QUALIFICATIONS
Cheryl Kessler is an expert in business valuations and forensic accounting, specializing in valuation opinions for marital dissolutions, gift and estate tax purposes, partner buyouts, mergers & acquisitions, ESOPs and stock option plans (409a). For over 20 years, Ms. Kessler has helped closely-held companies 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. She prides herself on timely, thorough, and cost effective analysis. Ms. Kessler 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 and has been qualified as an expert in San Diego Superior Court.
ACCREDITATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS
- Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA), Business Valuation, American Society of Appraisers
- Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), CFA Institute
- Certified Bookkeeper
- Formerly held Series 7, 24, 63 NASD Licenses
EDUCATION
- Cornell University, B.S. - Electrical Engineering
- Loyola Marymount University, M.B.A. - Finance & Entrepreneurship
- Expert Witness Skills Workshop, offered by the Institute of Business Appraisers
- Principals of Business Valuation – BV 201, 202, 203, 204, offered by: American Society of Appraisers
- Cost of Capital course, offered by Center for Advanced Valuation Studies (CAVS)
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
- Past-President, San Diego Chapter of the American Society of Appraisers
- Past-President, Estate Planning Council of San Diego
- San Diego Family Law Bar Association
EXPERIENCE
Family Law experience includes:
- Business valuation
- Analysis of income available for support
- Analysis of underlying records to determine the “real income” of a business
- Financial analysis of complex, high income cases encompassing numerous entities
- Reconstructing incomplete records
- Analysis of Pereira/Van Camp allocation issues
- Moore/Marsden analysis for real property
Civil Litigation experience includes:
Business valuation
Economic damages/lost profits analysis
Bank statement analysis and other forensic accounting
Prior to CBIZ, Ms. Kessler was a Director at Vantage Point Advisors, Inc. for eight years performing similar work. Prior to Vantage Point Advisors, Inc., Ms. Kessler was a co-founder and CFO of a public company, Open Energy Corporation, a pioneer in building-integrated (BIPV) solar roofing products. As CFO, Ms. Kessler assisted with negotiations and legal documents to close on $20 million of convertible debentures. Ms. Kessler was in charge of writing and managing the annual Proxy filings; SB-2A registration statement filings; and 10K & 10Q filings.
Prior to Open Energy, Ms. Kessler spent two years with Brodshatzer, Wallace, Spoon & Yip performing valuations and income for support analysis for marital dissolutions. Previously, she worked with several CPA firms performing business valuations in the Denver, CO area. In addition, she spent three years as an investment banker with broker/dealers, specializing in micro-capitalization public offerings. She later headed up the equity research department for one of the broker/dealers, specializing in: ERP software companies, telecom devices, ISPs, and specialized hi-tech companies. Ms. Kessler began her career as a digital circuit designer for Xerox.
- CBIZ Brinig Taylor Zimmer. – Director – Business Valuations
- Vantage Point Advisors, Inc. – Director – Business Valuations
- CUSTOMatrix, Inc. – Principal - Business Valuations
- Open Energy Corporation - CFO, VP Financial Planning & Analysis
- Brodshatzer, Wallace, Spoon & Yip - Senior Manager - Business Valuations
- Ehrhardt Keefe Steiner & Hottman, CPA’s - Senior Manager - Business Valuations
- Clifton Gunderson, CPA’s – Business Valuations
- Houlihan Valuation Advisors – Business Valuations
- Xerox Corporation – Electrical Engineer