EXIT STRATEGIES GROUP - Key Persons
Adam Wiskind is an M&A advisor (CBI) and Business Certified Appraiser (BCA). As a mergers & acquisitions advisor Adam works closely with business owners to achieve their goals for exiting their companies. He works primarily with the owners of manufacturing, distribution, specialty contracting and B2B service businesses…
Job Titles:
- M & AMI, ASA / President, M & a Advisor
- President, M & a Advisor
Since founding Exit Strategies in 2002, Al's mission has been helping company owners exit right and retire well. Al provides sale, majority recapitalization, divestment, merger and acquisition services to companies with $5-100 million revenue. In addition to deal making, Al leads Exit Strategies' M&A practice and provides comprehensive assessments of enterprise value and sale-readiness and consults with owners on exit planning.
Job Titles:
- Business Appraiser, M & a Advisor
Bob has been providing business brokerage and valuation services since the 1980's. He has participated in the valuation and sale of hundreds of businesses. He performs valuations for SBA lending, divorce, buy-sell, estate and gift tax, and other purposes. Bob is a Certified Business Appraiser (CBA). Prior to joining Exit Strategies, he founded Leapfrog Software. He a BS in electrical engineering and an MBA. …
Biography
With over 10 years of experience with medium to larger sized Bay Area firms, Bob has led sales and marketing teams, developed and launched technology products, formed successful strategic alliances and built worldwide distribution channels. His solid management background is an asset in business valuations. In 1982, Bob founded Mountain Star Business Brokerage, Inc. in Nevada County, CA and over the years participated in the valuation and sale of hundreds of businesses including retail, service, distribution, manufacturing, and professional practices. Prior to joining Exit Strategies Group, Bob was CEO and one of five founders of Leapfrog Software, Inc., where in 2008 he sold the company's flagship product IP to CSS, Inc. in southern California and served on the Board of Directors of both companies.
In 1992, Bob Altieri was accredited by the Institute of Business Appraisers as a Certified Business Appraiser. Bob specializes in the valuation of small to mid-sized closely-held companies, for a range of purposes including exit/succession planning, estate, gift and other tax filings, mergers and acquisitions, buy-sell agreements, SBA loan appraisals, litigation support, and shareholder disputes. As a seasoned business broker, he brings a real-world approach and understanding to his business appraisals. Bob has a great deal of experience in marital dissolution valuations and is a qualified expert witness in California courts.
Industry Experience
Bob has sold and appraised businesses in many industries, with particularly deep experience in retail, service, distribution, manufacturing and professional practices.
Don Ross has been brokering the sale of businesses since 2009. Previously, he was engaged as a contract CFO for several niche retail business entities, focusing on forensic accounting, budgeting and market strategy formulation, and maximizing profitability.
Don has owned and operated several retail businesses including two farm and industrial equipment dealerships, a chain of retail stationery and gift stores, and a direct marketing catalog company. Don is a past Regional Marketing and Sales Director of the Legal Publishing Division of McGraw-Hill Company and a past marketing consultant to a 1996 Atlanta Olympics Venue Management Group.
Don is married with three adult children and eight grandchildren. He lives in Petaluma with his wife, Michele, and Standard Poodle, Sammy. He is an avid reader, traveler, and "gym rat".
Industry Experience
Niche Retail
Publishing
Food Processing/Manufacturing and Distribution
Real Estate Management
Services
Don has been selling main street businesses with Exit Strategies Group since 2009. Previously, he worked as a contract CFO for several retail business entities, focusing on forensic accounting, budgeting and market strategy formulation, and maximizing profitability. Don has owned and operated several retail businesses including two farm and industrial equipment dealerships, a chain of retail stationery and gift stores, and a direct marketing catalog company. …
Biography
Ignacio joined Exit Strategies Group in 2024 as an Investment Banking and Valuation Analyst. His responsibilities include financial modeling, industry research, valuation analysis, and assisting in the execution of M&A transactions. Before joining Exit Strategies Group, Ignacio interned at a real estate development company in San Diego, where he worked as an Acquisitions Analyst. In this role, he conducted financial analysis and underwriting for potential developments and performed due diligence for investment opportunities. Ignacio holds a B.S. in Finance from San Diego State University. In his free time, he enjoys running, going to the gym, and spending time at the beach.
