Verit Advisors Adds Senior Advisor Team
Verit Advisors, the Chicago based independent investment banking advisory firm, has added four Senior Advisors who will expand Verit’s current market presence both in Chicago and nationally.
The senior advisors include a former President and CFO from ESOP companies.
“I am excited to add four seasoned individuals who are very skilled and have diverse backgrounds and talents to enhance Verit’s team” said Mary Josephs, founder and CEO. “This also provides a presence for Verit in the Washington, D.C. and Huntsville, Alabama, areas.”
Cindy Flanders, one of the new senior advisors, said, “I’m extremely excited to be a part of the Verit team. I first met Mary Josephs, CEO, when we were both at Bank of America. She was impressive then and what she’s been able to build at Verit is best in class. I can’t wait to help them spread their story in the Mid-Atlantic region.”
Here are the four new senior advisors:
Joe Alexander spent 22 years in the U.S. Army and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. In 1992, Mr. Alexander joined Camber Corporations and after five years became executive vice president/COO. In 2003, Camber became a 100 percent ESOP-owned company. In 2008, Mr. Alexander oversaw the sale of Camber to a private equity company. That transaction created 60 millionaires within Camber attesting to the wealth generating power of ESOPs for a company’s employees. During the 12 years Mr. Alexander served as president, Camber grew from 450 employees with $61M in annual revenue to over 2,300 employees with $440 million in annual revenue in over 30 offices around the world. After 20 years with Camber Corporation, Mr. Alexander retired. He now operates Alexander Consulting, LLC in Huntsville.
Stan Slabas joined S&C Electric Company in Chicago, in 1972 and enjoyed a 40 year career there. He was S&C’s Senior Vice President and CFO for the last 20 years and was instrumental in resolving challenging ownership succession issues, culminating in the establishment of an ESOP in 2007. He concluded a secondary ESOP transaction in 2012 to bring the ESOP’s ownership of S&C to 100 percent, after which S&C elected to become an S-Corporation. Slabas is a CPA and recently retired from S&C Electric Company.
Cindy Flanders is the founder and CEO of Skipjack Partners LLC, which does business as Manage Fearlessly. Manage Fearlessly provides advice, training and resources for new and aspiring managers and entrepreneurs. Prior to founding Skipjack Partners, Ms. Flanders spent over 30 years with Bank of America and its predecessor organizations, where she held a series of positions of increasing responsibility. Most recently, she served as the global commercial banking executive for the Bank’s Mid-Atlantic Region. In that role, she was responsible for the delivery of a full array of financial services to small, middle market and micro-cap companies throughout the Mid Atlantic. Ms. Flanders is in the Washington, D.C. area.
Bob Barnett formed Wexford Capital Advisors, LLC in Chicago in early 2013 as an independent sponsor platform for principal investing. He is actively seeking to invest with partners in middle market industrial, consumer and financial services opportunities, including lightly stressed companies and family owned businesses with complex generational transfer or operating challenges. Mr. Barnett has extensive M&A and banking experience from TTK Partners, LLC, BMO, Bank One and National Bank of Detroit.
Verit Advisors is an independent investment banking advisory firm that unites sophisticated middle-market investment banking capabilities with a client-centric boutique, fluent in ESOPs, debt and equity capital markets, valuations and mergers and acquisitions. Integrity, teamwork, service and innovation are at the heart of the organization. Some recent transactions that Verit has completed have been for S&C Electric, Manson Construction Company and Dansko Shoes. Verit Advisors was founded in 2009.