Three members of Verit Advisors will participate in the ESOP Association’s Las Vegas Technical Conference and Trade Show November 7 and 8. This is the largest ESOP conference in the world.

Mary Josephs, founder and CEO of Verit Advisors, will moderate a session on Friday, November 8, titled “How Does an ESOP Company Raise Capital?” This session will use case studies illustrating different ways an ESOP company may raise third party capital, while still preserving the tax-efficient ESOP structure, and also addressing the kinds of situations that are attractive to the various types of investors. Ms. Josephs is a nationally recognized leader with more than 28 years of experience with ESOPs as a specialized solution-oriented succession and liquidity transaction for middle market companies. She has advised, structured and closed more than 200 financings for middle market companies. Ms. Josephs has spoken at hundreds of national conferences and frequently writes articles about succession and liquidity alternatives for closely held businesses, including ESOPs, ESOP financing, ESOP M&A and other corporate finance solutions. She is on the Advisory Board of ESCA, a Lifetime Member of the Board of Governors of the ESOP Association and a member of the board of Spinnaker Coating.

Verit Advisors’ Technical Director Peter Abrahamson will participate on the “Strategic Alternatives for Partially-Owned ESOPs” panel. The panel will discuss ways to analyze what the optimum level of ESOP ownership is based on different situations. Mr. Abrahamson has more than 15 years of valuation and investment banking experience, specializing in the valuation of business enterprises and individual securities, structuring ESOP transactions, and executing public and private market capital raises. At Verit, Mr. Abrahamson leads the technical aspects of ESOP financial modeling, valuation, tax, accounting and human capital topics. He has analyzed and structured multiple large, complex multi-investor ESOP transactions across numerous industries. He serves on the ESOP Association’s valuation advisory committee and has spoken at numerous conferences regarding advanced ESOP valuation and transaction structuring topics.

“Current Financing Conditions” is the topic Neal Hawkins will moderate on Thursday, November 7. The session includes an update on financing markets, trends and current capital structures for different types of ESOP transactions. Mr. Hawkins joined Verit Advisors in 2011 as a vice president and has significant debt capital market and ESOP expertise. He works with private business owners on succession and transition alternatives which include the use of ESOPs, management buyouts, private equity transactions and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Verit, Mr. Hawkins was with Bank of America Merrill Lynch as the national ESOP Consultant in the ESOP Solutions Group. He advised business owners and management teams on implementing ESOPs. He was also responsible for providing capital to finance transactions for new and existing ESOP companies.

Kristin Ackerman, senior associate, is one of the founders of the ESOP Emerging Leaders group and Verit will be one of the sponsors of the Emerging Leaders reception at the conference.

About Verit Advisors

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.

About the ESOP Association

The ESOP Association, founded in 1978, is a national nonprofit membership organization, with 18 local chapters, serving approximately 2,500 employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) companies, professionals with a commitment to ESOPs, and companies considering the implementation of an ESOP. It is the only association devoted solely to ESOPs. It focuses on promoting and enhancing laws before Congress and regulatory agencies that govern ESOPs and providing its members with expert educational ESOP programming and information.