About

Brandon began his valuation career in 2010 after joining AR International, which provides equipment and inventory valuations. He is an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) in the Machinery & Technical Specialties discipline and in the Business Valuation discipline. In 2014 he founded Steele Advisory Group which provides business valuation and consulting services for clients which include investors, private companies, CPA’s, attorneys, venture capital/private equity, lending institutions and financial planners/wealth managers.

I specialize in valuing entire businesses and business interests for Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), IRS tax compliance, financial reporting, and transactional purposes. Business interests include common & preferred stock, options & warrants, convertible & regular debt, limited partnership & LLC interests, and unique forms of equity such as phantom stock, stock appreciation rights, royalties, charitable remainder trust income interests, and fractional interests in real estate. I also value intangible assets acquired in a business merger or acquisition.

Cheryl Kessler is a Director in CBIZ’s Forensic Consulting Group. She specializes in valuation opinions for marital dissolutions, gift and estate tax purposes, partner buyouts, and mergers & acquisitions. For over 25 years, Ms. Kessler has helped closely-held companies large and small, in many industries, determine the value of their equity.

Ms. Kessler presents a credible, defensible and easy to understand analysis of financial and complex valuation issues in concise reports and/or via expert testimony. Cheryl has the experience, knowledge and expertise to perform business valuations, income for support analysis and forensic accounting for family law and civil litigation cases. She has significant experience as a §730 neutral expert, §639 Special Master, and a CA Corp Code Section 2000 expert. In addition, she has been qualified as an expert in San Diego and El Centro Superior Courts.

She is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University with a Masters of Business Administration (Finance and Entrepreneurship) and a graduate of Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science Electrical Engineering.

CREDENTIALS:

• Accredited Senior Appraiser, Business Valuations (ASA – 2001)
• Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA)
• Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA – 2001)
• Formerly held Series 7, 24, 63 NASD Licenses

Kathleen Turner is an Accredited Senior Appraiser from the American Society of Appraisers and a Certified Graduate Gemologist from the Gemological Institute of America with over 20 years of experience in the jewelry industry. She is the founder and owner of Cal Coast Jewelry Appraisers Inc., an independent gemological laboratory and mobile appraisal service in North County, San Diego, downtown Carlsbad Village. Cal Coast Jewelry Appraisers features a team of qualified jewelry appraisers who adhere to the current Uniform Standards for Professional Appraisal Practices (USPAP). We value education and require our team to maintain a minimum of 20 accredited hours of continued education every five years. Her company specializes in jewelry and watch appraisals for insurance, estate tax, charitable donation, equitable distribution, liquidation, expert witness, and litigation support.

Eric Engstrom is a Certified General Appraiser licensed in the State of California. Rick started his real property appraisal career in 1976 when he started working for Hemet Federal Savings in Riverside County. He moved to San Diego with his wife and started working for Home Savings and on to Great Western Savings Bank, where he was a Regional Manager overseeing the Major Loan Department with a staff valuing commercial and industrial properties in California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, and Florida. Upon retiring from the bank, he has been an independent fee appraiser with a focus on estate, eminent domain, and litigation involving commercial, industrial, residential and land. Rick graduated from California State University in San Bernardino and has completed post-graduate studies at University of California, San Diego. Rick Ehas the ASA designation from the American Society of Appraisers along with the SR/WA designation from the International Right of Way Association. Some of the more interesting properties that Rick has appraised is the “World’s Largest Thermometer” in Baker California, The House of Hospitality in Balboa Park, the Encinitas Boat Houses and many historical homes and estates. Rick is an Air Force Veteran and is married to Barbara Engstrom, also a general appraiser. They reside in El Cajon, California.

Garrett R. Goldfield is an Accredited Senior Appraiser in Fine Art and Residential Contents from the American Society of Appraisers serving the San Diego and Los Angeles regions for over 25 years. He is one of only a few appraisers with this double accreditation from ASA in California. Garrett received his B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his Certificate in Appraisal Studies of Fine and Decorative Arts from the University of California, Irvine. Garrett was raised in the professional appraisal field by mother, Betty Goldfield who was also an Accredited Senior Appraiser and GIA Gemologist and by his father and uncle who operated a Fine Art Gallery in Beverly Hills for over 30 years.

