ESOP Alliance Members
ESOP Alliance Members
Shane Ocasal
Shane Ocasal, drawing on his extensive employee ownership experience coming from the investment banking and large public broker worlds, helps ESOP clients and partners navigate the complexities of insurance for ESOPs. Keenly aware of the unique needs and challenges of employee-owned businesses, he plays the critical role of connector and facilitator as part of our Aons national ESOP team. Shane is the founder of the ESOP Alliance and a member of the ESOP Associations, and National Center for Employee Ownership.
A New York native, Shane plays an active role in his community as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels and Camp Venture.
Serena Amlie
Serena Amlie is an ESOP Client Advisor at Spinnaker Trust, which provides independent trustee services to ESOPs in the New England and Northeast regions. She lives in Saratoga Springs, NY. In her role at Spinnaker, Serena is heavily involved in the annual valuation process and the negotiation of ESOP transactions. Prior to joining Spinnaker, Serena was a manager at a national valuation firm, where she performed business valuations for ESOP-owned companies. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst® and holds the Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) designation with the American Society of Appraisers. She is also Treasurer of the Board of Directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region.
Adam Geller
As a member of PCE’s ESOP practice, Adam is involved with sell-side and buy-side engagements, recapitalizations, and general corporate advisory. With a background in leveraged finance, he plays an important role in providing financial analysis, modeling transaction alternatives, and optimizing companies’ capital structures to help clients reach their goals.
Most recently, Adam was an assistant vice president of business development at a U.K. financial services firm, where he was responsible for boosting the company’s U.S. presence. Adam gained extensive experience assisting corporate and private equity clients on M&A, LBO, refinancing, and dividend recapitalization transactions at both a U.S. bulge bracket investment bank and a Japanese multinational investment bank in the firm’s leveraged capital markets groups.
Ashley Kirchner
Ashley Kirchner is a Vice President with BMO’s Corporate Advisory practice. She advises privately held businesses on a broad range of corporate finance topics including ESOPs, recapitalizations, mergers & acquisitions, and ownership transitions.
Ashley’s commercial banking experience spans over a decade, primarily focused on providing financing solutions to support ownership transitions, particularly through the use of ESOPs. Most recently, Ashley worked at a regional financial institution, where she was a founding member of the bank’s ESOP Finance Group. She previously held roles focused on ESOP advisory, relationship management, credit risk assessment, and underwriting.
Ashley earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She is an active member of the National Center for Employee Ownership and The ESOP Association, where she currently serves on the Ownership Culture Advisory Committee.
Rebecca Glasgow
Rebecca has spent her 20 year career in financial services advising business owners, wealthy families and ESOP-owned companies. She draws upon her extensive experience in the areas of trust and estate strategies, financial and insurance planning, institutional asset management, and institutional fixed income sales to build tailored solutions for her clients and their diverse needs.
Today, as a partner of the ESOP Group, she works closely with business owners and their families on business transition and more specifically employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs). Rebecca is a frequent speaker on business owner liquidity options, ESOPs, and the Section 1042 tax deferral. For The ESOP Association, she is the chairman of the fundraising committee as well as a chapter officer for the Southeast Chapter.
Education
• Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in economics
• Passed the Series 7 and 66 securities exams
• Insurance licenses: life, health, variable annuity, variable life and long-term care
Credentials
• CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certificate
• Certified Exit Planning Advisor
Industry recognition:
• Barron’s Top 1,200 Financial Advisors, 2022, 2023
• Barron’s Top 100 Women Advisors, 2023
• Forbes America’s Top Women Wealth Advisors, 2021–2023
• Forbes Best-in-State Women Wealth Advisors, 2021–2023
• Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Advisors, 2022, 2023
• Working Mother Magazine/SHOOK Top Wealth Advisor Moms, 2021
Team recognition:
• Barron’s Top 100 Private Wealth Management Teams in 2021 and 2023
• Forbes America’s Top Wealth Management Teams in 2022
• Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams in 2023
Blake Head
Prior to joining BDO Capital Advisors, Mr. Head was a Partner at BDO USA, LLP and the National Group Leader for BDO USA’s People and Organization Strategy. His group was comprised of ESOP Advisory Services, Executive Compensation Consulting and Workforce in Transactions practices. Mr. Head’s experience in compensation matters included benchmarking and surveying projects, design and implementation of performance management review systems, and the design and implementation of performance incentive plans for executive, non-executive, and sales employees. He has worked with both for-profit and tax-exempt entities. Mr. Head has consulted with a variety of manufacturing, construction, retail, technology, and oil and gas industry firms in the area of compensation and broad-based rewards. In addition, he has extensive experience in consulting on employee benefit plans.
