Forensic and Valuation Services Conference

Rod is a Business Valuation Expert and a Practice Development Coach. He is the founder of Burkert Valuation Advisors, where he has been practicing solo since July 2000. His traditional practice assists individuals, businesses, and attorneys determine or resolve questions of value. He also coaches overwhelmed BVFLS professionals to find more "margin" in their practices and their lives so that they can create the experiences that matter most to them. And by leveraging social media and his professional network, Rod has built a mobile consulting practice that allows him to travel full-time throughout the United States and Canada in an RV with his wife and their two dogs. He was named a "Pioneer of the Profession," as part of the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts' Industry Titans awards at their June 2016 Annual Conference.

Jarrod is a senior manager in healthcare valuation at HORNE. He has performed business and intangible asset valuation/consulting services within the healthcare industry for over five years, including hospitals, ASCs, physician practices, ACOs, pharmacies, imaging centers, dentistry practices, physical therapy clinics, department carve-outs, mobile lithotripsy providers, sleep centers, ambulance companies, home health & hospice, pathology labs, dialysis centers, etc.

He is also experienced in valuing healthcare-specific intangible assets such as certificates of need, bed licenses, workforce-in-place, medical records, tradenames and other related intellectual property, etc. He is a CFA® charterholder, Accredited in Business Valuation, an Accredited Senior Appraiser (Business Valuation) and a Certified Valuation Analyst.

Robert Vance has practiced as a CPA for 39 years and today is a full-time forensic CPA and fo-rensic economist concentrating his practice on business valuation, divorce litigation support, commercial lost profits and personal injury economic damage calculations, forensic investigations and expert witness testimony. He is the principal of Forensic & Valuation Services, PLC with offices in Lenoir City and Memphis, Tennessee.

He has qualified as an expert and testified in 177 trials and hearings, 33 with a jury, in 66 differ-ent courts, testified in 142 depositions and has been appointed by judges as a Special Master 5 times. Additionally, Rob’s testimony has been referenced in over 30 Tennessee appellate cases. He is a frequent speaker to attorney and forensic CPA groups both locally and nationally.

Rob was appointed by the Governor of Tennessee in 2021 as a member of the Tennessee State Board of Accountancy and was reappointed in 2024. He is a Past-President of the Memphis Chapter of the Tennessee Society of CPAs (TSCPA) and is a past-chairman of the Forensic & Valuation Services Conference Planning Committee of the TSCPA. He has served as an officer on several non-profit Boards including the Boys and Girls Clubs and The Phoenix Club of Memphis.

Joshua Hedrick is a member in Kraft Analytics, LLC, an affiliate of KraftCPAs, PLLC that focuses on valuation, forensics, and transaction advisory services. For nearly two decades, Josh has advised business owners, executives, investors, and attorneys on issues related to valuation, cash flow management, compensation systems, financial strategy, and economic damages. Prior to joining Kraft in 2009, Josh worked in the valuation, forensics, and transaction advisory group of a large North Carolina-based accounting firm. He started his professional career as lender and licensed financial advisor with Wachovia Bank.

Josh's practice focuses on measuring, evaluating, and communicating economic value. His valuations - which include appraisals of business enterprises, complex equity interests, debt instruments, intellectual property, and other intangible assets - are relied upon for investment, lending, managerial planning, compliance, accounting, tax, marital dissolution, restructuring, and litigation purposes.

Litigation support and forensic services include financial expert witness services in transaction, shareholder, and business disputes, marital dissolutions, and white-collar criminal matters. His reports and testimony have been relied upon in settlement negotiations, mediations, arbitrations, and trials.

Buy and sell-side transaction advisory and due diligence services include transaction feasibility analysis, fairness opinions, valuation and deal structuring, quality of earnings reports, working capital analysis, purchase price allocations, and post transaction cash flow projections. Josh's clients cover a broad spectrum of investor types and industries - ranging from venture capital and angels investing in pre-revenue tech start-ups to synergistic buyers acquiring late round healthcare companies to cautious first-time buyers acquiring single location retail businesses to the partners of service companies establishing buy/sell agreements.

Josh is frequently featured at corporate and legal industry events as a guest speaker on topics related to valuation, exit planning, mergers and acquisitions, and economic damages.

Josh manages a team of credentialed and experienced professionals who support and enhance his practice.

Brent A. McDade is a director of Willamette Management Associates. His practice includes business valuation, litigation support, and transaction advisory services.

