Presenter Spotlight: 2023 ASA International Conference–Business Valuation

ASA International Conference is the leading event for the global valuation profession. Celebrating its 86th year, the Conference attracts thought leaders, practitioners, allied professionals, vendor partners, government agency personnel, and more from all parts of the world. This paramount event provides an experience unlike other appraisal conferences, offering timely content for all appraisal professionals spanning Business Valuation, Personal Property, Machinery & Equipment, Real Property, Gems & Jewelry as well as Appraisal Review & Management.

Available in a hybrid format, the ASAIC23 offers the convenience of both live and virtual programming where you can learn and connect in your preferred environment. Join us on-site in New Orleans or from the comfort of your home or office—the choice is yours! Both formats allow you to explore the latest ideas, trends and best practices and interact and engage with fellow professionals. Don’t miss this exciting celebration of exceptional education and networking with leaders in the appraisal profession.

Don’t miss these industry experts presenting our Business Valuation sessions*:

Carla Nunes, CFA, ABV, is a Managing Director in the Office of Professional Practice of Kroll and a Kroll Institute Fellow. In addition, Ms. Nunes is the Global Leader of Kroll’s Valuation Digital Solutions group, which produces cost of capital thought leadership content and data housed in the Cost of Capital Navigator. She has over 25 years of experience in valuation, financial reporting and tax, conducting numerous business and asset valuations for a variety of purposes including purchase price allocations, goodwill and asset impairments, mergers & acquisitions, tax restructuring, debt analysis, and gift and estate tax planning. Ms. Nunes also has extensive experience working with multinational companies, having addressed complex tax, international cost of capital, and foreign exchange issues. She is a co-author of the “Valuation Handbook” series and co-creator of the Kroll Cost of Capital Navigator. Ms. Nunes is a Practitioner Director in the Board of FMA International.

James P. Harrington is a Director in Kroll’s Valuation Digital Solutions group, which produces the content and data housed in the Cost of Capital Navigator at kroll.com/costofcapitalnavigator. James provides technical support on client engagements involving cost of capital and business valuation matters. Previously, James was director of valuation research in Morningstar’s Financial Communications Business. James is co-author of the “Valuation Handbook” series with colleagues Carla Nunes and Roger Grabowski. James is co-author of the Stocks, Bonds, Bills, and Inflation® Summary Edition with Roger Ibbotson (Professor in the Practice Emeritus of Finance at Yale School of Management). James is a contributing author to Cost of Capital: Applications and Examples, 5th edition, by Shannon P. Pratt and Roger J. Grabowski. James is a contributing author to Shannon Pratt’s Valuing a Business – The Analysis and Appraisal of Closely Held Companies, Sixth ed.

Marina Kagan is a partner in the Financial Analytics and Derivatives group at PwC, with 17+ years of industry experience.  Marina advises clients on valuation of complex securities for tax, financial reporting and risk management, including fixed income, commodity, and equity derivatives, contingent assets/liabilities, earnouts, and intellectual property. Marina also assists private and public companies with valuation of equity securities, stock compensation grants, and structuring financing transactions.  Marina’s extensive experience in financial engineering and data analytics allows her to assist clients with assessing risks and quantifying uncertainties in deals through simulation models, decision analysis, and data visualization.  Prior to joining PwC, Marina worked as an Associate Director at Fitch ratings. Marina holds an MS in Mathematics in Finance from New York University, and a BS in Computational Mathematics from the City University of New York.

Josh Schaeffer, Ph.D, is Managing Director at Equity Methods. He has over 15 years in the field of valuation, focusing on areas of equity compensation and derivative valuation. Dr. Schaeffer is frequently involved in valuations and consulting for management planning, financial reporting, tax, and litigation. He is also a nationally recognized presenter and author on these topics. Dr. Schaeffer also leads a team of over 25 professionals in these areas.