Brian Lowe
Britt Bruinsma
Carlito R Cabelin
Christel Jimenez
Christel Jimenez is a Vice President of ESOP Consulting at Principal. She has over 15 years of experience working with ESOPs, both from within the retirement industry and as an officer of an ESOP-owned company. She has extensive knowledge and experience in recordkeeping, ERISA plan compliance, and complex ESOP issues.
Christel engages with business owners and companies to define their objectives and design, implement, and communicate ESOPs. She takes a focused approach to partnering with ESOP companies to identify areas of opportunity in plan operation, repurchase liability, and employee communication, all with the goal of assisting companies in meeting their corporate objectives and maximizing their ESOP.
She is an active member of Employee-Owned S Corporations of America (ESCA), The ESOP Association (TEA) and the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO).
Christel earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from The Pennsylvania State University, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Central Michigan University.
Christel lives in North Carolina with her husband and their three children. She enjoys running, cycling, and attending their sporting events.
Courtney Johnson
As a former HR professional, Courtney works to get to know her client’s business just as well as they do. She knows the importance of having the right tools, technology and support to effectively manage day to day tasks and the downfalls that can happen if/when you don’t. Through a thorough discovery meeting, she walks through a “day in the life” with the client to understand processes from recruiting and onboarding, to compliance, tax, payroll and reporting… and everything in between. With her Paycor expertise and knowledge, she then aligns the solution to the needs of the client, all while ensuring both time and cost ROI. While some say “payroll is payroll“ Courtney thrives on the opportunity to strategically and creatively solve challenges… and make payroll…fun!
Hannah Tullous
For over 10 years, Hannah has been a noteworthy leader in helping companies increase revenue. You know her as an Executive Financial Analyst at Mobilia Consulting in Austin, Texas; however Hannah can also be credited for being enthusiastic, motivated and outgoing.
She quickly learned that ‘seeing’ what you want and pursuing it is a worthy endeavor. Being self-motivated at an early age has led Hannah to many accomplishments, including being bilingual, finishing the Austin Marathon 3 times, living abroad after graduation and being the youngest National Director at her previous company. Hannah’s skills and love for people help her to lead and inspire others. If there is something you want to improve about your business or your life, spend some time with her, and you will likely feel energized into action. Hannah’s intentions for herself are crystal clear: To live a life of purpose and fulfillment while helping others to enjoy the same benefits.
Holly Jones
Holly E. Jones is an attorney with Maselan & Jones, P.C. She counsels clients on business succession planning, ESOPs and ESOP transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and a broad range of employee benefits issues, including issues involving qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, executive compensation plans, ERISA fiduciary duties and prohibited transactions, and health and welfare plans. She is a member of The ESOP Association, the National Center for Employee Ownership, the Valuation Advisory Committee of The ESOP Association, and the Membership Committee of the Mid Atlantic and Carolinas Chapter of The ESOP Association.
Holly received her J.D. from Villanova University School of Law. Previously, Holly was a Director of Litigation and Disputes for a large management consulting firm in DC. She received her B.A. from Wellesley College, where she was a member of the varsity rowing team, a student athlete advisory committee representative, and a coach for the dorm and class crew intermural programs.
Jake Helwick
Jake Helwick is a Senior Manager at Adamy Valuation. He specializes in valuation and financial advisory services relating to equity incentive plans, including employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs); transaction opinions; tax reporting; financial reporting; economic damages; business interruption; succession planning; corporate strategic planning; and other unnoted litigious matters across a multitude of industries.
