Preparing Your Privately Held Business for a Liquidity Event

Donald R. Braun, Jr., is a Managing Director of Bernstein located in the Philadelphia office. He joined the firm in 2005 and was appointed a Principal in 2010, a Director in 2015 and Managing Director in 2016. In his role as a Principal he was responsible for advising high-net-worth families and institutions, as well as their respective trusts, estates, foundations, endowments and pension plans. Prior to joining the firm, he served for 10 years as vice president of a privately held family business, Greater Media, Inc., where his responsibilities included strategic planning, budgeting and analyzing cash-flow projections for companies targeted for acquisition. Donald earned a BS in business administration and finance from Drexel University. He is a member of the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Estate Planning Councils, the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), the Greater Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT), and The Union League of Philadelphia. Donald is also active with Drexel University, serving on the President’s Leadership Council.

Doug became the CEO and owner of Geneva Global in September 2008, in a management buy out after joining the organization in 2006 as its International Director. Geneva Global is a new type of international philanthropy services organization, working in the non-profit, the impact investment and international business arenas in order to see real social transformation focused on the three foundational pillars of education, health and economic empowerment. It has granted over $140m, overseen 1700 projects and changed the lives of over 60 million people in over 100 countries. He sold the company to Global Impact, a DC based charity in October 2019. Doug and Anna Balfour originally moved to Philadelphia in 2006 from London and in 2018, moved permanently to Santa Rose Beach, Florida.

Andrew is a Director in Bernstein’s Wealth Strategies Group. As a Director, he consults with advisors, their professional partners and clients as an expert in a wide field of complex investment planning topics for high-net-worth individuals and foundations. These topics include planning for the sale of a business, managing executive compensation awards, trust and estate planning techniques, charitable planning vehicles, tax management strategies and investment management strategies for nonprofits. Andrew graduated from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, with a BS in accounting and a minor in finance. He is a CFA charterholder since 2012.

Dawn worked in a second-generation family business, Weavertown Environmental Group.  The company was sold December 1,2015 to UNIVAR, a wallstreet company.  Dawn launched We Guide, You Grow LLC. “I did it, you can to” offering customizable plans for clients that want to grow their business and leadership teams.  In addition she has also launched a commercial cleaning company, CleanAisles, LLC., for her husband and has seen substantial growth within a two year span.

Dawn has recently released a book, Get Your Game F.A.C.E. On and it is focused on "the secret of growing your company during any economy."

David Winkowski concentrates on estate and tax planning for owners of closely held businesses, executives at publicly traded and privately held companies, and high-net-worth individuals, and their families.  David has extensive experience designing and implementing sophisticated estate plans, wills, inter vivos trusts, prenuptial agreements and family limited partnerships. In addition, he advises clients on a variety of asset-protection techniques. Further, David represents individual and corporate executors and trustees regarding complex estate and trust administration issues and has counseled clients in the administration of significant estates with assets subject to challenging valuation issues or fractional interest discounts, such as closely held business interests and working interests in oil and gas fields.