Our Professionals
Our professionals have impressive credentials and are dedicated full time to the practice of business valuation. All of our professionals have at least 10 years of business appraisal experience and have earned advanced finance degrees, are Chartered Financial Analysts or have earned business valuation designations from the following professional societies: National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts, American Society of Appraisers, and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
All of our engagements are performed and managed by at least one of the following professionals:
Richard Reece, BA, MSA
Principal
Mr. Reece founded Appraisers LLC in 1972 and is a certified appraiser, educator, author and industry leader. Richard has performed business valuations for many purposes, including transactions, limited partnerships, purchase price allocations, gift and estate tax planning, ESOPs and litigation. He has also testified as an expert witness in depositions and trials. Richard formerly taught at the American Institute of Business and the University of Miami, winning numerous awards (‘Best Educational Program of the Year’ and ‘Educator of the Year’ by REEA, an international educators association) for his work in the appraisal education field throughout the USA, Russia and China. He has also written a textbook, Fundamentals of Business Appraisal, published by the Lincoln Graduate Center. Mr. Reece is a Master Senior Appraiser, Board Certified in Litigation Support, and Board Certified in Business Appraisal. Mr. Reece is a former National President of the National Association of Master Appraisers (NAMA, 1998-1999) and has served on the Appraisal Foundation Advisory Council (Washington D.C.) where he was a Chairman of the Emerging Issues Committee, and was a Trustee of the Appraisal Foundation (2001-2004). He also holds membership in the American Society of Appraisers, the Institute of Business Appraisers, the Accredited Appraisal Review Council, the Academy of Professional Consultants & Advisors, and the Appraisal Institute. He received a BA from Parson College and Advanced Study at the University of Iowa.
Other Senior Professionals
Hans Schroeder, SB, SM, ASA
Hans has been valuing closely held businesses nationwide since 1987 and has considerable experience in valuing high-tech business, technology and intellectual property. He is qualified as an expert witness in Superior Court in California. He has taught courses in business valuation, financial analysis, and computer spreadsheet applications for the U.C. Berkeley Extension and the California Society of CPAs and has led valuation seminars for numerous organizations, including the Internal Revenue Service. He has an SB from MIT and an SM in Quantitative Methods from the Sloan School of Industrial Management at MIT, and is an Accredited Senior Appraiser with the American Society of Appraisers.
Patrick O’Connell, CPA, ASA, ABV, CVA and CFE
Patrick has close to 25 years of business valuation and appraisal experience working with closely held businesses, professional service entities, and high net worth individuals. His appraisal experience includes acquisitions, contract and shareholder disputes, divorce, built-in gain calculations, and estate and gift matters. His industry exposure includes medical practices, personnel services, retail, wholesale distribution, printing, construction, motor sports, insurance and technology consulting services. Patrick also has experience in the creation of accounting systems, design and implementation of financial reporting packages, on-site accounting assistance and personnel training, preparation of financial statements (audit, review, compilation), litigation support services and business plans. His tax experience includes the preparation and review of corporate partnership and individual income tax returns, and tax audit resolution with the Internal Revenue Service and state taxing authorities.
Patrick is a Certified Public Accountant, an Accredited Senior Appraiser with the American Society of Appraisers and a Certified Fraud Examiner. Peter also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Arizona State University
Stephen Cheng, Ph.D., CFA
Dr. Cheng has participated in several hundred business valuations of both private and public companies in a variety of industries for over 20 years. Stephen specializes in high-tech companies and Chinese-owned businesses. He speaks Mandarin and two Chinese dialects (Shanghai and Cantonese), as well as French. He has published articles in major Chinese magazines and in recent years, has traveled often to China, where he has established good connections with various levels of business and government. He is a founder and Co-President of the US/China Appraisal Education Foundation Exchange, Inc., a non-profit corporation, which conducted a seminar in Shanghai in conjunction with the China Appraisal Society. The week-long seminar was attended by 150 professionals from Chinese industry and government.
Stephen Cheng received his Ph.D. from Harvard specializing in comparative literature. He has also achieved the professional designation of Certified Financial Analyst (CFA), and is a member of the CFA Institute, San Francisco Chapter. He is also a member of the Harvard Club of San Francisco.