Bruce Johnson, ASA, is an accredited senior appraiser of the ASA and former member of the ASA’s Board of Governors and Business Valuation Committee. He is the course developer and instructor for the ASA’s BV203 education program on discounts and premiums. Mr. Johnson is a board member of the Corporate Finance Certificate Program at Texas A&M University and has been published on a wide range of valuation topics in several accounting, business, finance and valuation publications and bar journals.  He is also a contributing author for PPC’s Guide to Business Valuation, McGraw Hill’s Valuing a Business and Partnership Profiles’ Comprehensive Guide for the Valuation of Family Limited Partnerships. He is an instructor and course developer for Partnership Profiles “Valuing Family Limited Partnerships” seminars and was the expert witness for the taxpayer in the landmark tax cases of the Estate of Elsie J. Church and Estate of Emily Klauss.

Kevin M. Zanni, ASA, CEIVTM, CVA, CBA, CFE, is the Chicago office director and the leader of the Willamette transaction opinion services practice. His practice includes valuation consulting, economic damages analysis, transfer pricing analysis, complex business transaction analysis, and financial advisory services. Kevin has over 20 years of experience that includes serving as an expert witness, writing fair value and fair market value opinion reports, and extensive manuscript authorship.

Eric Dollin, ASA, is a Director in the valuation and ESOP advisory services group at GBQ Capital Advisors, a national ESOP consulting and valuation practice with over 20 professionals and completing 300+ valuation engagements annually, including 75-100 ESOP-related engagements per year, including annual update valuations, transaction advisory, feasibility studies, and implementation consulting. Eric’s practice specializes in ESOP formations, valuations, transactions, and consulting, as well as valuations for other reasons including corporate and shareholder planning, transaction advisory, and various others. Eric has been active within The ESOP Association for 15+ years and is a frequent speaker on valuation, finance, and ESOP-related issues.

Hillary Hughes, ASA, CFA, joined Prairie Capital Advisors in 2011 and is a shareholder in the firm. She provides strategic insights to assist business owners and boards of directors to address long-term ownership transaction goals. Hillary has been highly involved in the structuring and valuation related to employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) on behalf of ESOP Trustees as well as business owners. Hillary provides financial advisory services to clients ranging from small family-owned businesses to large multi-national conglomerates. She specializes in the valuation of businesses and business interests for purposes of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), ESOPs, gift and estate planning and strategic planning. Hillary is also instrumental in developing Prairie’s trust-side ESOP practice.

Antonella Puca, CPA/ABC, CFA, is a Partner with BlueVal Group LLC. Antonella has over 20 years of experience in the alternative investment industry, with particular expertise in the valuation of private equity and venture-backed companies and carried interest for financial reporting, tax reporting and litigation purposes. Antonella is the author of Early Stage Valuation (Wiley: 2020). She is a frequent speaker at professional conferences, industry events and academia in the US and abroad. Antonella has served as an executive Board Member of the CFA Society of New York, member of AIMA’s research committee and member of the AICPA Business Valuation committee. She is the recipient of the 2021 Business Valuation Volunteer of the Year Award of the AICPA.

Justin Kuczmarski, MBA, CPA, CVA, ABV, CEIV™, CDBV, CIRA, CFF, is the President of NAV Valuation & Advisory LLC. He is a dual M&A investment banker and valuation expert. He has advised on over 150 transactions in his 23-year career. He specializes in technology and healthcare M&A banking and financial valuations for private equity and venture capital funds. He is a frequent technology earnings and M&A commentator for Fox Business Network, Yahoo! Finance, TD Ameritrade Network, i-24, and several global networks. He is also currently an independent director and incoming Chairman of the Audit Committee of an emerging technology company. He is the sole author of the 300-page guidebook entitled The Executive’s Guide to Business Valuation. Mr. Kuczmarski holds a BA in Politics from Princeton University, a dual MBA in Finance and Accounting for Fordham University’s Gabelli Graduate School of Business and a Certificate in Mergers & Acquisitions from Columbia Business School.

Karl Schwabauer, CPA, CFF, CVA, is a managing director with Baker Tilly’s global forensics and litigation services practice. With more than 20 years of experience providing forensic accounting, economic damages and valuation services. He also has extensive experience testifying at trial, deposition, arbitration and as a court-appointed expert in support of the work he has performed. Karl has developed the trust and respect of his clients and the extensive list of law firms that he has worked with over the years.

