Business Valuation and Litigation Services Conference Webcast

Ron is a Principal in the Economic and Valuation Services practice of KPMG. He has over 20 years of experience providing valuation and risk management consulting services to clients spanning a wide range of industries for both private and public companies in the context of financial reporting, tax, litigation, mergers and acquisitions as well as strategic planning purposes. Ron specializes in the valuation of complex financial instruments including contingent consideration / earnouts, put/call deal structures, stock compensation, warrants, financial derivatives (equity, interest rate, commodity, CPI, credit), embedded derivatives, corporate debt, insurance contracts, convertible notes and other hybrid securities, which may require the use of complex valuation techniques such as lattice models and Monte Carlo simulation. Ron speaks at industry events and is a published writer of industry valuation guidance and options and derivatives valuation.

Anthony J. Citrolo is a Managing Partner and Founder of The NYBB Group, LLC. and NYBB Commercial Real Estate. His original company New York Business Brokerage was founded in 2003 and is the legacy company which was the basis for today’s successful organization. Anthony represents privately held companies seeking professional representation from an intermediary as they look to sell what is typically their largest asset, their family-owned business and often the associated real estate. Anthony’s clients include private equity groups, individual entrepreneurs, independent financial sponsors and companies with annual revenues of $5 million to $50 million. These are typically companies with adjusted EBITDA of $500K to $5 million. Anthony represents clients in all industries, with specialties in business services, HVAC including contractors across the entire spectrum and construction. Anthony is a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) for over 40 years, a CEPA (Certified Exit Planning Advisor) and a CM&AA (Certified Merger & Acquisition Advisor) having founded NYBB over 18 years ago. He has been advising middle market and privately held companies as well as family-owned businesses in search of either a successful exit or targeted acquisition. Anthony began his career with Deloitte and has been entrepreneurial having owned and operated several successful businesses in addition to his own tax practice. In addition, Anthony is a New York State Real Estate Broker as well as holding the designations in the past of Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) and Certified Business Intermediary (CBI). Anthony is a certified member of The John Maxwell team coaching individuals and teams on Leadership. He is also a JMT certified speaker. Throughout his career, Anthony has worked on M&A engagements in many markets, including manufacturing, distribution, technology, business services, professional practices, health care, franchising and retail. He has also created a Growth through Acquisition program for middle market and larger companies who seek the advantages derived by combining targeted acquisitions as part of their strategy for expansion. This has provided accredited value and has been adopted as a creative exit strategy. Anthony is a presenter on both Mergers and Acquisitions as well as Exit Strategies. Groups have included the New York Society of CPAs, the National Conference of CPAs, the Nassau Bar Association, among others. He has been recognized as an industry expert by Business Brokerage Press that publishes the Business Reference Guide, recognized as a primary source of data for professional valuation. He is regularly quoted on issues concerning the marketplace for privately held companies and family-owned businesses. Anthony is the president of NYABB (New York Association of Business Brokers), a past board member of the Alliance of Merger and Acquisition Advisors and co-founded the Long Island Chapter and a member of the first board of the New York chapter. He is a co-founding member of the Business Exit and Succession Planning Committee for the New York State Society of CPAs, having chaired that committee for the NYSSCPA for 2 years. Anthony is a past chair for Easter Seals Long Island and is a past president of the Accountant Attorney Networking Group (AANG)). Other professional memberships include The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), the National Conference of CPA Practitioners (NCCPAP) and the New York Society of CPAs (NYSSCPA). Anthony is a Baruch College (City University of New York) graduate.

Peter A. Mahler concentrates his litigation practice on business divorce cases involving dissolution and other disputes among co-owners of closely held business entities, such as limited liability companies, corporations, and partnerships. He represents both control and non-control owners, often involving family-owned businesses. Peter frequently counsels business owners prior to litigation, not only to advise them of their rights, but to assist in designing and negotiating an amicable separation of the parties. His counsel helps avoid litigation by means of a buy-out, sale, or division of business assets. Peter has decades of litigation experience prosecuting and defending business divorce cases at the trial and appellate levels, as well as in mediation and arbitration proceedings. He also works closely with appraisers involved in the valuation of business interests in appraisal contests, such as elective buy-outs in dissolution proceedings and dissenting shareholder appraisals following cash-out mergers. His longstanding focus on business divorce, both for his clients and as a prolific author and lecturer, has made him a widely recognized authority on dissolution and valuation proceedings involving closely held business entities. He frequently lectures on diverse business divorce topics at continuing education programs for lawyers, judges, and appraisers, and a number of his published articles have been cited in judicial opinions and law reviews. For over 10 years, Peter has published a widely followed blog called New York Business Divorce, which has well over 500 articles covering all aspects of dissolution and dissenting shareholder proceedings, involving limited liability companies, corporations, and partnerships, business valuation, and more. He also produces the podcast Business Divorce Roundtable, on which he interviews experts in the field of business divorce, including lawyers, law professors, and business appraisers. Peter is a Founding Fellow of the American College of LLC and Partnership Attorneys.

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

Frank Kiepura, CPA, ABV, MBA, Senior Manager, BDO USA LLP, has over 20 years of experience including international taxation, corporate and investment banking, and valuing complex securities including derivatives, contingent consideration, convertible debt, shareholder awards, preferred shares, options, restricted stock units, stock appreciation rights, warrants and other equity-based compensation. Proficient in the utilization of option pricing models (OPM), probability-weighted expected return method (PWERM), current value method (CVM), and back-solve method.

