M&A Next Symposium
San Antonio, TX | September 08-09, 2025
M&A Symposium
Want to dive into the “next” practices in the world of M&A?
This highly interactive event is designed to provide M&A education and practical application through interactive roundtable discussions, thought leadership from expert panelists, and focused networking to connect leaders from across the country. You will end the day better informed about the opportunities for M&A as a growth strategy.
Thank you to our 2024 Sponsors
Previous Symposium Speakers
Close
About Ben Smith
Ben assists both strategic and financial buyers in the performance of financial due diligence, quality of earnings analysis, working capital analysis, cash-flow models, financial narratives, and stress-testing of financial projections, in support of acquisitions in addition to preparing sellers for the sale of their business.
Close
About Chad Clinehens
Chad Clinehens is the president and CEO of Zweig Group. Passionate about the business side of design and technical service firms, Chad has built a career on leading them through growth and change. He has worked with AEC firms throughout the U.S. on a variety of needs – strategic business planning, turnarounds, partner separations, organizational restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, marketing and sales, growth campaigns, and more.
As a registered professional engineer, Chad brings an in-depth knowledge of what makes professional service firms and the people who work for them unique. Working in the industry for more than 20 years, he has been involved in many aspects of the business including design, project management, department management, regional office management, and directional leadership. He holds a MBA and BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Arkansas and is a registered professional engineer in several states.
Close
About George E. Christodoulo
George E. Christodoulo is known by his clients as a dealmaker to whom they look to for advice and counsel not only early in negotiations, but also during the conceptual stage of deals. They look to George to structure, negotiate, document, and close transactions, protecting their interests in collaborative discussions. Representing individuals and privately owned entities in all aspects of corporate and employment law, George has handled over 300 merger and acquisition transactions and over 50 internal succession engagements. He heads the firm's practice team representing domestic and foreign professional service firms, including architecture, engineering, environmental, accounting, and consulting entities, in mergers and acquisitions and private equity investments, ownership transition, state individual and corporate professional licensure requirements, and governance matters.
Close
About Taylor Dolan
Taylor is an experienced business and corporate attorney that advises design firms in a wide range of mergers and acquisitions and internal ownership transitions. Taylor listens to the client’s goals and guides each transaction from term sheet to closing to ensure both business and personal goals are met. She has hands-on experience in structuring, negotiating, and documenting transactions and advising clients through the integration process.
Taylor also advises design professionals throughout complex contract drafting and negotiation of both traditional and alternative project delivery agreements. She understands the unique risks and coverage concerns design firms face in design-build and other alternative project delivery arrangements and uses contract negotiation strategies to limit potential exposure. Taylor realizes that design professionals would rather avoid costly litigation and that the best way to do so is through risk allocation and forward-thinking contract drafting. Taylor also guides clients through employment disputes, and, more generally, through the regulatory strategies associated with a
Close
About Tracey Eaves
Tracey Eaves will lead a Valuation Deep Dive breakout session at Zweig Group’s M&A Next Symposium next month. Over the last 20 years, Tracey has completed valuations ranging from small businesses to multi-million dollar operating companies to holding companies with a variety of assets.
Close
About Rod Finkle
Rod Finkle’s introduction into the AEC industry started as a Design Engineer and Project Manager, and now 40 years later, he is a Principal and Business Unit Leader for RTM’s National Business Development team. Rod’s passion for this industry centers around the people within it, whether it be fellow business development members, other leaders within the company, or our clients. As a passionate listener and problem solver, he consistently challenges himself with developing methods to make things work better from a team standpoint, and is driven to always be looking for solutions, both internally and for a client’s project needs.
One of Rod’s favorite things about working at RTM is the ability to work and interact with so many unique and brilliant people across the company and country, but when not working he enjoys upping his game on the golf course.
Close
About Joseph Furey
Joe Furey provides strategic leadership and guidance for Michael Graves Architecture and the growing number of related companies. He has over three decades of experience in the AEC and other professional industries leading business operations, mergers and acquisitions, and strategic and financial planning, analysis, and reporting. He joined the firm in 2008 as the CFO focused on the business, growth strategies, and succession planning, and became President in 2018. He has built the continued growth and prosperity of the Michael Graves companies around common purpose, cooperation, and teamwork. Based on his passion for sports (meaning football), he knows how to coach a team to win and have fun at the same time.
Close
About Peter Grupp
Described by his clients as outstanding, effective, and efficient, Peter Grupp engages in a diverse legal practice representing clients in complex corporate transactions. Peter enjoys guiding his clients through multi-faceted business transactions, using his experience to anticipate and protect against hurdles and pitfalls, and navigate his clients to a successful closing.
Peter focuses his corporate practice in mergers and acquisitions, primarily in the professional services industries. As part of Lawson & Weitzen’s transaction team, Peter has helped close over 100 acquisitions, serving as the lead transaction attorney for many of them. Recently, Peter has helped close multiple private equity recapitalizations of prominent engineering firms throughout the country.
Peter represents clients spanning a number of industries, including: Architecture, Professional Engineering, Land Surveying, Geology and Environmental Consulting, Tech, and Alcoholic Beverage Supply/Wholesale.
Close
About Rob Hughes
Rob Hughes is a senior vice president and equity partner with Ames & Gough. He is responsible for providing service to clients and developing new relationships in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and New York. Rob is the founder of our Philadelphia office.
