Mergers & Acquisitions and Wealth Transfer Conference
May 23, 2024
The Westin Denver Downtown
1672 Lawrence Street
Denver, CO 80204
Overview
Our purpose is to support and provide educational opportunities to entrepreneurs contemplating mergers and acquisitions as a pathway to growth or considering the transfer of their business to future generations or new ownership. As you navigate the journey from entrepreneurship to divestiture, the road ahead can seem daunting. That's why we've crafted an experience that merges the insights of M&A strategies with the wisdom of "Finish Strong," bolstered by a foundation of strategy, organization, and preparedness. At each conference, hosted in collaboration with experts across various cities, we uphold core values of integrity, quality, respect, recognition, and teamwork.
Why to Attend
M&A is and has been a viable option for growth and transition. In the past several years the world has been experiencing the largest transition of wealth it has ever seen. Ten trillion dollars will transfer over the next decade.
M&A and Wealth Transfer Conference is about the JOURNEY. If you have considered M&A as a growth strategy or as a possible exit then where do you begin? Who can you speak with?
We have brought together world class experts in the Entrepreneurial world to create the M&A movie which depicts what you don't want to happen, and the book Finish Strong which outlines the members of a team you may want to have. We spoke with thousands of business owners, CPA's and M&A advisors to aggregate this information.
We bundled this information together with Strategy, Organization and Preparedness and now are presenting this to you for your journey.
Come join us . . .
Schedule
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM:
11:00 - 11:45 PM:
11:45 AM - 1:00 PM:
1:00 - 1:30 PM:
1:30 - 2:30 PM:
Registration Open
Opening Ceremony
M&A Movie Premiere
Break
Breakout Sessions
2:45 - 3:30 PM:
3:45 - 4:45 PM:
Keynote Presentation
Breakout Sessions
M&A Advisor
M&A Attorney
Exit Planner/ Valuation
Strategy, Preparedness and Organization
CPA
Estate Planning
Financial Advisor
Strategy, Preparedness and Organization
4:45 - 5:45 PM:
Shark Tank: We will explore the difference in valuation between VC, PE and Strategic Buyer
2:30 - 2:45 PM:
Break
5:45 - 6:00 PM:
Closing Remarks
6:00 - 7:30 PM:
Networking
Register
MA The Movie
You are personally invited to an EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED ENGAGEMENT movie, 'M&A'. This documentary will provide an in-depth look at the state of mergers and acquisitions to help inform business owners of key considerations to keep in mind when planning to sell a business.
Baby Boomers own 83% of all businesses, worth a combined $10 trillion.* Despite this, only 20% of businesses ever sell. With those daunting figures in mind, 'M&A' follows the story of industry leaders looking to improve that statistic by assisting business owners on the road to selling their companies. 'M&A' is the first MPA-rated documentary on this topic. Don't miss your chance to attend and network with like-minded entrepreneurs, CPAs and tax attorneys.
PEOPLE ARE TALKING... HEAR WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY
Presenting Partners
Scott Bushkie
Managing Partner, Founder, CBI, M&AMI, CM&AP
Cornerstone Business Services
Scott Bushkie is the Managing Partner and Founder of Cornerstone Business Services. With more than 20 years in the M&A industry, Scott is a recognized leader in the field, providing exit strategies, sell- and buy-side transitions, along with valuation services in the lower middle market.
Over the years, Scott has successfully executed hundreds of transactions, domestically and internationally, working with private equity firms, family offices, and strategic buyers, both public and private. Scott has the trust and respect of CPA and financial advisor alliances, investment banks, and other professional service firms around the M&A marketplace.
He is a sought-after expert on the M&A market and has been quoted by the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Associated Press. He writes for regional business papers, including a monthly syndicated column for Gannett. As a keynote speaker, he has engaged audiences from national organizations to local trade groups and international delegations, with a key focus on helping professional advisors and their clients prepare for future business transitions.
Scott is the founder and past chair of the Wisconsin chapter of Midwest Business Brokers & Intermediaries (MBBI) association and also the past chair of the International Business Broker Association (IBBA), the largest association for business brokers and M&A professionals worldwide. In 2014, Scott became the youngest person ever awarded the IBBA prestigious fellow designation. The lifetime award recognizes industry expertise and significant contributions to the profession. In 2017, Scott was named a fellow of the M&A Source, once again the youngest recipient in the organization’s history. Scott is the current chair of M&A Source 2021 and also the current founding president for the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) Wisconsin chapter.
Among other industry accolades, Scott received the IBBA Closing of the Year award and the Chairman’s Circle Award for 2017. He’s been recognized with the MBBI Outstanding Leadership Award and Member of the Year and as the Wisconsin SBA Emerging Small Business Person of the Year.
In 2018, Scott launched the Cornerstone International Alliance, providing member firms with enhanced buyer reach, access to industry experts, resources, and structured best practice sharing. Operating with the philosophy that success breeds success, the alliance helps top tier lower middle market M&A firms create more value for their clients.
