2023 ACG Detroit | Congress Codifies M&A Broker Exemption: Clarity Brings New Opportunities

Kurt has a wealth of knowledge, experience, strategic vision, and top-tier relationships for advising multi-site retail healthcare groups. Kurt focuses his advisory primarily via three complimentary avenues:

(1) Strategic Growth Advisory – pre-sale advisory to better position founders’ equity value within their multi-site group over the next six months to three years,

(2) Sell-Side Advisory for $3M to $10M EBITDA – full-service go-to-market advisory to founder-owned groups seeking their first institutional capital event, and

(3) Board Advisory – independent Board Member advisory to CEOs and first institutional capital to progress from the founder’s 1st recap event to and through collective 2nd and 3rd recap events.

Kurt Harvey joined Caber Hill Advisors in 2019 as Managing Director on the firm’s healthcare team to lead M&A activities in the dental industry, providing strategic growth and sell-side advisory. He also founded a complimentary investment and advisory group H4V Enterprises, where he provides independent Board advisory and co-invests alongside founders, CEOs, and institutional capital.

Prior, Kurt led unprecedented growth at Great Expressions Dental Centers for eleven years, lastly as its Chief Development Officer. Kurt was integral in successfully transitioning the dental service organization from a family / founder environment with single digit EBITDA through three separate Private Equity events creating hundreds of millions in enterprise value. In his time there, the company achieved over 500% revenue growth, primarily through the acquisition and successful integration of over 220 practices via nearly fifty (50) transactions ranging from dozens of single site practices to several multi-site groups across 10 states. This experience positions Kurt as one of only a few professionals to accomplish such a feat for one dental group.

Prior, Kurt spent over a decade elevating within multiple Big 4 CPA firms. Kurt was a director of transaction services at KPMG, where he provided M&A advisory on small to mid-market transactions across multiple industries and borders.

In addition to his role at Caber Hill, Kurt serves on the Board of Oakpoint, a dental support organization. Kurt is a Crain’s Detroit Top 40 under 40 alumnus, a CPA in MI and CA, a member of the AICPA, the President and Board Member of ACG Detroit, past Chair of ACG Detroit’s Corporate Development Alliance Initiative, an Ironman triathlete, and Chair of the Board of the non-profit Transracial Journeys.

Ellen Clark is a Managing Director of PMCF and co-leads the firm’s Industrials team. She has over 27 years of transaction advisory experience, having advised public and private companies on mergers, acquisitions, corporate carve-outs and divestitures, capital raising, financial advisory, and cross-border transactions. Her clients span across various industries, including automotive, industrial, specialty chemical, software, and business services. In total, Ellen has completed more than 100 transactions totaling more than $4.8 billion in value during her investment banking career.

Ellen was previously a Managing Director and one of the founding partners of Greenwich Capital Group. Here she focused on mergers & acquisitions, capital raising, and financial advisory. Prior to Greenwich Capital Group, Ellen worked at Deloitte Corporate Finance, where she led the US Automotive group, was a leader of the Global Automotive team, and was the lead Managing Director of the Detroit office. She has authored numerous automotive M&A industry publications and a frequent speaker at various industry events. Ellen currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Department of Finance at the Mike Ilitch School of Business at Wayne State University.

Ellen earned a BA with an emphasis in economics and management from Albion College and recently completed Deloitte’s Board Ready Women Program. She is a licensed securities representative holding her Series 7, 24, and 63 registrations.

Shane B. Hansen is a partner and member of the Funds and Investment Services Practice in the law firm of Warner Norcross & Judd LLP. His 40-year law practice concentrates on financial services regulation, primarily federal and state securities and banking laws and FINRA regulation of member broker-dealers and their registered professionals. He advises broker-dealers, M&A advisors and business brokers (M&A brokers), investment advisers, private fund advisers, banks, and family offices about business, corporate, contract, compliance, and regulatory matters.

Shane serves as the lead securities counsel for the Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors (AM&AA), International Business Brokers Association (IBBA), M&A Source, and Business Intermediary Education Fund (BIEF) and was the architect and principal draftsman of the new federal M&A brokers exemption from broker-dealer registration. This M&A brokers registration exemption was added to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by Congress and signed by President Biden into federal law on December 29, 2022, effective on March 29, 2023.

Todd Sullivan is a seasoned tech entrepreneur who has built and sold 4 businesses. For the past 5 years, Mr. Sullivan has been helping his fellow founders and business owners sell their businesses while educating them about the M&A process through his latest venture, Exitwise.com.

At Exitwise, Todd partners with trusted business advisors to help monetize their business owner networks by including these advisors on M&A teams for their referred clients who are considering an exit at Exitwise.com/refer.

Todd then helps these business owners hire and manage the best team of M&A experts from the company’s global network of industry specialized, investment bankers, M&A attorneys, tax accountants and other M&A professionals in more than 200 industries to minimize the risk of transaction failure and to maximize the sale of each business.

Mr. Sullivan is also the host of the Cashing Out podcast, where he interviews guests who have built and sold companies to share M&A stories and offer advice around selling a company to fellow business owners who may be looking to sell some day. https://cashingout.exitwise.com/

Mr. Sullivan earned his BA from Yale University and his MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business where he was selected as MBA Entrepreneur of the Year.

“Over last 20 years, I have thoroughly enjoyed my entrepreneurial journey. I have learned how to launch, fund, grow and sell businesses. Today I have the good fortune of sharing my insights and experience with my fellow founders through Exitwise.com to help each of them create the exits they and their families deserve.”