ACG San Diego VIRTUAL BrownBag | The Emotions of Selling a Business

A specialist in family dynamics, Emily focuses on the emotional impact of wealth on estate and financial planning. Backed by her extensive experience, she fosters better communication and leadership skills to help multigenerational families successfully transition their businesses, assets and values. Her approach stems from an acute awareness of the importance of healthy communication in families. Emily earned her B.A. in child development from the University of Pennsylvania, and M.S. in social work, with an emphasis on marital and family therapy, from the University of Texas at Arlington. Emily is a frequent presenter at conferences and trains advisors on family dynamics, family education, and the complexities of family business transitions. Emily is the coauthor of “Estate Planning for the Blended Family,” “Beginner’s Guide to Purposeful Prenups” and other publications. She was the founder of blended-families.com, which provides resources and strategies to help stepfamilies overcome their challenges. She has appeared on CNN and The Today Show, has been published in The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, as well as in other media.

With a background in finance and accounting, Shane was CEO and co-founder of Anderson Audio Visual, an audio visual systems integration company headquartered in southern California. Anderson had 4 locations in California and 1 in Texas, 190 employees and $65m in revenues in 2016. Anderson Audio Visual was sold to a private equity company in November of 2016. Shane is now CEO and co-founder of Sparke Consulting. Sparke provides accounting, HR and fractional CFO support services to small and medium sized businesses. He is also a mentor for the Chairmen’s Roundtable. Shane has a Diploma in Business from Manawatu Polytechnic in Palmerston North, New Zealand. He is married to Raquel and a father of 3 girls. In his spare time he is an avid photographer and videographer.

Michel started his career in a family business with his immigrant parents and brothers in Montreal, Canada. Over the next forty-plus years, his business experience became further grounded in many facets of executive management, including roles as President & CEO, CFO, COO, Attorney, and CPA with private and public companies. In addition to having been in private practice working with couples in La Jolla, California, his clinical experience has included working as a psychotherapist with both the Departments of Psychiatry at UCSD and at the VA, San Diego. Recently, he has been applying all of the above experiences to advise private businesses, partnerships, families, and boards. His emphasis is on the resolution of conflict among and between business owners, particularly where there is a convergence of strong negative emotions and significant economic stakes. Bet the company stuff. Michel has a JD from the USD Schoool of Law, a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy from the USD School of Leadership and Education Sciences, a Diploma in Public Accounting from McGill University School of Graduate Studies, and a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Finance from the McGill University School of Management. Michel is licensed in California as a CPA (inactive), an attorney (inactive), and a Marriage and Family Therapist.

Leo Klijn is an investment banker focused on privately held businesses with revenues of $10m to $100m-up. He works with CEOs and owners to help them sell their business and/or get them to where they can successfully sell it. His experience as a deal maker, corporate executive in retail/CPG and co-founder of a software company listed on the NASDAQ SmallCap Market, provides him with a unique perspective to help his clients navigate the complexities of building, buying, selling and exiting a business. Leo's mantra is to "Help entrepreneurs finish strong." Leo received his MBA from ESCP-Europe, Paris, London, Berlin and his Undergraduate from Nijenrode, the Netherlands ' School of Business. He holds securities licenses 62, 63 and 79 as well as a broker’s license from the California DRE.