Chairman
Peter Christman, CEPA
The Christman Group, LLC
Palatine, IL  60067
847-303-6554

Peter Christman is an experienced entrepreneur, corporate executive, and investment banker.   For 17 years he held high-level marketing and management positions at Ford Motor Company and Xerox Corporation. After spending 25 years as an investment banker with other firms, Peter Christman co-founded The Christman Group, a Chicago-based, traditional middle market investment banking firm.

Governor
Richard Jackim, JD, MBA, CEPA
Exit Planning Institute
Palatine, IL
847-303-6887

Perry Phillips is a leading Canadian ESOP expert, and distinguished author, speaker, and ESOP lobbyist. He has worked 20 plus years as an ESOP, M&A, and business valuation consultant, and as an expert witness in Federal Court.  He developed ESOP Transformation Model© and is Owner and President of ESOP Builders Inc. and Phillips Valuations Inc., Toronto, Ontario.

Governor
Neil Palmquist, CEPA
President
The Legacy Group
23 West Market Street, Suite 01
Corning, NY 14830    
(607)962-0685

Neil R. Palmquist is a strategic advisor and exit planning consultant for advisors and their lower, middle-market business clientele.  Head-hunted from the banking industry, Mr. Palmquist spent five years optimizing national and international-scope programs for various Fortune 100 clients/customers before breaking away to start his own consultancy in 2002.  He is founder, owner and president of The Legacy Group, a unique exit planning consultancy and business transfer advisory firm established to help advisors and their respective clients “optimize” the owner’s inevitable exit (ownership transfer) from their respective business(es).

Governor
Joan M. Ridley, CFP™, CEPA
President of
Exit Solutions, Inc.
5100 Victor Street
Dallas, TX 75214
(214)692-9192

Joan M. Ridley, CFP™, CEPA, is President of Exit Solutions, Inc,  The Dallas-based firm helps business owners prepare for, and exit out of, their businesses; including transfer to family members, employees, third parties, charitable trusts, ESOP’s, and other shareholders.   Client firms are mid-market manufacturing, wholesale distribution, and business services throughout the southwest.  Prior to establishing Exit Solutions, Joan was associated with a Dallas-based mergers and acquisitions firm.  She was a practicing financial planner for over 20 years before her firm was acquired in 2000. Joan was voted by her peers to D Magazine’s  list of Top Financial Planner’s in Dallas.  While a Realtor in the Wash., D.C. area from 1973 to 1982, she earned the Montgomery County Board of Realtors (7,000 agents) Lifetime Member Sales Award. 

Joan’s published work includes two books:  Mature Money: Marketing Financial Services to the Booming Maturity Market (1996, McGraw-Hill) and Your Money It's a Family Affair (1996, Odenwald  Press).  She was a syndicated columnist and author of articles for: Journal of Financial Planning, Journal of Personal Financial Planning Monthly, Planning for Profits, Dallas Morning News, Dallas Business Journal, and  Private Clubs.   She has been quoted in numerous publications including: The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Money Magazine, Kiplinger Magazine, Boardroom Report, USA Today, CBS News-On-Line, and USA Week-End.   

Joan is a member of:  the Alliance for Corporate Wealth, Alliance of Mergers & Acquisitions Advisors, Dallas Estate Planning Council, Estate Planning Council of North Texas, Society of Financial Service Professionals (current Board of Directors), and Financial Planning Association (former Board of Directors).

Joan was graduated from the University of Dayton with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology and Philosophy, and she earned the Certified Financial Planner^® designation in 1983.

Governor
A.  Ronald Berryman, CEPA
Berryman &Company
1036 Via Romales
San Dimas, CA 91773
(909)599-7430

Ronald Berryman is a Certified Management Consultant serving numerous federal, state, and local government clients in the public sector, as well as Fortune 500 companies and major utilities. His professional accomplishments have been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Professional Builders magazine, L.A. Business Weekly, Architectural Digest, and Ebony Magazine.

From 1997 to 2001, Berryman served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer with Progress Investment Management Company an Institutional Asset Management firm. Formerly Berryman held the positions of chief of financial planning and budgets with Computer Sciences Corporation and administrator of business affairs with the National Broadcasting Company (NBC).

In addition to overseeing his thriving consulting practice, Berryman has served as adjunct professor of business administration at Pepperdine University. He was also an adjunct faculty member from 1988 to 1999 at the University of Redlands, where he received the institution’s Excellence in Teaching Award.

He earned both a bachelor’s and MBA degree from Pepperdine and is currently a life member of the Pepperdine Associates, serves on the Board of Visitors at the Graziadio School of Business and Management, and he is also a member of the University Board. His firm has served more than 300 clients in both the public and private sectors.

Berryman has also served on the boards of many organizations, including Chairman of the Kedren Head Start Program, Community Care and Development Services, The California Senate Select Advisory committee on Small Business and the California Small Business Development Board. He is past President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Institute of Management Consultants and he is a certified member of the Exit Planning Institute.

Berryman and his wife, Jacqueline, have four children. The family resides in San Dimas, California.

Larry is a founding partner of Axiom Solutions, based in our headquarter offices in Denver, CO. Larry has been a Partner in Axiom since 2001. Prior to Axiom, Larry served as a Director for myCFO, Inc. As National Sales Team manager, he worked with Senior Management on the design and rollout of holistic, best-in-class solutions for the Ultra Affluent. Prior to myCFO, Larry was a Senior Manager at Deloitte & Touché. As part of a national tax-consulting group, he focused on providing tax planning for Fortune 500 companies across the country. Larry also spent time at KPMG and Ernst & Young. He brings more than 14 years of experience working with high net-worth individuals, Fortune 500 companies, Investment Banks related to merger and acquisitions, and cross-border transactions. He has also been involved in numerous Initial Public Offerings and SEC registrant engagements. Larry is an active member of various Denver Business organizations, including the Chamber of Commerce. Larry holds a BS in Business Administration from Colorado State University.

Ron brings 15 plus years of experience in understanding, developing and driving client business requirements for various technology companies such as IBM, Corio and Qwest. In the technology industry, Ron developed strong client management skills in translating abstract business activities into defined, documented business processes.

Ron has considerable experience in both direct client management and managing strategic partner relationships. Partners are a essential channel for the technology industry and Ron truly understands the nature of those relationships. At Axiom, Ron works proactively with his partners to insure their success, working side by side with them until they can manage the Axiom service on their own.

Ron holds a BS in Business Administration from The University of Toledo and a Masters in Technology Management from Denver University.