Navigating Sell-Side Strategies in M&A: Exploring Traditional and Non-Traditional Options

With over 20 years of professional experience, Tom developed a deep, hands-on understanding of M&A and technical advisory services while working for the world's most prestigious professional services and private equity firms. He has served as a PE portfolio company CEO and a strategic advisor to the PE community and has built, run, and sold multiple companies. In addition, Tom has led or participated in numerous transactions, including small to enterprise-level M&A deals. He has considerable experience with strategic planning, business development, interim management, and technical advisory services, catering to private equity firms, portfolio companies, and public and private enterprises.

Tom creates and unlocks value, helping owners evaluate and prepare for various financial events, such as recapitalization, management buyouts, family transitions, or other forms of monetization. His unique blend of experiences as a former business owner, PE operating partner, and C-level executive equips him with the insight to maximize enterprise value and the stakeholder's benefit. 

Further, Tom is well-known for his ability to solve intricate business challenges for middle-market clients across industries. He leverages his technical knowledge in application development, cyber security, and systems integration, along with his business acumen, to create unique, out-of-the-box solutions.

Before joining Schneider Downs, Tom co-founded Springer Lawson and Associates, LLC, which assisted clients in various industries with value creation and sell-side advisory services.

Tom is married with three children and enjoys outdoor activities, youth sports, and spending time with his family. He is a U.S. Air Force Veteran and holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Computer Information Systems from North Carolina Wesleyan and an M.S. in Telecommunications from Johns Hopkins University.

Sriram Gollapalli is the co-founder and managing director of Long Angle, the largest community for the global high net worth. Prior to that, he was the co-founder and CTO of iLab Solutions, a B2B SaaS company, that he bootstrapped to an exit to Agilent (NYSE: A). He likes to angel invest, bike, and raise his 3 young children in Bethesda, Maryland.

Steve Grem leads the workforce solutions practice at RSM. He has been driving technological advancement and growth in the human resources (HR) sector for over 30 years. Steve’s commitment to championing the effective use of human capital management (HCM) technology across diverse markets and industries has positioned him as a leader in the field with deep knowledge of best practices and solution optimization. A seasoned strategist, Steve believes in the value of HR as an essential component of strong organizational leadership.

Before joining RSM, Steve was president and CEO of Wise Consulting, an employee-owned company specializing in human capital management, workforce management and payroll solutions. Most passionate about empowering his team to help clients achieve success, Steve believes in innovation as a means to driving human capital management technology transformation. Steve is strongly invested in taking a creative approach to learning, expanding and fostering a collaborative and goal-oriented workforce solutions practice.

Steve earned his Bachelor of Science, information technology, at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

William McComas is the Managing Member of Bowie & Jensen LLC and a member of the transactional and technology law departments. He is among the leading technology attorneys in the region, ranked by Chambers for his expertise in corporate work

Claudio is the Managing Partner of Donovan Capital Group, a private credit firm focused on Defense & Government Services businesses.

Previously, Claudio was an attorney at Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer and DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary. At both firms, he specialized in corporate law and white collar litigation, representing high-profile business executives in complex financial litigation against the U.S. Department of Justice and SEC.

Claudio has served in the government as press secretary for the Lt. Governor of Colorado (the youngest in the state's history) and in several functions at the U.S. State Department, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the White House.