Brent has performed the following types of valuation and economic analyses: business and succession planning valuations, acquisition purchase price allocation valuations, asset impairment analyses, restricted stock valuations, blockage discount analyses, reasonableness of compensation analyses, restructuring and reorganization analyses, transfer price analyses, merger and acquisition valuations, fairness opinions, economic damages analyses, income-producing property valuations, phantom stock and employee incentive plan valuations, and employee stock ownership plan ("ESOP") employer stock valuations.

He has prepared these valuation and economic analyses for the following purposes: tax planning and compliance (income, gift, and estate), forensic analysis and dispute resolution, financial reporting, martial dissolution, and transaction planning (mergers and acquisitions). Brent has valued the following types of business entities, securities, and assets: contractual rights, contingent consideration, close corporations, close corporation fractional ownership interests, public corporations, intangible assets (including intellectual property), general and limited partnership interests, limited liability company interests, restricted equity and debt securities, preferred stock, proprietorships, options and warrants, and fractional interests in real estate.

He has performed valuation or arm’s-length royalty rate/transfer price analyses related to the following types of intangible assets: customer contracts, customer lists and customer relationships, employment contracts, going-concern value, goodwill, licenses, noncompete covenants, patent applications, patents, procedural manuals, trade names, trademarks, trained and assembled workforces, and training manuals and documentation.

Brent has performed business valuations, economic analyses, and/or financial advisory services for clients in the following industries, among others: alcoholic beverage manufacturing and distribution, apparel, automotive, aviation, building materials, carpet and flooring, chemicals, computers and electronic products, construction, contractors, cybersecurity, distribution, entertainment and sports, fabricated metal products, finance, government contracting, heavy construction, hospitality, insurance, Internet service providers, investment, leisure, manufacturing, natural resources, oil and gas, professional services, real estate, rental and leasing, retail, securities, security, textiles, transportation and trucking, warehousing, and wood product manufacturing.

He has served as an expert witness in disputes regarding business valuation and economic damages, particularly lost profits and lost business value, in state and federal courts. He has also been selected as the third appraiser to resolve differences of opinion between appraisers in buy-sell agreement disputes.

Shannon is a Director at Elliott Davis. She specializes in the areas of forensic accounting, business valuation, and litigation support services. She provides consulting expert and expert witness services in marital dissolution (divorce) and commercial litigation matters. Her business valuation experience encompasses a broad range of companies and industries, and has been used in litigation, merger and acquisition transactions, healthcare regulatory settings, financial statement preparation, succession and estate planning, gift tax returns, and shareholder buy-in/buy-out transactions. Shannon recently served in a national professional leadership role related to forensic and litigation services.

As a certified public accountant since 1993, Shannon has spent the last 30 years working with small businesses and their owners, with the last 18 devoted to forensic and valuation services.

Wynne Baker is a seasoned financial advisory executive with over 15 years of leadership in banking risk management, regulatory strategy, and client advisory. With a career spanning decades, including key roles at Ernst & Ernst, Martha White Foods, Kraft CPAs, and Saltmarsh, Cleaveland & Gund, he has guided financial institutions through complex regulatory landscapes, M&A readiness, and enterprise-wide stress testing. A nationally recognized thought leader and frequent speaker at industry conferences, Wynne has served on numerous boards and committees, including the AICPA and Tennessee Society of CPAs. He holds multiple certifications, including CPA, Chartered Bank Auditor, and Certified Financial Services Auditor, and is known for his strategic foresight, technical expertise, and relationship-first leadership.

Matt is a senior manager at Kraft Analytics, LLC, with a specialization in fraud and forensic analysis, transaction advisory, litigation services, and business valuations. He serves clients across various industries including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, financial services, manufacturing, professional services, entertainment, transportation, software, life sciences, retail, construction, distribution, and real estate.

As a leader in the firm's AI adaptation efforts, Matt tests products and integrates AI into practice. He has also developed and delivered training on the use of AI within both the litigation services sector and the accounting profession generally.

Matt possesses extensive forensic experience, having conducted internal investigations into financial irregularities and provided forensic services for both civil and criminal cases. His expertise encompasses handling Ponzi schemes, financial statement manipulation, check kiting, asset misappropriation, infringement claims, fraudulent disbursements, and wire fraud.

In the realm of valuation services, Matt has performed business valuations, assessed equity interests, debt instruments, intellectual property (patents, trademarks, copyrights), non-compete agreements, management agreements, and customer contracts. He is skilled in modeling complex equity structures, conducting waterfall analysis, and utilizing Monte Carlo simulations.

Matt's transaction advisory experience includes valuations, fairness opinions, purchase price allocations, due diligence (buy-side and sell-side), and transaction structuring for acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures, divestitures, equity investments, lending transactions, and generational transfers. Additionally, he provides management consulting during acquisition phases, conducts industry and competitive analyses, identifies business strategies, performs compensation studies, and develops capital project analyses.

