Experienced Merger & Acquisition Team Members
Jeff Piersall
Founder/Partner, TREP Advisors
Jeff is a proven leader in all endeavors of his life. He is a proactive, confident self-starter that thrives in competitive situations. As a former award-winning high school and college basketball coach, Jeff had the rare distinction of coaching All-Americans and NBA players, a lifetime winning percentage in excess of 80%, and experiencing the unique opportunity to be mentored by the great John Wooden, UCLA. Thus, Jeff is driven at being his best at whatever he does, career or his hobbies of hunting, boating, and tennis.
Jeff is tenacious in attaining the determined goal especially for those he serves. He is an optimistic, charismatic leader who is very loyal and unselfish to his clients and family. Jeff is persistent in conquering the objective, which is why business owners trust him with their succession plans. He will not quit until their goal is accomplished.
Rob Chepak
Partner, TREP Advisors
Rob Chepak is Co-Owner of TREP Advisors, LLC. Rob has been the owner of two technology companies and has more than 20 years of financial services experience starting as a key relationship manager in London, United Kingdom in 1999. While at Merrill Corporation, he has been responsible for sourcing and originating M&A and other capital markets transactions for European, Middle Eastern and African clients in telecommunications, technology, luxury retail, transportation, packaging and logistics. He has been on deal execution team for more than 200 public equity and high yield debt transactions. Selected clientele includes:
- Manchester United (UK), IPO
- Novartis (Switzerland), M&A, regulatory and compliance
- Nokia (Finland), debt, regulatory and compliance.
- Ducati Motor Holdings (Italy), IPO
- Salvatore Ferragamo (Italy), IPO
- Ryanair (Republic of Ireland), IPO
- Ardagh Glass (Republic of Ireland), High Yield Debt
- ProLogis (Luxembourg), IPO
- Sasol (South Africa), Debt
- Fage (Greece), High Yield Debt
- Kappa Packaging (Netherlands), M&A
In addition, Rob has helped execute sovereign finance transactions for the Russian Federation, United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Gov’t of South Africa.
Rob was part of the development team that created the first virtual data room, the core digital repository for M&A transactions today. He left financials services to start his own business. In 2016, Rob founded a blockchain-enabled software company for identity and document management in the supply chain and real estate sectors. TruDoss is one of the few companies to achieve a practical commercial application of blockchain technology. “Enterprise Security Magazine” featured TruDoss and Rob on the cover. Rob is the holder of two related U.S. patents.
Rob graduated first in his MBA class from TRIUM, a joint degree program run by the London School of Economics, New York University and H.E.C. Paris. He also holds an advanced degree from Northwestern University and an undergraduate degree from Syracuse University.
Larry Battle
Chief Implementation Officer
Larry is a CPA and holds an MBA from Vanderbilt University. He has built and led teams which:
Grew Ferodo America’s Automotive Division from $25 million to $50 million within 5 years, and gained Tier 1 status with Ford and Chrysler. Introduced new products and captured 56% of Ford’s North American disk brake pad business. Executed a joint venture among Ferodo’s UK parent and two Japanese competitors.
At Dayton Parts, Inc. Within two years, built the business from $50 million and declining to $100 million and growing. Rebuilt morale in Senior Management and Sales, made listening to the customer part of the culture, and re-assigned the “sales prevention department.” EBITDA increased to 14%. Integrated one acquisition and initiated another.
At the Products Division of Armor Holdings, Inc., built the business from $25 million to $75 million, successfully integrating multiple acquisitions in the process.
Heather Nicole
Director of compliance & M&A Services
Heather has worked in commercial transaction due diligence for over 14 years. She began her career in small business lending and moved into corporate restructuring and commercial real estate transactions. Recently, Heather earned her Juris Doctor from Mitchell Hamline School of law. Heather joined TREP because she enjoys working with small to mid-size business owners in preparing due diligence packages for anticipated mergers or acquisitions.
Ryan Litherland
Director, M&A Services
Ryan is a merger and acquisitions professional who strives to provide his clients with personal service, well-rounded business acumen, and outside-the-box solutions to individual company situations and transactions. He has a strong focus on strategic analysis and business alignment in preparation for a sale or equity transaction. Ryan enjoys the challenges that come from consulting across multiple industry verticals, with a diverse set of business owners and clients. Ryan earned his undergraduate finance degree from Purdue University, and his law (J.D.) and MBA degrees from Indiana University.
Ryan brings a diverse set of professional experiences to the TREP team, with a career history that includes working for tech start-ups, a civil court judge, a family office that both acquires and operates various companies in a range of industries, a boutique investment/merchant bank, and as a M&A advisor helping companies with strategic planning as well as ownership transactions.
In fact, Jeff was originally a client of Ryan’s when they were first introduced. Since then, their relationship has evolved with a “meeting of the minds,” from client/advisor to colleagues as they work to make TREP Advisors a client-focused, industry-leading firm.
Ryan is native to Indiana, with ties throughout the Midwest. He currently resides in Colorado most of the year where he enjoys all that the outdoors has to offer and the ease of travel that Denver’s central location allows.
John Bergano
Director, M&A Services
John Bergano, Founder and CEO of Aesthetics Card, works through his venture to support businesses across the vast landscapes of healthcare, wellness, and beauty with resources for credit, financing, and advisory services.
John began his career in luxury hospitality, moving from food & beverage operations to sales & marketing across hotels including The Ritz-Carlton and restaurants including Yamashiro. In 2015, John co-founded medical aesthetics practice Contempo Aesthetics with wife, Dr. Rachel Reyes-Bergano. As Director of Operations with Contempo Aesthetics, he saw the practice lifecycle through from bootstrapped start-up to acquisition by SkinSpirit in May 2023.
Kelly Butz
Controller
Kelly Butz serves as TREP Advisor’s Controller. She has 20+ years of experience running and growing a small business and has a passion for excellence and professionalism in the workplace. She is energetic and committed to helping small businesses focus on realizing their potential while building on a foundation of honesty and integrity. Kelly has been married for 31 years, and she and her husband have 3 amazing daughters and 2 grandchildren. Kelly enjoys serving others and has travelled all over the world in order to spread love and compassion to those in need. Kelly and her husband call Florida home where they enjoy boating and being on the water.
Chris McCulley
Director of Marketing
Chris McCulley is the owner of Eklipse Creative, a web design and data management firm that started as a side hustle in 2015, but allowed him to go full time in late 2019. Chris has a diverse work history, ranging from I.T. Systems Administrator within the automotive aftermarket to marketing and design in the counter-surveillance niche. He works with TREP Advisors to help craft the brand identity, design and content strategies
