Wade Kozich

Wade grew up in Lorain, Ohio near Cleveland. He entered the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in 1969 and later attended the California State University in Hayward, California. A Buckeye at heart, Wade returned to Ohio after college and began his career with a large Cleveland CPA firm. He came to Columbus and joined GBQ in 1976 where he worked closely alongside the firm’s three founding partners, Morris Groner, Jack Boyle and Ron Quillin.

Wade became a Partner at GBQ in 1981, and was elected Managing Director of the firm in 1996 and served in that role until 2011. He was then named Senior Director and started GBQ’s Transaction Advisory Services practice. In 2015, Wade also helped launch, and is Senior Advisor to Footprint Capital, GBQ’s investment banking affiliate.

Wade continues to provide the same passion and vision that helped GBQ become the largest independent accounting and consulting firm in central Ohio with over 175 associates. His entire career has been spent working passionately with owners of closely held businesses and building GBQ Partners.

As Senior Director of Transaction Advisory Services, Wade coordinates a team of 10 professionals, highly-skilled in various aspects of transactions including valuation, due diligence, ESOPs, tax structuring and buy and sell side advisory. Wade also serves as chief liaison to Footprint Capital where he spends the majority of his time helping to complete investment banking deals. Since 2015, GBQ’s transaction group has collectively worked on over 550 transactions.

Business transactions represent very important events in buyers’ and sellers’ lives and Wade’s role is to provide guidance through these challenging processes. While having technical capabilities is a prerequisite, helping owners’ through transactions requires a deep understanding of owners’ mindsets and goals in order to guide them through the complexities and emotional battles that are inherent with transactions. Having been an owner and leader of GBQ himself, Wade has a deep understanding of the issues owners and CEOs face.

Wade has extensive experience with sell-side and buy-side advisory, debt and equity recaps, liquidity alternatives, sale readiness, value enhancement, shareholder disputes, investment banking and deal origination. He also has extensive experience working with private equity, family offices, independent sponsors, mezzanine lenders and bankers. Wade has also written extensive articles and participated in numerous panels and workshops around the subject of transactions.

In addition to being a CPA, he is a Certified Merger & Acquisition Advisor and a Certified Exit Planning Advisor.