Education
B.S. in Finance from San Diego State University
Ignacio joined Exit Strategies Group in 2024 as an Investment Banking and Valuation Analyst. His responsibilities include financial modeling, industry research, valuation analysis, and business development. Before joining Exit Strategies Group, Ignacio interned at a real estate development company in San Diego, where he worked as an Acquisitions Analyst.
Job Titles:
- Certified Business Valuation Expert
- Valuation Expert
Biography
Jason Harris is a certified business valuation expert with over 20 years of experience in small company equity research and portfolio management.
Jason began his career at CS First Boston then worked as a research analyst for several Bay Area funds, including Drakes Landing Associates and Fullerton Capital, where he researched and monitored thousands of diversified equities. He then became a portfolio manager for several years at Touchstone Investments and also Peninsula Capital.
In 2009 Jason founded Kendall Square Capital LLC, a San Francisco based hedge fund specializing in small-cap companies. He grew the assets to over $240 million in four years through successful returns and targeted fund raising. Kendall Square focused primarily on the fundamental cash flow analysis of smaller capitalization companies.
Outside of work Jason coaches high school basketball and lives in Piedmont CA. with his wife Anne and three children Luke, A.J., and Shayne.
Job Titles:
- Business Appraiser, M & a Advisor
Biography
Jim Leonhard's career, spanning over 40 years, includes founding, operating, growing, selling, buying, and valuing businesses. Jim focuses on the valuation and sales of closely-held small to mid-sized companies. Business owners, shareholders, attorneys, CPA's, fiduciaries, lenders and others seek Jim's services in valuing and/or selling full or fractional business interests for successful buy-sell planning and transactions, SBA lenders, estate planning, estate, gift and other tax filings, litigation support, succession planning, mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs, financings, reorganizations, ESOP, bankruptcy, shareholder disputes, and marital dissolutions.
Jim's industry experience encompasses manufacturing, distribution, construction, services, technology, telecommunications, real estate, consulting, transportation and logistics, food and beverage, and retail. Jim was a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) for 10 years and a member of the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA).
Prior to joining Exit Strategies Group in 2005, Jim was the founder, CEO and President of two telecommunications consulting firms, one of which he successfully and profitably sold. His previous experience includes work as a leadership advisor to for profit and non-profit organizations; as a partner in a prestigious litigation support consulting firm; as a senior vice president of an international coatings company with profit and loss responsibility for a $20 million business; and as a director of international operations for a division of major chemical company. Earlier in his career, Jim led sales, marketing and technical teams; directed and developed strategic plans; and forged international business relationships.
Job Titles:
- VP of Business Valuation Services
Joe Orlando is an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) and is Vice President of Valuation Services for Exit Strategies Group, Inc. a mid-size business valuation and M&A brokerage firm serving the Western U.S. Joe leads Exit Strategies' business valuation practice working primarily with private companies and owner-operators in all industries with a strong focus on the craft beverage space.
Joe has appraised equity securities, enterprise values, and intangible assets for every size company for tax and financial reporting compliance, strategic planning, business development, private and public equity financings as well as family law and litigation testimony.
Over the last 30 years, Joe has worked in M&A, corporate finance, public company strategic planning, and, for the last 18 years, in fundamental business valuation. Joe started his career in investment banking working within a small M&A team at C. J. Lawrence, Morgan Grenfell. Before joining Exit Strategies in 2019, he led the Business Valuation practice for Frank, Rimerman + Co. LLP, a growing Northern California accounting firm. Before joining Frank, Rimerman, Joe was the first outside hire for Silicon Valley Bank's (SVB) Analytics group.
Industry Experience
While Joe has valued businesses in almost every industry, he has particularly deep expertise in wineries, craft beverages and technology (specifically software, ecommerce, and online content).
Biography
With over 15 years of making M&A transactions successful and seamless for sellers and buyers, Kevin brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table from over 30 years of business experience involving sales, marketing, management, business development, buying and selling businesses, and business ownership. He advises on sales, mergers and acquisitions of companies with $2 million or more in revenue.