Asif H. Charania, ASA, CPA, ABV, CFF, is a partner at Keiter CPA firm and is the department leader of Keiter’s Valuation and Forensics Services Group. He has over 15 years of experience in providing valuation consulting and litigation support services. He has previously qualified as an expert witness in various circuit courts and retained in several litigation services matters. Asif’s practice is split equally between valuation and litigation support services. He has expertise in appraisals for estate/gift tax purposes, financial reporting, stock-based compensation, and complex securities. His litigation support experience includes divorce, shareholder disputes, theft of IP, and lost earnings calculations.

Matt A. Woolf has a broad range of experience intervening on behalf of clients with government agencies and elected officials. He also provides legal and legislative counsel to trade associations and routinely speaks at national and state conferences on legal and policy issues. Clients rely on Matt to navigate the ever-changing aspects of health law and policy. He works proactively with clients to ensure compliance and minimize violations. Matt provides counsel to health care clients who are growing, exiting, or otherwise adapting to the increasingly complex health care industry.

Brent Sloan, ASA, CEIVTM, IA, is a Managing Director at Stout and specializes in the valuation of public and closely held businesses and business segments, intangible assets, intellectual property, and related matters for purposes of financial statement reporting, tax planning, reorganizations and restructuring, corporate planning, litigation support, fairness/solvency opinions, and more. Across his 22 years of valuation experience, Brent’s primary focus has been in providing intangible asset purchase price allocations for financial statement and tax reporting purposes. Prior to joining Stout, Brent served as Managing Director for Vantage Point Advisors (VPA). Prior to joining VPA, he served as a Senior Director for Alvarez & Marsal Valuation Services (A&M) and was the Financial Reporting Valuation Leader for the West Coast as well as the National Telecommunications Valuation Leader. Before A&M, Mr. Sloan served as a Senior Manager within Grant Thornton’s Valuation Services Group and was the Telecommunications Valuation Co‐Leader.

Roger Grabowski, FASA, is a Managing Director, Valuation Services, at Kroll, LLC (previously Duff & Phelps). He has over 40 years of experience in valuation services, and has directed valuations of businesses, interests in businesses, intellectual property, intangible assets, real property and machinery and equipment, as well as been recognized in various courts as an expert on matters of solvency, the value of closely held businesses and business interests, valuation and amortization of intangible assets and other valuation issues. He has co-authored a variety of publications and books, most recenly as a contributing author to Shannon Pratt’s Valuing a Business – The Analysis and Appraisal of Closely Held Companies 6th ed. (McGraw-Hill, 2022). Mr. Grabowski has been a designated member of ASA for 44 years.

Ashok Abbott, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Finance at West Virginia State University. Dr. Abbott’s areas of research and teaching include mergers and acquisitions, corporate valuation, and measures of market liquidity.  His consulting areas are valuation discounts and premiums, valuation model validation, passive appreciation, and event studies.

Stephanie Loomis-Price, is a Partner at Perkins Coie LLP.  She represents taxpayers in federal gift and estate tax litigation against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), as well as in state fiduciary and probate controversy work. In her national practice, she has assisted clients in numerous federal tax cases in the U.S. Tax Court, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Eighth, and Eleventh Circuits. In addition, she has appeared before state, district and county probate courts in Texas. Stephanie advises clients regarding estate administration and helps them minimize litigation and audit risks. She prepares, reviews, and files federal transfer tax returns and assists trustees and beneficiaries with judicial and nonjudicial modifications to irrevocable trusts. Stephanie also obtains private letter rulings (PLR) from the IRS on estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax matters. Stephanie regularly speaks nationwide on topics related to gift and estate tax matters.

Marissa Pepe Turrell, ASA, CVA, is a director in the Firm’s Valuation, Forensics & Litigation Services group and heads Marcum’s Estate and Gift Tax Valuation practice. She has over 18 years of experience providing business valuations, financial analyses, financial modeling and litigation support for private and public clients that span a variety of industries. Ms. Turrell’s valuation experience includes appraising companies for gift and estate tax purposes, family law, shareholder disputes, succession planning, financial reporting, equity buy-in and redemptions, and mergers and acquisitions. Ms. Turrell has been a designated member of ASA for over 12 years.