Garrett has served as president of the San Diego Chapter of the American Society of Appraisers and supported the chapter in other roles as well. He previously worked at Bonham’s Auction House in Los Angeles, founded Heritage Antiques in San Diego and is the current president and founding member of The Art Services Network. Garrett has written many articles on collecting and art markets and he is currently on a team that is creating a web-based appraisal inventory and report tool to bring uniformity and consistency to the appraisal field.

Garrett has had the opportunity to provide appraisals for some of the most notable musicians, celebrities, politicians and members of the Fortune 500. He serves as an expert witness to the legal system and appraises for several San Diego area museums and charitable organizations. Goldfield Appraisals can be contacted through their website at: www.GoldfieldAppraisals.com, email: GoldfieldAppraisals@gmail.com or at (760) 487-1119.

Seonaid (“Shona”) McArthur is a certified appraiser of Fine Art specializing in Contemporary, American, and European Art, including painting, sculpture, prints, photography and some decorative arts. Since 2013, she has brought her passion for research, knowledge, and love of art from her years of working as a curator and educator in some of the world’s leading art museums including the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Musée d’Orsay and Louvre Museums, in Paris. Appraisals can range from a verbal approximation of value to a report that meets the requirements for estate settlement and planning, charitable donation, or insurance of fine art. Seonaid can assist with the sale of your art through her contacts with America’s finest auction houses. Accredited by the American Society of Appraisers, she is fully trained in the appraisal process and the Uniform Standards of Appraisal Practice (USPAP). Seonaid has a Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.) from the University of Southern California, and Masters of Art in Art History (M.A.) from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She lives and works in La Jolla and Southern California.

Tim McDonald is the President of Protelum Advisors, Inc. a firm specializing in Mergers & Acquisitions, Business Valuation, and Exit Planning services.

For over 25 years Tim has advised thousands of business owners throughout the United States and Europe on ownership transitions, valuation and value creation and recapitalizations. Protelum Advisors represents over $150 billion in investment capital from many of the world’s largest and most successful private equity, family offices and strategic companies.

Prior to founding Protelum Advisors, Tim was a managing director with BDM Technologies, a billion-dollar management consulting firm serving the Fortune 500 where he gained experience solving complex business issues within a large cross section of business types. Tim also served as the Operations Manager of a middle-market US based manufacturer with global distribution.
Mr. McDonald earned his master’s degree in Corporate Finance from Walsh College in Troy, Michigan, is a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) and is the founding member of the board of directors of the San Diego CEPA Chapter. He holds the designation of Merger & Acquisition Master Intermediary (M&AMI) and is an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) from the American Society of Appraisers.

Gary Raichart is a managing director in the Strategic Value Advisory practice at Kroll (formerly Duff & Phelps), based out of San Diego. He has over 15 years of consulting experience focusing on the strategic analysis of value, risk and uncertainty. He has extensive experience valuing assets and liabilities, business opportunities, contractual obligations, and transactions that involve substantial uncertainty, including early-stage intellectual property (IP), patent portfolios, guarantees, warranty obligations, employee stock options, earn-outs, and other contingent assets and liabilities for strategic decision-making, collateral, financial reporting and tax purposes. Gary served as a subject matter expert on The Appraisal Foundations’ Working Group on the valuation of contingent consideration. Gary has also developed financial projections for new product launch decisions, strategy evaluation, IP strategy analysis, and R&D investment prioritization, and vetted financial projections for both buy-side and sell-side commercial due diligence. Gary led the development of the model used to project future professional golfers’ performance and endorsements value as part of Kroll’s Future Career Value Study. Gary received an MS in management science and engineering and a BS in mathematical and computational science with honors and distinction from Stanford University.