Interviews

Tell us about your pre-M&A career and how it led you to doing this work? Before my career in M&A, I worked in the sports industry, first with the Pittsburgh Steelers and then with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In both roles, I worked closely with business owners, understanding how they interact, build relationships, and develop trust. […]

Tell us about your pre-M&A career and how it led you to doing this work? My previous life has been in the hospitality world. I founded and was owner operator of a conference and event management company for 29 years. As I grew the business I brought on three partners. We found ourselves managing various […]

Tell us about your pre-M&A career and how it led you to doing this work? I started, or bought and then sold several companies from the age of 22. The companies were in the commercial cleaning, moving and storage, employee relocation management and office coffee service industries. This experience helped me better understand the process […]

Tell us about your pre-M&A career and how it led you to doing this work? After college I entered the technology industry selling computers and related products/services at retail. I then transitioned into commercial, then started my own firm. After 7 years I sold it and had a negative experience with two brokers. The buyers, […]

Tell us about yourself independent of your work? I’m originally from New England but I had a nomadic childhood.  My family lived in New Hampshire, Vermont, Oregon, Idaho, and Virginia through my high school graduation; this resulted in a nuanced accent (southern in nature now) and a hodgepodge of sports teams I support.  My father […]

Tell us about your pre-M&A career and how it led you to doing this work? Prior to getting into brokerage, I owned a small car dealership with my dad. That was a great experience as it taught me all the reasons why most Seller’s want to sell and how difficult that decision can be. A […]

Tell us about your pre-M&A career and how it led you to do this work? From the beginning, my work had a heavy dose of M&A and securities work. During 10 years at Coopers & Lybrand, I had leadership roles in numerous IPO’s and acquisitions, including the Hicks & Haas acquisition of 7UP and a […]

Tell us about your pre-M&A career and how it led you to doing this work? I spent a large part of my career in corporate life – mostly building/leading client facing teams (sales, business development, professional services).  I was a technical sales/biz dev oriented person comfortable with large, complex, multi-faceted “solutions” (term over used for […]

Tell us about your pre-M&A career and how it led you to doing this work? Before joining the M&A community, I suspect my career was like the careers of many other professionals in this space. Focus, curiosity, a love of problem solving, and a desire to serve Community was a way of life for me. […]

Tell us about your pre-M&A career and how it led you to doing this work? I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and have had a couple of businesses over the years that were successful. Additionally, for a little over a decade, I was an outside bookkeeper and accounting consultant and worked closely with business […]

Tell us about your pre-M&A career and how it led you to doing this work? My entire career has been in successful sales to business owners. I started working for Lanier Worldwide selling copiers and fax machines from 1992-1995. I achieved the highest level- earning President’s club in 1995. My second job was with an […]

Tell us about your pre-M&A career and how it led you to doing this work? Many, many moons ago when gas prices were beyond the reach of normal American citizens, inflation was in double digits, and another great Democrat governed the land (i.e., Jimmy Carter), I enrolled at Colorado State University in its Master of […]