Before joining Exit Strategies, Kevin was a top producing advisor at Sunbelt Business Advisors. Earlier in his career, he held management positions in several respected domestic and international electronics and distribution companies including: Siemens, Marubeni, Tyco Electronics, Itochu, and Acumen. During this period, he traveled extensively to conduct domestic and international business bringing comprehensive solutions of capital equipment, software, materials and tools and manufacturing processes to his customers in various industries such as contract manufacturing services, automotive, computer, consumer electronics, medical and health, telecommunication, and fiber optics to name a few.
As an entrepreneur, Kevin has started, acquired, managed, and successfully sold several businesses. The opportunities and challenges of sustaining and growing these businesses helped Kevin learn what's required to maximize enterprise value and selling price.
Kevin works out of Exit Strategies' San Jose office and lives in the South Bay. In his free time, he enjoys traveling and fitness activities with his family.
Industry Experience
Manufacturing
Distribution
Services
Technology
Electronics
Kevin brings over 15 years of deal making experience to the table when introducing buyers and sellers and helping them complete successful transactions from over 30 years of business experience involving sales, marketing, management, business development, buying and selling businesses, and business ownership. Earlier in his career, Kevin held management positions in manufacturing & technology sales, marketing and business development. As an entrepreneur, he has started, acquired, managed and successfully sold several businesses.
Job Titles:
- ABV, M & AMI / M & a Advisor, Business Appraiser
- M & a Advisor, Business Appraiser
Biography
Louis Cionci is an experienced Merger & Acquisition (M&A) advisory professional, and has been providing strategic business valuations and successful seller representation for over 15 years. He has managed over $250mm worth of transactions. He also appraises businesses for estate and gift tax filings, business sale or acquisition, shareholder agreements, succession planning, dispute resolution, and more.
As a Director at American Amalgam LLC, a transaction oriented boutique investment banking firm, he provided strategic business valuations and M&A transaction management to privately held companies valued from $2 million to $50 million. Prior to starting American Amalgam in 2003, Louis was a Senior Associate at investment bank Strategic Capital Inc. Louis represented international and domestic clients in acquisition growth strategy, and M&A buy side and sell side transactions.
Mr. Cionci is an alumni of Laventhol & Horwath (L&H), a former top ten national consulting firm, where he was an associate with L&H's Management Advisory Services group in the Philadelphia and San Francisco offices.
Louis has been providing strategic valuation and M&A brokerage services for over 15 years and has managed over $250 million worth of transactions. His goal in transactions is to help seller clients obtain the best price and terms available in the market, and help buyers obtain economic opportunity. Louis worked as a director and senior associate for two other investment banking firms prior to joining Exit Strategies Group.
Biography
Mark Harter has over 30 years' experience in company sales, growth, valuation, finance and M&A activity. He has four times started and/or been a key executive (CFO/CEO) in early-stage ventures acquired by large public companies which have generated over $500 million in exit value.
Mark started his career as the founder and president of a real estate development and construction company that focused on residential subdivision development and single family home construction in California. In this capacity, he acted as the General Contractor and Real Estate broker of record, structured and procured all project financing from equity and debt sources including corporate investment, private placements and pension funds. In 1994, he founded a boutique investment bank based in Moscow, Russia, where he helped bring in Western investment capital and technology to the countries that previously comprised the Soviet Union. In 2008, he founded a company that financed and developed corporate joint ventures for the provisioning of telecom products and services for some of the world's largest wireless telecom providers. More recently, as a founder, CEO and CFO, he has worked in and financed a number of technology, staffing and professional services companies, and has developed joint ventures for provisioning and staffing of both India and US based technology staffing companies.
Industry Experience
Mark has experience in a wide array of different industries, with a concentration on staffing and professional services, construction and real estate development.
Biography
Peter Wilson brings many years of investment management and business advisory experience to his role as a valuations advisor. He has been an active private equity investor in growth companies, helping them scale their technology enabled businesses. Peter has been an active investor, board member and advisor to growth companies and non-profits. He serves on the Board of Directors for John Muir Health Systems, a large regional hospital system in California, and is an advisor to Line 51, an Oakland CA brewery. Pete was also an advisor to Infima Technologies, a machine learning fixed income analytics firm. Mr. Wilson was previously on the board of A Closer Look, a customer experience (CX) measurement and analysis firm. Mr. Wilson works closely with wealth creators in the San Francisco Bay Area in his role as Chair at TIGER 21, the leading peer network for UHNW individuals. He also chairs the 350+ member private equity investment network within TIGER 21.
