Presenter Spotlight: 2024 ASA ESOP Conference – Virtual

Join us for ASA’s ESOP Conference, offering virtual attendance, taking place on June 11th, 2024 at 1:00 PM ET. Hear from industry experts who will dive into the intricacies of employee stock ownership plans (ESOP) and how they affect experts in or adjacent to the appraisal profession. Explore our comprehensive Conference Agenda to see sessions covering insights into feasibility studies, the valuation of transaction-related components, and more. Don’t miss out—reserve your spot today to enhance your understanding of ESOP complexities and elevate your expertise in the field.

Our current lineup includes:

Kim Blaugher | Beyster Institute
As the leader of Rady School of Management’s Beyster Institute, Kim Blaugher provides stewardship for programs and initiatives designed to educate students, academic faculty, company founders, and consultants on how to build Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and other employee-owned enterprises. Under his guidance, Beyster staff and Rady School interns engage with companies to provide consulting and feasibility analysis for ESOP transactions and benefit level modeling. He joined the Rady School in 2019. Blaugher has more than 30 years of experience in the ESOP community. He has helped companies determine the feasibility of an ESOP, forecast repurchase obligations, and crafted ESOP transactions designed to address each client’s unique needs and objectives. Prior to joining the Beyster Institute, he worked in the ESOP practices of private companies including Principal Financial Group, William M. Mercer & Associates, RSM and KPMG. Blaugher has a bachelor’s degree from Earlham College and a master’s degree in taxation from the University of Denver.

Ivy Wan-Beltejar | Empire Valuation Consultants
Ivy is a Manager at Empire Valuation Consultants, where she has worked since 2004. She is an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) of the American Society of Appraisers and a Chartered Financial Analyst® (CFA) Charterholder. Ivy has been involved in the valuations of a variety of debt and fixed income securities, real estate, derivative instruments, intangible assets, and equity interests across a variety of industries and global locations. In addition, Ivy has valued a wide variety of privately held companies for transactions, estate and gift tax reporting, ESOP transactions, financial reporting, and general corporate planning purposes. Prior to joining Empire, she worked for the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco where she was responsible for underwriting unsecured credit lines to financial institutions.

Scott Leach | BDO Capital Advisors, LLC
Mr. Leach is a Director with BDO Capital Advisors, LLC. He has more than 10 years of experience in banking, leveraged lending and accounting along with five years of ESOP specific consulting work. At BDO, Mr. Leach assists with business development for the ESOP Advisory Group and the execution of transactions. Mr. Leach joined BDO after serving as a Senior Consultant with another firm helping lead the ESOP consulting and transaction execution efforts of the organization. He was responsible for initial ESOP education, feasibility studies, financial modeling, and transaction execution for newly formed ESOPs and second stage transactions.

Michael McGinley | Prairie Capital Advisors
Michael McGinley joined Prairie Capital Advisors in 2012 and is a shareholder in the firm. He provides financial advisory services primarily to middle-market, privately-held businesses in a wide range of industries. Michael specializes in all aspects of ownership transition and financial advisory services to business owners, Boards of Directors and trustees, including employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”), capital raising and the valuation of businesses and business interests for strategic planning, gift and estate tax planning, financial accounting and reporting, buy-sell agreements and dispute resolution. He is also instrumental in developing Prairie’s ESOP sell-side and capital raise practice.

Jade Palermo | Empire Valuation Consultants
Jade is an experienced valuation analyst with a proven track record of providing trustworthy valuation advisory services and credible, defensible valuations across multiple industries since 2011. Jade has extensive valuation experience related to Employee Stock Ownership Plans (“ESOPs”) and has been engaged by several institutional and independent ESOP trustees for new formation transactions, additional interest acquisitions, and annual valuations, as well as for ESOP termination purposes, including sales to third parties. Jade is also experienced in valuing operating and asset holding companies for gift and estate reporting and corporate planning purposes. Prior to joining Empire, Jade was a manager at Atlantic Management Company in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Jade has been a speaker at several industry events.

Peter Jones | Tucker Ellis
Peter Jones advises business owners, companies, and fiduciaries on employee stock ownership plans, transition strategies, corporate governance, employee benefits, executive compensation, and mergers and acquisitions. Pete’s significant experience includes representing companies and trustees in the formation of ESOPs, the sale of ESOP-owned companies, and acquisitions undertaken by ESOP-owned companies. He also advises clients on regulatory compliance and defends them in connection with audits and investigations by the Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service. Active in national and regional ESOP organizations, Pete is a frequent speaker on issues related to ESOPs. Before joining Tucker Ellis, Pete served as a trust officer and voting member of the fiduciary committee of an institutional ESOP trustee. Tasked with leading valuation reviews and ensuring that the institution met the highest standard of care under the law, he has a practical understanding of the ERISA prudence requirement and the processes necessary to avoid non-exempt prohibited transactions. When not assisting clients, Pete enjoys spending time with his sons and daughters.