His background stems from several former roles at Adamy, and having worked in commercial credit at a large, Michigan-based bank. In his banking days, Jake participated in a multi-year leadership development program and was tasked with assessing credit risk and underwriting loans for real estate, commercial, and industrial purposes.
Jake is an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) in Business Valuation and a graduate of Grand Valley State University (GVSU) where he dual majored in accounting and finance. He has served as a mentor to students in the Seidman College of Business at GVSU, and currently holds voluntary positions as a board member and the ACG Cup Committee Chair of the Association for Corporate Growth – Western Michigan Chapter. Jake is also an active member of The ESOP Association (TEA) and the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO).
Katie Wilusz Long
Kaitlin Wilusz is a director at Value Management Inc. As a director, she is responsible for oversight of the financial analyst staff, providing research and performing financial and economic analyses for the valuation of closely held enterprises, professional practices and publicly traded securities. Ms. Wilusz specializes in closely held business valuations, specifically related to Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). She has worked on dozens of ESOP transactions. Kaitlin holds ASA (American Society of Appraisers) and CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) accreditations.
Ms. Wilusz is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), Beta Gamma Sigma, the American Society of Appraisers, the CFA Society of Philadelphia, and the Philadelphia Alumni Board of Fairfield University. She is co- chair of the Young Dealmakers’ Committee of the Philadelphia ACG chapter. She is a director on the board of Liguori Academy and serves as chair of the Finance Committee.
Kip Kuster
Kevin Parker
As an Associate, Kevin supports a range of transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, capital raises and valuation advisory.
Kevin previously co-founded an Africa-focused startup investment firm called Kolanut Capital. At Kolanut, Kevin worked with operations management to plan and roll out four core business segments, while building cash-flow models and metric tracking processes to direct their expansion.
Kevin holds a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University where he was a 4-year starter on the Princeton Varsity Wrestling team and a first team All-Ivy member.
Lee Palmer
Lee Palmer is a Vice President with the Wells Fargo ESOP Advisory Group. He is responsible for providing strategic and technical expertise regarding ESOPs to Wells Fargo’s local banking offices and to their clients. Lee advises business owners and companies on the benefits of an ESOP and helps them understand ESOP-related issues throughout their lifecycle. Lee is based on Boston, MA and covers the Eastern United States for the Wells Fargo ESOP Advisory Group.
Wells Fargo has been providing commercial banking services to ESOP companies since the advent of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Wells Fargo is a leading lender to ESOP Companies with over 500 existing banking relationships. Wells Fargo also offers a complete platform of traditional bank products and non-lending products for Company owners selling stock to ESOPs, including 1042 tax deferral strategies, liquidity and asset management, ESOP trust cash management, and insurance services.
Lindsay Shafer
Lindsay Shafer, MA is a consultant at Praxis Consulting Group. She currently provides ESOP communication; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); strategic planning; facilitation and other organization development services to employee-owned companies and non-profits. Lindsay has over 15 years of experience as a facilitator and trainer and project manager, and has worked with for-profit, nonprofit, government, and education clients. She believes leadership development is essential to leverage the powerful benefits that shared ownership can have for organizations and workers.
Lindsay plays an active role in the employee ownership community, speaking frequently about employee ownership and culture. Lindsay also serves on The ESOP Association’s Ownership Culture Committee and is the Vice President of Programming for The ESOP Association’s Pennsylvania/Delaware Chapter.
Prior to joining Praxis, Lindsay worked in the nonprofit sector where she focused on project management, content development, program evaluation, and conference planning. She has worked with dozens of clients to evaluate programmatic needs and design and implement customized programming.
Lindsay holds a BA and MA from the University of Pennsylvania.
Mason Eisenberg
Mr. Eisenberg serves as a Client Service Officer on the GreatBanc Client Services team, focused on managing client relationships and ESOP transactions. He has spent his entire career in the retirement plan and ESOP industry, giving him nearly a decade of expertise in employee ownership.
Before joining GreatBanc Trust Company in 2018, Mr. Eisenberg specialized in the administration and operations of employee benefit plans, particularly ESOPs. This hands-on experience makes him a highly effective consultant across a wide variety of ESOP fiduciary topics.
