Business Valuation/ Litigation Services Conference Webcast

Z. Christopher Mercer, FASA, CFA, ABAR, is the founder and chief executive officer of Mercer Capital. Chris began his valuation career in the late 1970s. He has prepared, overseen, or contributed to hundreds of valuation engagements. He has served on the boards of directors of several private companies and one public company and is an expert in business ownership transition plans. Chris has extensive experience in litigation engagements including statutory fair value cases, divorce, and numerous other matters where valuation issues are in question. He is also an expert in buy-sell agreement disputes.Additionally, Chris is a prolific author on valuation-related topics and a frequent speaker on business valuation issues for national professional associations and other business and professional groups.

Katerina Gaebel is a manager in the firm’s Forensic, Litigation, and Valuation Services practice. With over six years of experience, she specializes in the tracing of cryptocurrency assets in disputes and providing financial consulting and forensic accounting services to attorneys, public and private corporations, insurance companies, and governmental agencies. Katerina has provided consulting and litigation services for cases involving cryptocurrency tracing, matrimonial disputes, complex commercial damages, lost profits analysis, intellectual property infringements, business valuations, insurance disputes, economic damage calculations, and fraud investigations. She has provided consulting and litigation services for clients in many industries including digital assets, pharmaceutical, healthcare, financial services, technology, manufacturing, real estate, retail, telecommunications, and insurance. Katerina has published articles in the TaxStringer and presented on numerous occasions regarding cryptocurrency topics. As of 1/31/2024

Jennifer's areas of expertise include: Valuing privately held companies, family limited partnerships, real estate holding partnerships, stock options, intangible assets such as royalty assets, patents and trademarks and other income generating assets in a broad variety of service, manufacturing, and wholesale distribution industries. She prepares business valuations for a variety of purposes including financial reporting, estate and tax planning, matrimonial and shareholder disputes and other litigious purposes. Prepare engagements in accordance with FASB ASC topics ASC 805 (business combinations, ASC 718 (equity-based compensation) and ASC 820 (fair value measurements) and IRS 409a compliance.

Mr. Tarbell is a Director in the Financial Advisory Services (FAS) practice of Houlihan Lokey. He has nearly three decades of experience providing valuation and financial opinions to private and publicly traded companies. He is Head of the firm’s Estate and Gift Tax Valuation practice, Co-Head of the firm’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan Valuation practice and a member of the firm’s Technical Standards Committee. Prior to joining Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Tarbell was a principal and national director of financial advisory services for a national valuation firm. Before that he was a vice president in the M&A group of a boutique investment banking firm.Mr. Tarbell earned his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago (Booth) Graduate School of Business in 1997, with a specialization in finance and accounting.

Mark L. Zyla is Managing Director of Zyla Valuation Advisors, an Austin, Texas-based valuation and litigation consulting firm, and a faculty member at the University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business. A CPA/ABV, CFA, CFF, and ASA, he is a nationally recognized expert in valuation and financial forensics. Mark has held leadership roles with the International Valuation Standards Council and the AICPA, and was inducted into the AICPA Business Valuation Hall of Fame. A frequent presenter and author, he has taught valuation concepts  to judges through the Federal Judicial Center and National Judicial College and is the author of Fair Value Measurement: Practical Guidance and Implementation (Wiley).

Gary L. Alford is a supervisory special agent with Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and the first ever Cyber Strategy Lead for the Boston Field Office of IRS-CI and authored and is currently leading the implementation of the field office’s first cybercrimes strategy. Previously, Mr. Alford was the Lead Cybercrime Coordinator for the New York Field Office of IRS-CI and led the drafting and implementation of its first cybercrimes strategy. In his meritorious career, Mr. Alford has spent three years embedded into a DEA-NY Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force (NYOCDESF) squad. Moreover, Mr. Alford also spent three years embedded into a cyber squad in the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Thomas Bishop is a senior manager in Baker Tilly’s Tax Advocacy & Controversy Services group. He joined the firm in 2017 and bringing over 25 years of experience to the practice. Tom provides litigation and investigative support to municipalities, internal and external counsel, senior management and boards of directors. Tom joined Baker Tilly following over two decades with the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation division where he provided executive-level leadership to their largest field office. He directed numerous, high profile, sensitive and complex criminal investigations involving voluntary disclosures,offshore banking related crimes, tax evasion, money laundering, Ponzi schemes and anti-trust related financial crimes. Most recently, Tom served as Director of International Field Operations overseeing global investigations.

Lauren Mack joined T&M in November 2017 and currently serves as Senior Managing Director of Investigations. Prior to joining T&M, Ms. Mack spent three years as a Partner with Moses & Singer LLP, where she was active in the Manhattan firm’s White Collar Criminal Defense, Government Investigations and Healthcare Litigation practice groups. In that role, she structured and negotiated pleas, corrective action plans and settlement agreements for health care providers, insurers, and individuals facing government investigations, prosecutions and civil lawsuits. Prior to joining Moses & Singer, Ms. Mack rose to the level of Executive Assistant District Attorney at the Kings County District Attorney’s office, where she was a prosecutor for over two decades.

Jean J. Han, CPA/ABV/CFF, CDFA, JD is the Managing Member and Founder of Clarion Consulting Associates, LLC, a valuation, forensic and litigation services consulting firm dedicated to matrimonial and commercial disputes. Prior to founding Clarion Consulting Associates, Jean was a partner in Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP’s Matrimonial Forensics Litigation & Valuation Services group located in NYC. Her career in public accounting spans over twenty years focused on business valuation, forensic accounting, and tax. She provides expert witness testimony and assists counsel at financial depositions, mediation and settlement negotiations. She is frequently appointed as a neutral expert by the courts in New York. Jean has presented at various organizations including the NYS Judicial Institute and Cardozo School of Law on valuation, tax, and forensic accounting topics. Jean holds a B.S. from NYU Stern School of Business and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.

Mitch has over 40 years of experience in Public Accounting, Corporate Accounting, Law Enforcement, and Corporate Security.

Andrew M. Park, CPA, CFE, CVA, Andrew M. Park, CPA, is the founder of Andrew M. Park, CPA, P.C., which specializes in forensic accounting and litigation support services. He's helped numerous clients with cases related to financial fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, structuring, damages calculation, and business valuation. In addition, he's actively involved with the IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Programs and has helped many clients become compliant with their offshore foreign financial accounts.

Daniel R. Van Vleet is a Managing Director in the Valuation & Financial Opinions Group at Stout Risius Ross, Inc. He is a contributing author to eight business valuation textbooks, author of many published articles, and has lectured extensively on advanced subjects in the areas of business valuation, pass-through entity valuation, controversy, and corporate transactions. He has testified in a variety of Federal and State courtrooms concerning valuation issues related to shareholder disputes, bankruptcy, taxation, and corporate transactions. He is a Past International President of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) and Past President of the Business Valuation Association of Chicago. He is an Accredited Senior Appraiser, certified in Business Valuation with the American Society of Appraisers. He is a member of the valuation editorial review board for Trusts & Estates magazine and has served as an adjunct professor of finance at the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University and the Continuing Education Program at Northwestern University. He is the ASA representative to the International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC) and an organization composed of the ASA, AICPA and RICS that is currently developing the criteria for a financial reporting valuation credential in the United States. He is the developer of the Van Vleet Model, which is the most widely used S corporation valuation model in the United States.