processes. Panelists will also examine the risks of overreliance on AI, questions of accuracy and accountability, and where human judgment remains essential. The discussion will offer practical insight into how dealmakers can leverage AI effectively while maintaining the rigor and judgment successful transactions demand.

 

Image

Douglas Heyman, Managing Director, BlackRock

Stemming from over two decades of investment banking, asset management, and principal investing, Mr. Heyman is an experienced investment and financial services professional with a demonstrated record leading multi-national teams to build portfolios of alternative investments and advise clients. He maintains a unique global network, which offers a continual pipeline of proprietary deal flow and acts as a source of market intelligence. He is skilled in origination, partnership creation, deal execution, investment analysis, portfolio management, and client development.

In particular, Mr. Heyman has broad private credit and equity investment experience, working across multiple asset classes, including corporate, real estate, infrastructure, structured, and specialty finance. His unparalleled sourcing and market intelligence activities are supported by long-standing relationships with investment managers, bankers, intermediaries, and management teams. His business efforts include both ad hoc transactions and multi-year partnership programs, and he leads teams to efficiently evaluate these opportunities and decide which projects to pursue.

Mr. Heyman is a team leader who encourages his people to pursue creative growth projects, as well as calculated portfolio management. He ties global investment and research teams, with varied areas of expertise, together, and this coordination drives accountability and performance. His consistent communication is critical to successfully navigating complex organizations, and Mr. Heyman has a track record building the prerequisite consensus across broadly distributed investment, administration, and operating functions.

Mr. Heyman is also responsible for developing long-term business plans, which guide scale and performance targets, staffing, and strategy expansion, and are dynamic enough to adjust for unexpected market changes. To drive the team's buy-in of the plan, clear communication from the leadership team and nurturing a united culture is critical, and Mr. Heyman embraces his role as a mentor and culture carrier by hosting regular, internal, one-on-one and group socials.

Looking externally, Mr. Heyman embraces his role as a firm ambassador to the private, alternative investment market, ensuring BlackRock's GFI platform is regarded as a sophisticated leader and natural home for a broad set of private investment opportunities.

Christine S. Shin, Partner, Russ August & Kabat

Christine Shin is a partner in the corporate group at Russ August & Kabat and chair of the mergers & acquisitions/private equity practice.

Christine has represented U.S. Fortune 500 companies, international conglomerates and global private equity firms in their significant transactions. She has extensive experience in M&A, private equity, public company representation, cross-border investment, multi-jurisdictional deal execution and related corporate transactions. Christine leads and executes transactions for private equity funds active in the middle market and counsels their portfolio companies on operational matters.

In 2022, Christine was recognized among the Los Angeles Business Journal‘s Women of Influence: Attorneys. She was also named a Super Lawyer Rising Star by the publishers ofLos Angeles Magazine from 2022-2024. In 2020 and 2021, Christine was named “A Leader of Influence” among 2020 Private Equity Investors & Advisors by the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Prior to joining Russ August & Kabat, Christine was part of the corporate practice at Latham & Watkins LLP. She earned her J.D. from Yale Law School and graduated with honors from Wellesley College where she majored in English and Economics.

Hayden Mills, Head of AI, Endeavour

Hayden joined Endeavour in 2026 as Head of AI. He leads the firm's AI and related tech strategy across Endeavour and serves as the firm's point of contact for AI and data work in the portfolio.

Prior to Endeavour, Hayden was Head of AI at AssetWatch, where he led the company's transition to an AI-native business model. Before that, as Director of Fleet Advanced Analytics at EquipmentShare, he applied AI, machine learning, and data solutions across a then $7 billion equipment fleet. Earlier, he spent nine years at Amazon across data, software products, and operations — most recently leading teams that built AI and data products for corporate and workforce strategy, and earlier leading 1000+ person teams in large-scale fulfillment operations.

Hayden received a B.S. in Mathematics from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an M.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Washington. He lives in the Seattle area with his wife and daughter.

Bill Lane, Vice President Sales - North America Banks, SS&C Intralinks (Moderator)

As the VP of North America at SS&C Intralinks, I lead a team of sales professionals who manage strategic relationships across a diverse portfolio of investment banks and law firms. After almost a decade in the organization selling our flagship solution and scaling the advisory sales team I specialize in customer relationship management, consultative sales management, consultative selling, talent management, territory management and GTM operations.