Pete's career began in finance and investments. He led BlackRock's 55-person Global Fixed Income Strategy team and built Barclays Global Investors fixed income business from scratch. Mr. Wilson launched one of the most successful fixed income hedge funds, Fixed Income Global Alpha, which grew to over $6 billion in AUM. Mr. Wilson's team pioneered the launch of the first fixed income ETFs in the world, covering Treasury, Credit and MBS markets. Pete also worked at BARRA, which pioneered the application of modern portfolio theory to the investment management industry.
Mr. Wilson chairs the investment committee Piedmont Council BSA and sits on the investment committee of Futures Without Violence.
Roy Martinez has been with Exit Strategies since 2013. Roy specializes in small business brokerage and lower middle market M&A work. Roy also is active in the valuation of small to mid-sized privately-held companies. Roy is a Certified California Business Broker (CBB) and a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA).
Before Exit Strategies, Roy was the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of WineDirect, a $25 million wine fulfillment company. His completion of two acquisitions while at WineDirect made him a good fit for Exit Strategies. Prior to that, Roy was the CFO of technology firms X2nSat, IP Access International, and TodoCast. Roy has six years of venture capital and private equity experience: 4 years at Intel Capital, the largest and most active strategic investment group and two years at a venture capital firm. Before that Roy held multiple finance and marketing positions and spent 5 years in engineering.
Industry Experience
Roy is an industry generalist with experience in many sectors.
Roy handles main street and middle market M&A transactions for Exit Strategies Group. Previously Roy was CFO for a wine fulfillment company and multiple satellite communications companies where he gained corporate finance and M&A experience, and he has six years of venture capital and private equity experience. Roy holds Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) and Certified Business Broker (CBB) credentials. …
Tony Westfall is a seasoned executive and entrepreneur with a varied background across industries, functions and company sizes.
Tony has worked on and led multiple M&A deals throughout his career. As a management consultant, he worked on a carve out between Novartis and Bayer. As an entrepreneur he has made several successful acquisitions and turned those bolt on acquisitions into substantial exits from multiple companies that he founded.
Over the course of the last 30 years, Tony has held positions in nearly every facet of businesses both large and small, focusing most of his time on Finance, Supply Chain Management and Biz Dev roles. He has worked for notable Fortune 50 companies General Electric, Johnson and Johnson and Cisco Systems as well as two of the worlds largest wineries, Foster's Wine Estates (now Treasury) and Trinchero Family Estates (Sutter Home).
Tony has founded at least a half dozen companies and made several successful exits. Most recently, Tony sold his Good Company Wines (parent company of invino.com) to a Private Equity group out of Los Angeles and sold a cannabis manufacturing business he founded to a publicly traded Canadian company. The last company was sold a mere 14 months after founding.
Tony has his undergraduate degree in Economics from Michigan State University and his MBA in Finance and Supply Chain Management from the Broad Graduate School of Management. He and his wife and their 2 daughters live in the City of Napa.
Industry Experience
Tony has wide and varied industry experience across a range of companies large and small. He has closed many deals across the spectrum of businesses, but primarily focuses on the craft beverage, healthcare and technology verticals. He leads our M&A craft beverage practice.
Tony Westfall is a seasoned executive and entrepreneur with a varied background across industries, functions and company sizes. Tony has worked on and led multiple M&A deals throughout his career. As a management consultant, he worked on a carve out between Novartis and Bayer. As an entrepreneur he has made several successful acquisitions and turned those bolt on acquisitions into substantial exits in companies that he founded…
Victor is an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) with more than 30 years of experience working for Big-Four firms such as PwC and KPMG, and for investment banking firms in Mexico. Victor has been involved in many business valuation engagements including intangible assets. Victor has also solid experience in the origination and execution of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and debt offerings, as well as M&A transactions and structured finance transactions…