Laura Pfeiffenberger | Spinnaker Trust (moderator)
For over 15 years, Laura valued privately held companies for a variety of purposes, including estate and gift tax matters, family law matters, shareholder disputes, damages and ESOP administration services. As part of Spinnaker’s ESOP team, Laura’s experience working with business owners to help find solutions to complex valuation issues helps to strengthen our services to ESOP clients and their employee-owners.

Adrian Loud | Censeo Advisors
Adrian Loud is a Managing Director at Censeo Advisors, LLC. His work experience includes valuation and advisory services for a variety of engagements such as employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), lost profits and economic damages calculations, transfer pricing, gift and estate tax planning, reasonable compensation studies, fairness and solvency opinions, intangible asset and intellectual property analyses, and financial reporting. His industry experience spans manufacturing, distribution, professional services, sports, retail, real estate, financial services, healthcare, and other sectors.

Seth Webber | Berry Dunn
Since joining BerryDunn in 2007, Seth has brought his combination of valuation, consulting, and operations skills to bear for his clients, helping them navigate challenging issues related to business valuation. As head of the Valuation Services Practice Group, he leads a diverse team of valuation experts that draw on the deep resources of BerryDunn to help clients address their needs. Seth is heavily involved in working with clients to define and execute transition plans, including valuations relating to ESOPs, management buyouts, sales, and gifting.

Perry Walter | SCJ Fiduciary Services
Perry Walter joined the SCJ Team in 2021 as a Director of ESOP Transactions. He has extensive financial and ESOP transaction expertise. He has been a wonderful addition to the team and immediately hit the ground running. He has served previously as a senior equity research analyst and has several years of experience in venture capital work and management consulting, so he is well versed in many areas and the team benefits from that greatly. Perry graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor’s Degree in economics and communications. Additionally, he received his MBA from the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill. He also became a Chartered Financial Analyst in 1995 and a Accredited Senior Appraiser in 2010.

Steve Nelson | Chartwell
Steve leads Chartwell’s transaction opinion practice. He has provided financial advisory services to privately-held companies for more than 30 years and is an expert on valuation issues related to employee stock ownership plans. He also advises clients on a wide variety of corporate finance, valuation, financial fairness, mergers & acquisitions, divestitures, and general corporate matters. Steve has performed valuations as a court-appointed appraiser and provided expert witness testimony. His financial opinions have consistently withstood scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor.

Lars Golumbic | Groom Law Group
Lars Golumbic serves as the co-chair of the firm’s Litigation group. His ERISA litigation practice includes the defense of “excessive fee” and ESOP class actions brought against plan sponsors, fiduciaries, and service providers. Lars also represents health plan sponsors and health insurers in actions brought under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. Additionally, Lars defends plan trustees, fiduciaries, companies and their board members, and service providers in Department of Labor investigations and enforcement proceedings instituted by the federal agency. He has appeared in dozens of federal courts across the country as part of his active ERISA litigation practice. While the focus of Lars’ national practice is in ERISA litigation, Lars also represents plan fiduciaries and other stakeholders in matters concerning plan funding, restructuring, withdrawal liability, and plan termination.

Andrew Salek-Raham | Groom Law Group
Andrew specializes in the defense of ERISA class action lawsuits and U.S. Department of Labor enforcement actions. More specifically, Andrew frequently represents plan fiduciaries, plan service providers, plan sponsors, and directors and officers in lawsuits involving employee stock ownership plans, particularly “overvaluation” suits, and other defined contribution plans, including fee and imprudent fund selection suits. His experience spans all phases of federal litigation, including motions practice, class certification, discovery, mediation, and trial. In addition to his litigation practice, Andrew represents clients involved in U.S. Department of Labor retirement plan investigations. While in law school, Andrew was a summer associate at Groom and an intern in the Virginia Attorney General’s Office. Andrew was a teacher in Houston, Texas, through Teach for America before attending law school.

Jeffrey Tarbell | Houlihan Lokey (moderator)
Mr. Tarbell is a Director in Houlihan Lokey’s Financial and Valuation Advisory business. He has more than three decades of experience providing valuation and financial opinions to private and publicly traded companies. Mr. Tarbell 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. Before joining Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Tarbell was the Director of Financial Advisory Services for a national valuation firm. Earlier, he was a Vice President in the M&A group of a boutique investment banking firm.