Brian Bornino

Mr. Bornino is the Managing Director and National Practice Leader for GBQ Capital Advisors. Mr. Bornino's practice focuses on assisting business owners with ownership transition planning and execution, with specialties in valuation advisory and ESOP advisory.

Valuation Advisory Experience
Brian's 30+ years of experience include 4,000+ valuation engagements involving businesses and business interests of privately held and publicly traded companies nationwide and internationally. Mr. Bornino's primary areas of expertise include ESOP advisory, mergers and acquisitions, shareholder transactions, ownership transition planning, estate and gift taxation, fairness opinions, fair value measurements (e.g., purchase price allocations, goodwill impairment testing, equity-based compensation), going-private transactions, bankruptcies and reorganizations, buy-sell agreements, restricted stock opinions, pre-IPO planning, shareholder disputes, and other tax, litigation, and corporate-related matters.

ESOP Advisory Experience
Brian has been active in the national ESOP community for 30+ years and has been involved in 2,000+ ESOP advisory and valuation engagements. ESOP services provided include ESOP feasibility studies, initial ESOP valuations, ESOP implementation consulting, transaction advisory and structuring (company-side and trustee-side representation), annual ESOP valuations, fairness and solvency opinions, ESOP valuation report reviews, ESOP dispute consulting and advisory, and ESOP trustee advisory.

Mr. Bornino currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Ohio/Kentucky Chapter of the ESOP Association and is the Chairman of its ESOP Awareness Committee and a member of its Membership Committee. He is a past winner of The ESOP Association's Membership Recruitment Award for his work championing Employee Stock Ownership Plans.

Current Role at GBQ
Mr. Bornino has led GBQ's valuation and ESOP advisory practices for 20+ years, helping grow the practice from a few individuals to a national practice with 15+ dedicated valuation professionals involved in 350+ valuation and ESOP advisory engagements annually for clients nationwide.

Pre-GBQ Experience
Prior to joining GBQ in 2005, Brian held leadership positions with various regional and national valuation practices. Prior to moving to Columbus, Brian served as a Director at Stout Risius Ross, Inc., where he co-founded the firm's Cleveland office, served on the firm's national Business Valuation Steering Committee, managed a staff of valuation analysts and managers, and was involved with nearly every valuation engagement produced by the firm's Cleveland office. Prior to joining Stout Risius Ross, Inc., Brian was a Vice President in the Valuation Services unit of KeyBank.

Thought Leadership
Mr. Bornino is a nationally recognized thought leader in the valuation, finance and ESOP industries. He is a frequent speaker on these topics for organizations including the Association for Corporate Growth, ESOP Association, National Center for Employee Ownership, Ohio Employee Ownership Center, Institute of Management Accountants, and various CPA Societies, Bar Associations, Estate Planning Councils and other professional organizations and educational institutions.

BDO Alliance
For 20+ years, Brian has served as the chairman of a national team of valuation professionals from firms around the country within the BDO Alliance USA. As the leader of this team, Mr. Bornino leads conference calls and seminars in which member firms discuss technical and practice management issues related to valuation.