Justin Burgess has more than 17 years of experience providing valuation services with a focus on valuation of intangible assets, including trademarks and trade names, patents and developed technology, customer relationships, and various other intangible assets.  His experience spans a wide range of industries, including healthcare, biotech, energy, technology, manufacturing, distribution, and industrial products.  He is responsible for assisting clients with a variety of valuation engagements primarily related to pre-deal mergers and acquisitions activity, financial reporting, and tax strategy, involving the valuation of businesses, debt and equity securities, partnerships, and intangible assets.  His clients include public corporations, private companies, hedge funds, private equity firms, and partnerships.  Mr. Burgess has extensive experience providing fair value analyses to assist with purchase price allocations, impairment testing, stock compensation, and investment portfolio reporting.  He has assisted clients with tax matters involving equity-based compensation, corporate restructuring, asset transfers, gift and estate tax, and tax planning. 

Kurt Huie, ASA, is responsible for executing and managing a variety of tangible personal property valuation engagements. Mr. Huie has experience in the valuation of Master Limited Partnership drop downs, oil and gas infrastructure, and complex facilities. He has managed or assisted on personal property tangible asset appraisals for financial and tax reporting, property tax, and insurance purposes. Mr. Huie has valued assets throughout North America, South America, Asia, and Africa for clients in a diverse range of industries, including oil and gas, mining, agriculture, pharmaceutical, public sector, chemical process, hospitality, and consumer goods.

Sarah von Helfenstein, MBA, has over 27 years of experience and has served as a valuation professional and educator in public accounting firms, for the AICPA and American Society of Appraisers, and on her own. During this time, she valued businesses, fractional interests, and intangible assets for a wide range of purposes. She also performed seminal valuation research for the Department of Defense Office of Force Transformation. Sarah has published/presented extensively in the U.S. and internationally She has developed valuation courses, exams, curricula, and conferences, and edited a number of key valuation books. She is editor of “The Art of Valuation”, a book to be published by The Appraisal Foundation in Q1 2023. She was 2022 Chair of the Business Valuation Resource Panel of The Appraisal Foundation. She has been an active, designated member of the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts, of which she was named Outstanding Member in June 2018.

Kenneth J. Pia, ASA, CPA, ABV, MCBA, is a partner and the leader of the National Matrimonial and Business Valuation groups of Marcum LLP. With more than 30 years of professional business valuation and litigation support experience, Mr. Pia has developed a national reputation working on a wide range of complex valuation engagements. He has performed valuations of businesses and partial business interests for a variety of purposes including, but not limited to, family law matters, employee stock ownership plans, business damages, buy-sell agreements, shareholder litigation, estate and gift tax matters, and buying and selling businesses. Ken is a past Chair of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) Business Valuation Committee and a member of the National Business Valuation Education Sub Committee. Mr. Pia is also a Co-Chair of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers Foundation’s Forensic & Business Valuation Division. Ken is qualified as an expert witness in Federal District Court and State Courts of Connecticut, Florida, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and California as well as various arbitration proceedings. He has also rendered extensive services relating to court testimony.

Jay E. Fishman, FASA, FRICS, is a Managing Director of Financial Research Associates and has been actively engaged in the appraisal profession since 1974.  He specializes in the valuations of business enterprises and their intangible assets.  Mr. Fishman has co-authored several books, including the Guide to Business Valuations, Standards of Value, A Consensus View Q&A Guide to Financial Valuation and The Business Valuation Bench Book. He has also written numerous articles on business valuations as well as qualifying as an expert witness and providing testimony in twelve states.  He has taught courses on business valuation to the Internal Revenue Service, the National Judicial College, the Hong Kong Society of Accountants and on behalf of the World Bank in St. Petersburg, Russia. He taught courses in Moscow, Russia and for the Slovenian Institute of Auditors in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In 2020, in full recognition of his outstanding services in the Society and contributions to the appraisal profession, the American Society of Appraisers gave him their Lifetime Achievement Award.

Alexander Aronsohn, FRICS, is a Chartered Surveyor with long and wide-ranging experience encompassing residential asset management, commercial and residential development, rating, national and international valuation and investment. Alexander is the IVSC Director of Technical Standards for Tangible Assets Boards and assists the IVSC Standards Review Board and its Asset Boards on drafting IVS, perspectives papers, presentations, training and articles. In addition, Alexander has a leading role in various International Standards Coalitions and is the Executive Secretary of the International Property Measurement Standards Coalition Standard Setting Committee, the International Ethical Standards Coalition  Standard Setting Committee and the International Land Measurement Standards Standard Setting Committee. Prior to joining the IVSC Alexander was the RICS Director of Technical Standards and was also the Executive Secretary of the International Fire Safety Standards Coalition Standard Setting Committee (SSC) and a member of the International Construction Measurement Standards Coalition Standard Setting Committee.