“Strong communication is crucial to ESOP transactions and ongoing fiduciary work that we specialize in here at GreatBanc. I always strive to be proactive when communicating with my clients. In many cases, it allows us to preemptively identify potential issues and tackle them before they materialize.”
Outside the office, you’ll likely find Mason out on the lake enjoying the outdoors with his family. If the weather isn’t cooperating, there’s a good chance he’s at home binge watching the latest trending TV show.
Mr. Eisenberg is an active member of The ESOP Association and the National Center for Employee Ownership. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance and a Master of Business Administration degree from Quincy University.
Melanie O’Toole
Melanie O’Toole is a senior manager in the Audit department at Eide Bailly LLP. Melanie focuses on providing audit and attest services to clients across the United States of America. She specializes in corporate and benefit plan audits of employee owned companies. Melanie is a Certified Public Accountant. She has just over 8 years of experience in public accounting. Melanie is based out of Fargo, North Dakota and services clients across the United States of America. She earned her Bachelors of Science in Accounting and Masters of Accountancy from North Dakota State University. Melanie is a member of the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO).
Michael Lovett
Michael is a Director of Acuity Advisors, where he is principally responsible for providing project leadership and execution on mergers & acquisitions, employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) transactions, and other investment banking and valuation advisory services. In this capacity, he is responsible for corporate development, engagement management, developing valuation conclusions, and leading transaction engagements to successful conclusions.
Active in the valuation of closely held securities since 2014, Michael has prepared financial opinions addressing the value of common and preferred stock, various debt securities, intangible assets of all types, the fairness of certain transactions, and value of a wide variety of non-traditional types of assets.
Michael is an accredited senior appraiser with the American Society of Appraisers, holds Series 63 and Series 79 securities licenses, and is a member of the ESOP Association and National Center for Employee Ownership.
Patrick Dixon
Before joining AP/Murray in 2016, Patrick was responsible for renewals at a London (UK) based Lloyd's Broker for a book of professional liability clients. In that role, he worked with underwriters to negotiate premium and policy coverage for accountants, architects, engineers and surveyors.
Patrick graduated from Newcastle University with a BA Hons in History. He is also earned the Pennsylvania Property and Casualty license. He recently achieved the RPLU (Registered Professional Liability Underwriter) Designation.
Robert Powell
“Robert Powell is an M&A Manager at Lutz. He began his career as a staff auditor at Lutz & Company, P.C. He then spent several years as an analyst and an associate for multiple private business valuation firms before rejoining Lutz in 2023. He is responsible for providing merger and acquisition and business valuation services for management planning purposes, litigation support, marital dissolution matters, employee stock ownership plan consulting, and estate and gift taxes. In addition, he analyzes and interprets financial statements, builds financial models, conducts market research, and develops transaction materials to successfully market Lutz M&A clients.
Mr. Powell has earned the Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) designation from the American Society of Appraisers in 2021. He earned the Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) designation from the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts in 2017. Mr. Powell attended the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and received a BSBA with a major in finance and accounting. He also attended the Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University and received a Master of Science Accountancy (MSA).”
Ryan M. Coady
Ryan Goetzinger
Mr. Goetzinger joined NCP as an analyst in October 2015. He assists the firm's Corporate Finance and Investment Banking / Mergers & Acquisitions divisions. Prior to joining NCP, he worked as an analyst for a regional commercial bank. Mr. Goetzinger is a Cum Laude graduate of Central College with majors in Business Management and Accounting. Mr. Goetzinger was awarded a CFA Charter from the CFA Institute in the Spring of 2017 and is a member of the CFA Society Iowa. He is an active board member with Junior Achievement of Central Iowa and Community Youth Concepts.
Ryan Sperling
Ryan Sperling is a manager in the ESOP Advisory group at Eide Bailly LLP. He focuses on providing sell-side advisory services to clients looking to sell to employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). Ryan advises clients through ESOP feasibility and executing the transaction. Ryan is a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) from the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts. He has over a decade of experience providing valuations for a variety of purposes including gift and estate tax, management planning, and litigation support. Ryan is based out of Minneapolis, MN, and serves clients nationally. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Minnesota State University. Ryan is a member of the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO).