Michael Guthammar, MBA, CVA is the founder of Windeye Partners and has more than 30 years of experience with corporate finance, business valuations, mergers & acquisitions, private equity, and venture capital. He has advised corporations, investment funds, family offices, and business owners on numerous valuations, transactions and projects in North America, Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific. Mr. Guthammar gained a significant part of his experience at the merchant banking arm of Credit Agricole, a major European bank, and was subsequently a partner at a boutique cross-border mergers & acquisitions firm before founding Windeye Partners.

Sharon Cohen Levin is a partner in the Firm’s Litigation Group and a member of its Criminal Defense and Investigations Group. She is a leading expert in anti-money laundering (AML), Bank Secrecy Act, economic sanctions and asset forfeiture matters. She represents a diverse group of clients, including financial institutions, multinational companies, and individuals in connection with criminal, regulatory, and civil enforcement actions. Her practice focuses on white collar and regulatory enforcement defense, internal investigations, and compliance counseling. Sharon also represents collectors, dealers, non-profit organizations, universities, financial institutions, galleries and auction houses on a variety of matters related to the art market, including issues of ownership, theft, fraud, authenticity and breach of contract, as well as in criminal investigations and asset forfeiture proceedings. She has represented individuals, families, and governments with respect to the recovery of stolen art and cultural property, and has represented collectors in responding to claims by cultural ministries and foreign governments. Sharon is a former federal prosecutor and led the Money Laundering and Asset Forfeiture Unit in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York for two decades. Under her leadership, the SDNY was responsible for nearly 60% of all forfeitures in the United States, with most of the proceeds remitted to victims of crimes. Her track record of success inspired Forbes to call her “The Babe Ruth of Forfeiture.” She led multiple significant prosecutions under the AML, economic sanctions and asset forfeiture laws, working hand in hand with federal and state banking regulators, the Office of Foreign Asset Control, and other investigative and regulatory authorities. Sharon was the lead prosecutor responsible for securing a settlement in the watershed “Portrait of Wally” forfeiture case, which centered on an oil painting stolen by Nazis from a Jewish woman in 1938—a story that was later made into a documentary. As an internationally renowned leader in her field, Sharon has provided training to U.S. and foreign governments and served on numerous occasions as a keynote speaker, panelist or lecturer at events related to money laundering, asset forfeiture, AML compliance, terrorist financing, and other related topics.

Gaurav Ray is a Senior Manager of BDO’s Valuation and Business Analytics practice. Gaurav has over 15 years of experience providing valuation services and has been part of numerous corporate finance engagements, fairness opinions and complex advisory engagements.

Mr. Emory provides merger and acquisition advisory and business valuation services as the President of Emory & Co. He has extensive experience, providing middle-market M&A advisory and business valuation services for more than twenty years. He is the author of numerous articles and is a frequent speaker on merger and acquisition and business valuation topics. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation, administered by the CFA Institute. Prior to co-founding Emory & Co. in 1999, Mr. Emory worked as a business attorney at Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, and bank financing transactions. He received an MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a JD cum laude from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an AB from Stanford University with majors in Economics and History.

Nathan Novak is a vice president with Willamette Management Associates. Nathan has valued the following types of business entities and securities: general and limited partnership interests, restricted equity securities, closely held business enterprises, and estates. He has prepared valuation and economic analysis for the following purposes: taxation planning and compliance (federal income and estate tax), restructuring and reorganization, asset impairment analyses, economic damages analyses, shareholder disputes, divorce, transfer pricing analyses, and corporate planning. Nathan has also performed business and intangible asset valuations in the following industries: education services, publishing, investment management and other financial services, oil and gas production and exploration, real estate holding and management, heating and ventilation installation, water utilities, software manufacturing, food and grocery, household appliance manufacturing, sugar manufacturing, engine and mechanical parts manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, railroad construction and management, health care, insurance services, professional sports, sign manufacturing, and metal working and production.

Josh Schaeffer is a director and practice leader for Equity Methods’ valuation practice. He leads the delivery of valuation and advisory services related to complex securities. Josh takes some of the most complicated financial instruments around and breaks them down so that anyone can understand them. These include a wide array of derivative securities pertaining to compensation agreements, private companies, partnerships, earnouts, and guarantees. Other areas of expertise include business investments and employee compensation awards. Josh is familiar with the approach external auditors take to these instruments, building that knowledge into the solutions he builds for clients and often communicating with auditors on their behalf. Besides complex securities, Josh brings his academic and practical experience in economics, finance, and statistics to a range of other challenges. One is helping companies assess pay equity. Another is determining median employee compensation for purposes of CEO pay ratio calculation. He enjoys solving unique problems and mentors employees who share this aptitude. Josh works closely with finance executives across a broad array of public and private firms. His clients range from early-stage, pre-IPO upstarts to some of the largest public companies in the world. He’s a frequent presenter for the National Association of Stock Plan Professionals, the American Society of Appraisers, and other industry organizations. Prior to joining Equity Methods, Josh worked with Deloitte Financial Advisory Services and Cornerstone Research. In these roles, he focused on valuations and statistical analyses of businesses and investments for financial reporting, tax, consulting, litigation, and arbitration purposes. Josh holds a BA in economics and math from the University of Rochester and a PhD and MBA in finance from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.