Ownership Transitions for the Private Business Owner

Join PNC’s Joe Fahey, CFA, Sr. VP & National Director, Business Succession Planning, Bill Watkins, Managing Director, Harris Williams, Julie Williams, Managing Director & National Director for PNC’s ESOP Solutions, Mark Buxton, Sr. VP & Regional Director for PNC’s Wealth Strategy, and April Hall, Senior Editor, Family Business Magazine, as they provide objective advice and a comprehensive process to evaluate your options.

If you have ever considered or are now considering an ownership transition of your business, it is important to be able to evaluate the pros, cons and financial implications of any, or all, of your transition options. This webinar takes a deeper dive into ownership transition as a follow-up to Strategic Positioning for the Private Business Owner, which explored five key questions on how and when a business transition should be considered, and introduced PNC’s proprietary model to help business owners position their company and personal planning.

Join our panel of experienced professionals who will help you evaluate which option may be the best fit for you and your business, whether it’s keeping the business within the family, selling to shareholders or key management, selling to employees through an ESOP, or going public.

Moderating the panel is PNC’s Joe Fahey, CFA, Sr. VP & National Director, Business Succession Planning. He is joined by Bill Watkins, Managing Director, Harris Williams, Julie Williams, Managing Director & National Director for PNC’s ESOP Solutions, Mark Buxton, Sr. VP & Regional Director for PNC’s Wealth Strategy, and April Hall, Senior Editor, Family Business Magazine, as they provide objective advice and a comprehensive process to evaluate your options.

Joe Fahey, CFA, CEPA

National Director, Business Succession Planning, PNC

Joe Fahey leads the effort to serve PNC’s business owner clients, helping them make one of the most important financial decisions of their life – how and when to transition their businesses through Keep, Sell or ESOP.

He manages a team of approximately 30 private business strategists who facilitate a deep and dynamic discovery process to achieve a mutual understanding of a client's family, business and financial goals. From the discovery, the team identifies opportunities to enhance value for and help maximize benefits to shareholders and stakeholders.

Fahey has served as a financial advisor to owners of privately-held and family-controlled businesses for more than three decades. He has brought to PNC tools and processes that integrate and align the strategic plans of businesses and their shareholders.

He earned a bachelor of science in finance from the University of Maryland, a master's degree in finance from George Washington University and a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation from the CFA Institute.

Fahey has been a frequent guest speaker at various business transition, investment, estate planning conferences and family business forums. He has also served as a faculty member for the American Banking Association and Private Wealth Management Academy, teaching advanced financial planning for business owners. In addition, he has developed several internal training programs supporting business succession planning.

Julie Williams

Executive Vice President, ESOP Solutions, PNC

Julie Williams has 20 years of experience advising companies and business owners on various aspects of ESOP transactions. Clients and prospects of PNC leverage her knowledge and experience as they evaluate the benefits and considerations of using an ESOP as an ownership transition and liquidity solution. Williams also serves as a resource for PNC clients as they execute their corporate strategy with the added complexity of ESOP ownership.

Williams joined PNC in September 2015 after serving most recently as a Senior Vice President in JP Morgan Chase's ESOP Advisory Group. Previously she held senior positions with Duff & Phelps and Cognient Group in Chicago, Illinois, where she served as financial advisor for companies, institutional ESOP Trustees, and selling shareholders engaging in ESOP transactions.

In addition, she served as an institutional ESOP trustee at GreatBanc Trust Company where she led negotiations for ESOP transactions involving the purchase or sale of stock or assets.

Williams earned a bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Michigan and a master's of business administration from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. She is licensed by FINRA with a Series 79 and Series 63. She is a member of the National Center for Employee Ownership, The ESOP Association, and ESCA (Employee-Owned S Corporations of America).

Bill Watkins

Managing Director, Harris Williams

Bill has more than 30 years of investment banking and corporate finance experience. He has completed a range of financial advisory assignments including mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, and capital raises on behalf of private equity firms and public and private companies in several industries.

Prior to joining the firm, Bill was a managing director with National City Capital Markets Investment Banking Group, where he provided investment banking services within the Industrial Group. His previous experience also includes mergers and acquisitions advisory with Piper Jaffray, as well as leveraged finance and general capital raising with Heller Financial's Corporate Finance Group and Bank of America via its acquisition of Continental Bank.

Bill earned an M.B.A. with concentrations in Finance and Operations Management from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a B.S. in Business from Indiana University, Bloomington.

He is a board member of Achievement Centers for Children and Lake Erie Nature & Science Center.

Bill lives in the western suburbs of Cleveland with his wife and two children.

Mark Buxton

Senior Vice President and Wealth Strategist Regional Manager, PNC Private Bank

As a senior vice president and wealth strategist regional manager of the PNC Private Bank^SM, Mark oversees the wealth strategy client experience, process and business development activities within the region. He focuses on his team’s relationships with clients and business partners and manages the execution of group project activities of the Wealth Strategy group. Mark has more than 30 years of wealth management industry experience, having begun his career as a fiduciary advisor. He has held a variety of senior market leadership roles through the years.

Mark graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Bethany College, a Master of Business Administration from Kent State University, and a Juris Doctor from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Mark also holds the Juris Doctor, Certified Exit Planning Advisor, Certified Financial Planner^TM, and Chartered Life Underwriter designations.

He is a member of the Cleveland and Cuyahoga County bar associations.

April Hall

Senior Editor, Family Business Magazine

April Hall is senior editor of Family Business, Directors & Boards and Private Company Director. She's been an award-winning journalist for more than 20 years, working as a freelance writer for newspapers, magazines and websites, focusing her expertise in business and education.