Robert Schlegel, CPA, CFF, CVA, is a past International President of ASA, taught all four courses for accreditation in BV, taught going-concern course for RP, widely published in professional journals including BVR and a forthcoming chapter in a new TAF book on using good judgement in BV. He is a principal at Houlihan Valuation Advisors in Indianapolis as a general BV appraiser for over 30 years.

William H. Frazier, ASA, has been a senior member of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) since 1987. He has  served on various boards and committees of the ASA over the years. Will has participated as an appraiser and/or expert witness in several U.S. Tax Court cases, including Grieve, Steinberg, Hendrix, Jelke, McCord, Dunn, and Gladys Cook. He have written numerous articles on the subject of business valuation appearing in such publications as the Trusts & Estates, Business Valuation Review, Valuation Strategies, BV E-Letter, and Estate Planning.  He is a contributing author to The Cost of Capital and Valuing a Business.

Jeffrey S. Tarbell, ASA, CFA, is a Director in the Financial Valuation and Advisory practice of Houlihan Lokey Financial Advisors, Inc. He has more than three decades of experience providing valuations, financial opinions, and expert witness testimony regarding 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. Mr. Tarbell is an Accredited Senior Appraiser of the ASA and a member of its Board of Governors. he holds the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst of the CFA Institute. He is registered with FINRA (formerly the NASD) as a General Securities Representative (Series 7 and 63) and a Limited Representative – Investment Banking (Series 79). He has testified in various forums, including state, federal, and tax courts, a congressional hearing, Department of Labor panels, as well as in arbitration, mediation, and deposition proceedings.

Riley J. Busenlener, ASA, CPA/ABV, AEP®, JD, is a Vice President at Chaffe & Associates, Inc.  He has over 17 years of experience in business valuations for a wide range of tax reporting and litigation purposes. He teaches business valuation and accounting at local universities and is a member of the Appraisal Standards Board.  Mr. Busenlener has been a designated member of ASA for over 12 years having served as Treasurer and President of the Harold S. Clark, New Orleans Chapter.

Vanessa Brown Claiborne, ASA, CPA/ABV, AEP®, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Chaffe & Associates, Inc. She is a CPA, ABV by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and has received her designation as an ASA by the American Society of Appraisers.Ms. Claiborne is also AEP by the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils. She specializes in business valuation services primarily for estate and gift taxes, ESOPs, GAAP fair value reporting, financial reporting, business interruption claims, litigation support including expert testimony, exit planning, and shareholder transactions. Mr. Claiborne is active both in many organizations including the American Society of Appraisers, serving as Governor of the International Board of Governors 2003-2007, Association for Corporate Growth, Isidore Newman School, American Red Cross, and the Agenda for Children.  She recently received the 2021 LCPA Women to Watch Most Experienced Leader Award.

Barry Cunningham has been appraising real estate and consulting on real estate related litigation for thirty-five years. He has worked in over forty states and participated in hundreds of informal negotiations, settlement conferences, and mediations. He has testified before administrative bodies and tribunals and participated in trials in state and federal courts across the country. Half of his appraisal and consulting work is completed for public entities (cities, towns, and counties) and half for private property owners. He has a BA in Liberal Arts with an emphasis in Economics from Charter Oak State College and a master’s and PhD in Education from Capella University. He also holds the prestigious MAI and AI-GRS designations from the Appraisal Institute and the ASA designation from the American Society of Appraisers. He has completed a rigorous and unparalleled 18-credit graduate school Certificate in Mediation and Conflict Resolution from Champlain College’s Woodbury Institute.

Adam M. Smith, ASA, ABV, MRICS, is a Managing Director and technical leader at PwC with over 20 years of experience in business valuation – both performing and auditing valuations. For the last ten years he has been heavily involved with standard-setting, having spent time working at the FASB and the IVSC.