Dove Canyon Resident Joins New OC Exit Planning Roundtable

Several of Orange County’s top business leaders have united to form the Orange County Exit Planning Roundtable (OCEPR), an organization of top-of-their-field professionals in complementary disciplines that guides owners of privately held, middle-market companies through every step of selling their business, including succession, maximum sale value, minimum taxation, risk management and retirement investing. Dove Canyon resident Darrell Passwater, professor, Business Management Consultant, Biola University, has joined the newly formed Roundtable, to work together with the other business leaders to adopt a holistic approach by surrounding individual business owners with the right combination of advisors in order to create a winning exit strategy.

“Every successful entrepreneur will already have a team of advisors, but hardly any will have the caliber of the team we have put together in this Roundtable,” said Mark Van Mourick, CEO of Optivest and founder of Orange County Exit Planning Roundtable. “Upgrading to a team of seasoned experts when it matters most can greatly impact the smoothness of the transaction, the maximization of after-tax funds for the business owner and the peace of mind during retirement.”

The Roundtable is comprised of seven experts who represent every step of the process of exiting a business – from deciding to sell through managing their assets past transition. Businesses working with the Orange County Exit Planning Roundtable benefit from the team’s complementary talents and ability to provide immediate strategy and counsel on the big picture of the sale, not just each individual discipline. 

“Most sellers have never sold a business before,” said Robert Wright, CPA with Wright Ford Young & Co. “They do not want to ‘experiment’ with possibly their largest asset. Having advisors that have worked as a team together can be the most valuable asset to a first time seller.”

The team is made up of the following advisors:

• Mark Van Mourick, CEO of Optivest, Inc. and Registered Investment Advisor
• Geoff Coar, senior vice president, Commercial Banking, US Bank
• Richard Streza, managing partner, Business Planning Attorney, Brown Streza LLP
• Matt Brown, partner, Estate Planning Attorney, Brown Streza
• Paul Donnelly, senior managing director, Investment Banking, Optivest Investment Banking
• Darrell Passwater, professor, Business Management Consultant, Biola University
• Robert Wright, managing director, Mergers and Acquisitions & Tax Planning,
  Wright Ford Young & Co.