Prior to joining Kraft Analytics, Matt practiced law in Tennessee, providing services extensively in mergers and acquisitions, tax, contracts, and commercial litigation.

Jeff Hollingsworth recently retired after serving 16 years as a Circuit Court Judge of the 11th Judicial District (Hamilton County) Tennessee. In Circuit Court he presided over all types of civil matters, including personal injury, medical malpractice, business and contract disputes and family law cases, including divorce and child custody.

Prior to being elected judge, Jeff was a partner in the Chattanooga law firm of Chambliss, Bahner and Stophel, where he was head of the litigation section. His experience includes numerous jury trials in product liability, contract and personal injury matters. He was AV rated by Martindale Hubbel and certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and the Tennessee Supreme Court Commission on Specialization. He was also listed as a Rule 31 Civil Mediator by the Tennessee Supreme Court and is in the process of being recertified.

Jeff is a graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, which he attended on a football scholarship. He received his J.D. from Louisiana State University. Jeff is a Fellow of the Chattanooga and Tennessee Bar Foundations, a member of the Brock Cooper Inns of Court, and served as chair of the Public Confidence Committee of the Tennessee Judicial Conference. He served on the board of Hope for the Inner City and is currently active with Kiwanis of Chattanooga and First Things First's Dads Making a Difference program. He is an Elder and Trustee at Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church.

James G. Martin, III joined Schell & Oglesby after serving two terms as a Circuit Court Judge for the 21st Judicial District in Williamson County, Tennessee. Jim is Of Counsel with the firm and brings with him extraordinary experience and insight from both his sixteen years on the bench and as well as his 35 years in private practice.

Prior to taking the bench, Jim graduated with Honors from Vanderbilt University in 1971 after a distinguished undergraduate career and service in the United States Army. Jim then practiced law in Middle Tennessee from 1974 to 2008, primarily focusing on civil litigation with an emphasis on family law.

In addition to his private practice, Jim served as City Attorney for the City of Franklin for over a decade. He also represented the interests of Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation throughout Williamson County.

While sitting as judge in Williamson County, Jim continued to serve his community through work on several task forces with the Bar Association and the State of Tennessee. Notably, Jim worked to revise the statutes and rules which govern the practice marriage and family law. Jim also served as presiding judge for the 21st Judicial District Recovery Court from 2014-2022.

Since returning to private practice, James G. Martin, III has resumed his focus on general civil and family law matters and has established a strong mediation practice as a Licensed Rule 31 Mediator. With his unparalleled experience in the fields of civil and domestic litigation as both a practitioner and judge, Jim is an invaluable asset to the firm and its clientele.

Kurt Myers concentrates his practice on business valuation services. In addition to being a CPA, he also holds the designation of Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). He also holds the designation of Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) with the American Society of Appraisers, Certified Business Appraiser (CBA) with the Institute of Business Appraisers, Inc. and Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) with the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts. Kurt is licensed as a CPA in Tennessee and Kentucky.

With over 32 years of public accounting experience, Kurt has been involved in over 950 appraisals of various types of closely held businesses since 1994. Appraisal clients include businesses in industries such as health care, entertainment, manufacturing, wholesale and retail distributors, and service industry businesses. Appraisal services have been performed for the following types of engagements:

Mergers and Acquisitions Divorce Litigation – Marital Property Settlement Estate Planning and Estate Tax Documentation Gift Tax Substantiation Succession Planning

Kurt attended Belmont University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in accountancy. He served as a staff auditor for the State of Tennessee, Comptroller of the Treasury, and Division of State Audit and in 1988 joined Carter, Young, Lankford, & Roach, P.C. He joined Horne CPA Group in 2001 when it merged with Carter, Young, Lankford, and Roach, P.C. In October 2004, he started his own accounting and valuation firm – Myers Valuation Associates, PLLC.

Dr. Chris Kuehl is a Managing Director of Armada Corporate Intelligence. He provides forecasts and strategic guidance for a wide variety of corporate clients around the world. He is the chief economist for several national and international organizations, Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, National Association of Credit Management, Finance, Credit and International Business and the Business Information Industry Association. He is also the economic analyst for several state accounting societies – Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Kansas.

Prior to starting Armada in 1999 he was a professor of economics and finance for 15 years – teaching in the US, Hungary, Russia, Estonia, Singapore and Taiwan. He holds advanced degrees in economics, Soviet studies and East Asian studies.

Chris is the author of Business Intelligence Briefs and Executive Intelligence Briefs - both publications from Armada. He is also responsible for the Credit Manager's Index from NACM and Fabrinomics from the FMA.