For over 15 years A'LaCarte Foodservice Consulting Group (A'LaCarte) has been providing operations and growth related consulting to Restaurants, Hotels, Convention Centers, Casinos, Country Clubs, Stadiums and Airports. A'LaCarte has successfully completed projects for start-ups, independent restaurant companies and large multi-unit chains. They have consulted on concept development operations, and growth related matters with a variety of chains (franchisors and franchisees) and independent operators.

Chris Tripoli has over 35 years experience in the Hospitality industry as a Designer, Developer, Owner and Operator. He has provided research and opinions on a variety of legal issues facing the hospitality industry. Mr. Tripoli has written for Food Service News, My Table Magazine, Restaurant Start-up and Growth and has been featured in various other trade publications. He lectures at the Art Institute and teaches courses in opening restaurants and proper growth strategies at the Small Business Development Center of the University of Houston.

Services Include:

Concept Development

Finance Planning (Mergers & Acquisitions)

Business Valuations

Operations (Policies and Procedures)

Management and Staff Handling (Labor Related)

Safety, Sanitation and Food Handling

Franchise Development and Field Services

Education:

Princeton, 1964 (B.A., Economics, with honors)

NYU Business School, 1966 (MBA, Top of class)

Expertise: Mr. Purcell has over 40 years of experience in every area of investment banking including the following:

Mergers & Acquisitions

Leveraged Buyouts and Recapitalizations

Fairness Opinions and Fairness Issues

Adequacy Opinions

Solvency Opinions

Bankruptcy issues, including fraudulent conveyance

Valuations

Advice to Special Committees of Boards

Due Diligence and Disclosure Issues

Fiduciary Issues

Damage issues and analysis

Lender Liability

Fee issues

Document Interpretation and Standards from investment banking point of views

Criminal cases involving alleged securities violations and insider trading

Financing of Debt and Equity (both public and private, taxable and tax-exempt, including structured financings)

Venture Capital

Leasing and Real Estate Financing

Background: Mr. Purcell was a Managing Director at Dillon Read for almost 25 years and has been a Senior Advisor to a number of medium-sized investment banks. He also has served as interim CEO of a public company and has served on Boards of Directors. Mr. Purcell is currently Senior Director to the Investment Banking Firm of Seale & Associates, Washington, DC. area.

Mr. Purcell has been an expert in more than 100 cases with over 100 Law Firms, including cases for the SEC and the I.R.S. He represents both plaintiffs and defendants. Subjects include all areas mentioned above.

Profile: 43+ yrs experience in financial, mortgage & business institutions including 17+ President, CEO & Director & 6+ director of a mortgage company. 15+ years of leadership/ directorships in national & state trade associations. Over 375 federal & state nationwide cases i for FDIC, FannieMae, financial institutions, mortgage companies, businesses, non-banks, individuals. Services provided: consulting, depositions, reports, affidavits & court testimonies.

Expertise: Financial Institutions, Mortgage Institutions, Business, Real Estate. Loans (mortgage,construction, real estate, business, SBA, international, consumer, etc.); Operations; Fraud; Check ops; EFT; Lender Liability; Policy & Procedures; Fiduciary Duties, D & O conduct, Other. Reports, depositions & court testimony in Federal, Bankruptcy & state courts.

375+ nationwide cases working both for defendants and plaintiffs.

16+ years of in-house, industry, and outside expert witness experience.

75+ depositions taken and 35+ court appearances in both Federal and state courts.

Clients: FannieMae, FDIC, ABN AMRO Mortgage, Viacom, Wells Fargo Bank, State of CA, Bank of America, Amex, Citicorp Mortgage, Washington Mutual, Viacom, Bank One, Long Beach Mortgage, EMC Mortgage, JPMorganChase Bank, PacifiCare, Beal Bank, Avnet, Fidelity Title & First American Title

Approximately 40% of cases are for financial institutions, 40% against financial institution and 20% are other.

Serving clients nationally— 50% plaintiffs and 50% defendants.

Resume, fee information and references provided on request.

Alistair Hynd has over 15 years experience in Corporate Finance. He heads the Project Finance and Financial Modelling Team that functions at Baker Tilly Corporate Finance, LLP (Baker Tilly). Mr. Hynd specialises in Project Finance, PFI, PPP and Debt Advisory plus Financial Modeling. Mr. Hynd is an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) and member of the Institute's Corporate Finance faculty. He is also a full member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

Mr. Hynd's team at Baker Tilly can become involved in Project Finance or Financial Modeling in three ways:

Financial Adviser to the Government – structuring projects, evaluating bids, and negotiating detail

Financial Adviser to the Consortium – assembling the bid, refining and optimising it, and acting as interface with funding markets

Acting for the Banks and other Lenders - providing reassurance that the model on which they are lending is fit for purpose.

Other Services Include

Capital Markets: Reporting Accountants, Flotation e.g. advice on Financial Structuring, Accounting Systems and Policies, Share Option, Director / Employer Benefits, Audit and Taxation services

Due Diligence: Historic Performance, Cash Flows, Assets and Liabilities, Forecasts, Working Capital Requirements, Financial Systems and Controls, Taxation

Mergers and Acquisitions / Private Equity:Preparing / Maximise Value from Business Sales, Negotiate Terms and Raise Private Equity / Debt Finance to Support Management Buy Out or Buy In, Raising Private Equity / Debt Finance for Growth, Cash Out or Recapitalisation, etc.