Scott holds the Mergers & Acquisitions Master Intermediary (M&AMI) designation. He is a Certified Business Intermediary and a registered representative of the broker dealer Ceiba Financial with the Series 62 & 63 securities licenses.
Thomas J. Handler
Partner
Handler Thayer, LLP
Mr. Handler is an advanced planning attorney focused on the analysis and structuring of sophisticated estate plans and family offices, and handling taxation and business planning issues for business owners, executives, professional athletes, celebrities and family offices. He has extensive experience in the analysis, design and implementation of domestic and international business planning, financial and estate planning, asset protection, family office compliance and advanced tax planning strategies. Mr. Handler is a managing partner in Handler Thayer, LLP, where he chairs the firm’s Advanced Planning & Family Office Practice Group.
His experience includes public accounting and corporate and foundation directorships. He is involved in Chicago Bar Association activities including its Taxation and Trust Law committees and has authored numerous professional articles. He has lectured extensively both nationally and internationally at wealth industry, professional and family office educational conferences. Mr. Handler created the Asset Protection ProfileTM and Stealth PrenupTM in addition to other proprietary strategies for affluent families and family offices.
Mr. Handler has been named one of the Top 15 Wealth Planners and one of the Top 100 Attorneys in the United States. He has also been named to Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World and Global Leading Lawyers. Illinois Leading Lawyers named Mr. Handler one of the Top Lawyers in the areas of Closely and Privately Held Business Law and Trust, Will and Estate Planning Law. He received the Family Wealth Alliance Leadership Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017 and the Private Asset Management Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. He was named 2017 Private Client Lawyer of the Year and in 2016 won the Excellence in Estate Planning Award. In 2015, he was named International Wealth Planner of the Year and Wealth Planning Gamechanger Lawyer of the Year in addition to receiving the Michael J. Brink Lifetime Achievement Award for Leadership and Service.
He earned a Bachelor of Sciences in Accountancy degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Juris Doctor degree, Law Review, from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Handler is a recognized thought leader in the advanced planning and family office marketplaces who has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Worth Magazine, Financial Times, Barron’s, Christian Science Monitor, Family Office Review, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Chicago Sun-Times, Structured Products Magazine, ABA Journal, Family Office Real Estate Magazine, National Law Journal, Crain’s Chicago Business, Derivatives Weekly, Family Wealth Report, Wealth Manager Magazine and other publications. He has appeared as an expert commentator on numerous radio
and television programs.
Darren Sugiyama
Founder
Lionsmark Capital
Darren Sugiyama was born and raised in Long Beach, California and received a Bachelor’s Degree from Loyola Marymount University where he was also the team captain and 2nd Team All-Conference baseball player. He continued his education and earned a Master’s Degree in Multicultural Education from the University Of Hawaii at Manoa.
After starting his career as a counselor in a gang prevention program in his home town of Long Beach, California, worked as a teacher in the public school system in Honolulu, Hawaii, and as a counselor in Halawa Prison and the Honolulu Detention Home.
Darren Sugiyama decided to follow his entrepreneurial dreams and started his own employee benefits firm in 2003 called Apex. During his first year in the insurance business, his personal income for the year was only $277 (he proudly displays his personal tax return on the wall of his office). But just seven years later, Apex was producing over $37 million in annual sales and was the #1 producing firm in the country for three different insurance carriers concurrently.
Since then, Darren expanded his insurance business portfolio, building a life insurance agency called DaVinci, which was responsible for 25% of all the life insurance policies sold for Pacific Life in Orange County, California in 2017. In 2018, DaVinci was responsible for 29% of the all the life insurance policies sold for Penn Mutual in Orange County, and in 2019, over 38%.
In addition, Darren founded Lionsmark Capital in 2016 which is now one of the most dominant premium financing intermediary firms in the life insurance industry, and has built a reputation of being the most mathematically transparent firm in the business with proprietary backtesting software that analyzes 121 different 40-year historical periods of S&P 500 performance.
Darren is also an internationally acclaimed 9-time author with published works being distributed in Australia, Brasil, Canada, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
As a nationally acclaimed motivational speaker, business coach, and mentor,Darren does both live and virtual motivational speaking events, as well as private coaching sessions, teaching others how he built his businesses using extremely unorthodox methods.
For more information about Darren Sugiyama, visit his personal website at www.DarrenSugiyama.com. For more information about Lionsmark Capital, visit www.LionsmarkCapital.com.
Location
The Westin Denver Downtown
1672 Lawrence Street
Denver, CO 80204
Live well a mile high at the newly renovated downtown hotel
The Westin's resident experts are here to help you connect with the authentic Denver experience, offering pathways to the places and people that will make your stay in the Mile High City unforgettable. Through their brand new multi-million dollar renovation, they have created an empowering and comfortable ambiance to help you reach your peak while experiencing all that Denver has to offer. Enjoy a plethora of nourishing meals in their trendy lounge, a comprehensive fitness center complete with premium Peloton equipment, and Heavenly beds for a divine night’s rest.