Rob joined Ames & Gough in 2007. Previously, he was an executive vice president with Thomas J. Sharpe & Associates, a regional insurance brokerage located in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where he specialized in professional liability insurance, risk management, and loss-prevention services for architects and engineers. Prior to that, he was with XL Insurance for more than 10 years in a variety of capacities, including his last position as senior counsel and vice president.
Rob received his law degree, cum laude, from the Widener University School of Law and his undergraduate degree from Lafayette College.
Close
About Kevin Johns
Kevin Johns is a partner who is dedicated to helping small and mid-size business owners expand their businesses. He specializes in providing tax and accounting services to architecture and engineering clients around the globe. His entire career has been focused on supporting high-growth entrepreneurial companies by providing a deep knowledge and appreciation for the needs of the business owner.
Close
About Sarah Kinard
Sarah Kinard will lead a breakout session on Using Market Research to Drive M&A Strategy. Sarah is a strategic visionary with nearly 20 years of experience in professional services firm strategy, marketing, and implementation. A past VP of Global Marketing & Strategy, she is known as a change agent, frequently hired by firms to create a strategy rooted in research, business practice, and scale resulting in their unique growth plan.
Close
About Brian T. Kirkpatrick
Pape Dawson Engineers provides civil engineering, environmental, and surveying services for land development, transportation, utility and water resources. With approximately 1,500 employees, and a legacy spanning 60-years, we are actively looking for partners across the United States who share our goal of being the most respected engineering firm in our geographic and technical areas of practice. Our goal is to become a top-20 ranked ENR firm with partners and locations across the country. Collectively, the partners at Pape Dawson have grown several large engineering consulting practices across the United States, including Universal Engineering Sciences (UES), the fastest growing engineering firm in 2020, 2021, and 2022. We’ve partnered with >30 engineering firms over the past 5-years and are some of the most recognized acquirers in this industry. We bring decades of experience, a broad range of services, and key relationships across the country, creating a powerful advantage for our teams.
Close
About Steve Lucy
As co-founder of JQ's Dallas branch in 1994, Steve served as JQ’s CEO for 30 years, and now serves as Executive Principal. With a significant portfolio of structural projects with varying project delivery methods over four decades, Steve guides clients through all stages of a project, from inception to completion.
Lucy is excited to become part of IMEG and help drive continued growth in the greater Texas region. “We built our strong reputation on being active members of project teams and delivering innovative design with forward-thinking leadership,” he said. “This philosophy blends well with IMEG’s client-centric, outcome-based approach, allowing us to leverage a broader base of market and technical expertise.”
The merger expands the firms’ Texas-based staff to more than 150 team members at offices in Austin, Bastrop, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. Existing JQ teams will continue to operate from their existing locations, doing business as JQ, now IMEG. Steve Lucy and JQ Partner Chris Story will continue to serve as regional team leaders.
Close
About Tom Marchetti
Tom Marchetti is a senior vice president and equity partner of Ames & Gough. He is responsible for providing service to existing clients across all lines of insurance. He also develops new relationships in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, Florida, and other geographical regions within the United States. Additionally, Tom leads the growth of our association/non-profit business initiative.
Tom joined Ames & Gough in February 2010. Prior to that, he was with United Insurance Consultants (UIC), an insurance and risk management advisory firm in northern New Jersey, where he led the construction and real-estate team. In his previous role, Tom was a frequent speaker at industry events and developed specific expertise in advising clients on matters related to property and builders risk insurance, casualty insurance, and professional and management liability.
Tom holds a Construction Risk Insurance Specialist (CRIS) designation. He is a 2006 graduate of Wagner College, Staten Island, New York, where he majored in business administration with a concentration in finance.
Close
About Will Swearingen
Will leads Zweig Group’s research team and ownership transition consulting group. He received his BS in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Asheville and his MBA from the University of Arkansas with a focus on entrepreneurship.
During that time, Will developed financial models and aided in the fundraising for a startup that has raised over 20 million dollars in capital.
Will has worked closely with management teams across the US to develop ownership transition plans, ranging from simple one-to-one transactions to complex projects that require a great deal of modeling and stakeholder education. Will analyzes and reports on the data AEC managers need to run successful firms. From developing benchmarking tools to compensation programs for transition planning, Will builds resources for decision makers.
Prior to joining Zweig Group, Will provided navigation and telemetry services for oil exploration projects, conducting data analysis for the integration of GPS and seismic readouts. Will comes from a long line of architects and has a passion for the industry that is unmatched.
Monday, September 08, 2025
Monday, September 08, 2025
|
3:00pm
|
M&A Next Registration Open
|
|
5:00pm
|
Riverwalk Chat with Cocktails
|
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
|
7:30am
|
M&A Next Breakfast
|
|
8:30am
|
Welcome & Valuation, Multiples, and What's Next in M&A in AEC
with Tracey Eaves |
|
9:00am
|
Opening Keynote
|
|
10:00am
|
Networking break
|
|
10:15am
|
Hot M&A Topic Roundtables
Roundtable discussions facilitated by subject matter experts. You can choose up to six of ten available sessions. |
|
12:00pm
|
Lunch Learning Session
|
|
1:00pm
|
Breakout Session One
|
|
2:15pm
|
Breakout Session Two
|
|
3:30pm
|
Breakout Session Three
|
|
4:30pm
|
Networking break
|
|
5:00-7:00pm
|
M&A Next Closing Reception + ElevateAEC Welcome Reception
|