Sean-Tamba Matthew
Sean advises companies, business owners, boards of directors and employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) trustees on transactional, corporate governance and formation matters related to the design and implementation of ESOPs. Sean’s work includes drafting and negotiating agreements and other documents for stock purchases, leveraged buyouts, mergers, reorganizations and corporate governance and formation matters.
Sean began his career as a corporate transactional lawyer, with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, fund services, venture financing and marketplace/P2P lending. His experience also includes advising nonprofit, charitable and other tax-exempt organizations and social enterprises.
Sean serves on the Advisory Board of Talley Management Group, a ESOP-owned company based in Mt. Royal, NJ. In addition to his professional work, Sean serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Independence Mission Schools, a network of 15 independent Catholic schools providing a transformative education to children of all faiths across Philadelphia, and Nutritional Development Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, an organization dedicated to alleviating food insecurity in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Education
- Temple University Beasley School of Law, J.D., 2013
- University of Pennsylvania, B.A., Political Science, 2008
Bar Admissions
- Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
Shea Feehan
Commercial Banking with a specialty in ESOP lending. He has been with CB&T for 5+ years, joining the bank in 2018 with a background in credit from his previous role as a Credit Analyst at NBT Bancorp in New York. As a senior underwriter and portfolio manager, Shea spent his first two years at CB&T assigned to a $1 billion commercial portfolio. He has underwritten over $664 million in credit for the commercial bank, including over $250 million in credits for ESOP companies. He quickly graduated to a Vice President, Relationship Manger in 2020, inheriting a $200 million portfolio. As an RM, he has brought in over $100 million of new credit to the bank, including over $100 million in ESOP credits. Shea earned his bachelor’s degree as a double major in Economics, Business Administration with a minor in Finance from Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY.
Tim Loehr
Trevor Kauk
Trevor Kauk joined Bankers Trust in May 2019. He first held a position in the commercial credit department covering the underwriting for various loan officers spanning C&I, CRE, and FI loan portfolios. He joined the specialty finance team as a relationship manager in June 2022 focusing on ESOP lending and currently manages a loan portfolio of $100 million. Before joining Bankers Trust, he held a credit analyst position at Plains Commerce Bank out of South Dakota for two years.
Trevor earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Dordt University, majoring in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance. He also completed the Iowa School of Banking program through the Iowa Bankers Association and the Bankers Trust Leadership Academy in 2023. He is currently an associate member of the finance committee for The ESOP Association.
Haydee Caldero
Haydee is dedicated to building enterprise value at employee-owned businesses through effective management and leadership strategies. At Project Ownership, she provides companies with fractional CFO / COO services focused on implementing strategic plans that bolster revenue growth, profitability, and employee owner engagement.
As COO of a 100% employee-owned company, Haydee oversaw the implementation of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan ("ESOP"), annual audits, valuations, ESOP administration, and employee engagement. She also played a pivotal role in establishing the employee engagement committee and creating a board of directors, providing invaluable guidance on fiduciary matters and strategic planning. This company earned the prestigious Inc 5000 ranking as one of America's fastest-growing companies from 2018 to 2020.
Haydee founded her first company at 30, which was later sold to a $5B+ AUM financial services firm in 2017. At Dignitas, she advised a portfolio of over 100 business owners on mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, governance, and succession planning. She has advised executives of closely held enterprises ranging from startups to companies with over $150 million in revenue.
Haydee holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. She served as a Trustee for the Policemen's Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago ($5B in AUM), in this role she served as a fiduciary and voted on fund allocations, investment manager selection, and the organization’s budget. She currently sits on the boards of the National Center for Employee Ownership and the Illinois Employee Ownership Center. Haydee has lived in Spain and Argentina, speaks fluent Spanish, and has traveled to over 20 countries.
Christopher Silvetti
Christopher also regularly presents webinars on the topic of valuation.
Education:
Master of Business Administration, Finance, Roosevelt University
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Finance, Ferris State University