Valuations: Shares, Businesses, Options and Warrants, Various Derivatives, Brands and other Intellectual Property, Film and Media Rights,Income Producing Assets

Biz Virutoso is the premiere Business Development company for startup, small and medium-sized companies. Their professionals excel in the field of business development and marketing. Biz Virtuoso's experts have decades of experience in the various fields of Business Development, Process Improvement, Branding, Marketing and Executive Coaching.

Virtuoso Business Plans:

Plans with detailed information to obtain loans or lines of credit

Plans to attract private investors or new partnerships

Plans for businesses looking for operational or expansion funds

Virutoso Consulting:

Brand development

Logo & website creation

Marketing collateral development

Marketing strategy development

Sales and marketing consulting & training

Turn key marketing execution

Formal business launch & re-launch incentives

Executive coaching & training

Human resource, labor and employment consulting

Sales and development training

Business assessments

Strategy review and development processes

Virtuoso Assistants:

Day to day business assistance

Event planning and execution

Executive office assistance

Account management

Appointment setting

Database management

Travel arrangements

Blog administration & HTML coding

Bookkeeping

Bulk mailings

Frank Dell has over 25 years consulting experience to the Food & Consumer Products Industries (food & non-food retailers, wholesalers, foodservice and manufacturers). Mr. Dell's experience includes supply chain (distribution, logistics, procurement, inventory & transportation), operations improvement (store & warehouse) and costing and strategy.

Michell M. Cohen is a Certified Public Accountant. He has earned his Bachelors of Science in Business Administration and Accounting. His primary areas of expertise are in Manufacturing, Distribution, Restaurants, Catering, Realtors, Landscapers, Interior Design, Medical Professionals, Personal and Corporate Tax Planning, Cash Flows, Business Consulting, Strategic Business Planning, Finance and Management.

Memberships and Affiliations:

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

Illinois Certified Public Accountant Society

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

Nancy A. Geary is both a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Lease Professional. She received her Bachelors Degree in Accountancy from the University of Illinois. Ms. Geary has been with ECS Financial Services, Inc., a regional CPA firm, since 1984, and a Partner with the firm since 1990. Among other responsibilities, Ms. Geary manages the firm’s Leasing Services Department. Ms. Geary is proficient in various software packages specifically designed for the equipment leasing industry.

Ms. Geary’s primary areas of concentration include equipment lease portfolio management, accounting and consulting services for the equipment leasing industry, as well as accounting, auditing, income tax planning and compliance and management consulting for a wide variety of closely-held businesses.

Ms. Geary’s focus on lease portfolio management services includes:

Portfolio Management (tracking, billing and reporting lease activity)

Lease Accounting

Training and Consulting

Multi-jurisdictional Sales, Income and Personal Property Tax Reporting.

Ms. Geary has served as an instructor for the Equipment Leasing Association (ELA), the Certified Lease Professional Foundation (CLP), the National Association of Equipment Lease Brokers (NAELB) and the United Association of Equipment Lessors (UAEL). She has served in various board and committee positions for the CLP Foundation and UAEL, chaired the CLP Foundation’s committee to rewrite the CLP Exam, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the UAEL.

Ms. Geary has written articles published in several leasing publications, and authored the Tax and Financial Accounting chapter of the CLP Foundation’s Handbook of Equipment Leasing.

Ms. Geary has participated in several expert witness engagements. Her experience includes preparation of expert witness reports, rebuttal reports, damage analysis and forensic accounting.

Dr. Gary K. Vallen is an expert in Hospitality Management, Lodging Operations & Casino Gaming; including Hotels, Casino Management, Bed and Breakfasts, Dude Ranches, Resorts, Restaurants, etc. He has numerous years of Hospitality Management Industry Experience, including senior management positions.

Dr. Vallen has been a Professor at Northern Arizona University, School of Hotel and Restaurant Management, since its inception in 1988. He is author of a best-selling text book on hotel operations; Check-In Check-Out, and other articles and publications.

Download Dr. Vallen's Curriculum Vitae

Mr. F. James Tennies is President and Co-Founder of InCap Group, Inc., an Investment Banking firm focused on the Investment Management and Securities Brokerage Industries. He is responsible for the overall direction of InCap Group, Inc. Mr. Tennies is actively involved with the firm’s merger and acquisition practice for asset management firms as well as other corporate finance assignments. He provides advice to buyers and sellers of asset management businesses.

Prior to joining InCap Group, Inc., Mr. Tennies was the Chief Administrative Officer of Legg Mason’s Asset Management Operations. Early in his career, Mr. Tennies practiced Corporate and Securities Law at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. He has served on the Board of the Forum for Investor Advice and has been a member of Institutional Investor’s International Mutual Fund Institute. He is quoted in Board IQ and other mutual fund publications. Mr. Tennies is currently a Trustee of the Historic Charles Street Association.

Services Provided:

Investment Banking

Mergers and Acquisitions

Capital Raising

Valuations and Strategic Advice

Mutual Fund Administration

Fairness Opinions