DeFoor, Ramatowski to Lead GABB in 2016

DeFoor, Ramatowski to Lead GABB in 2016

ATLANTA—Greg DeFoor, founder and President of DeFoor Business Services of Kennesaw, is the 2016 President of the Georgia Association of Business Brokers, the state’s only professional association of business brokers. Michael Ramatowski, president of Georgia Business Associates, Inc., is the 2016 vice president of GABB.

GABB members represent owners of Georgia businesses and help them establish the sales price of their business, create marketing plans and strategies for the sale of their business, identify and qualify potential buyers, and work to protect the confidentiality of the entire process.

Other GABB officers are Jay Fenello of BizPlacements.com, treasurer of the GABB and Yasmine Jandali, owner and Managing Broker at Starwood Business Group,  the secretary of the GABB. Board members for 2016 are Richard Burgess, president of Priority Business Acquisitions, Inc.; Jeffery Merry, founder and owner of the BUSINESS HOUSE, inc. ^SM, and GABB Past President C. David Chambless, president of Abraxas Business Services.

Mr. DeFoor is a business broker, a CPA and a Certified Fraud Examiner. He became a business broker in 2002 after working in public accounting followed by private industry experience as an accounting and financial executive in the healthcare and retail automotive industries. While in private industry, he was involved in a number of business transactions and decided to use that knowledge and experience to start his own firm. He has a unique blend of audit, tax, accounting, corporate finance, business advisory and transaction experience to use for the benefit of his clients. He has an active Georgia real estate broker’s license. His firm specializes in the sale of small and middle-market privately owned businesses in a number of industrial classifications. Mr. DeFoor has an accounting degree from Auburn University and lives in Powder Springs.

Mr. Ramatowski, CBI, president of Georgia Business Associates, Inc., works with business owners and sellers and candidates for merger by acquisition from manufacturing, distribution, and service businesses. He has owned and managed businesses that included a real estate master franchise, a property management networking company, and a service business. As COO of a banking conglomerate he managed brokerage operations, title companies, home and service warranty programs, and a relocation company. Mr. Ramatowski has served on the board of directors of 12 different organizations with diverse specialties including real estate brokerage, mortgage companies, title insurance, banking, health care, fitness center operations, and office supply operations, providing marketing and organizational growth expertise. He served as an Electronic Specialist in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service. He attended Cleveland State University and Baldwin Wallace College. He has earned the Certified Business Intermediary professional designation by the International Business Brokers Association.

Mr. Fenello started his career as a computer engineer for IBM, Boca Raton, where he worked on a new product called the IBM PC. After a successful career in computer hardware and software design, he earned an MBA in Entrepreneurship from the University of Arizona.  He has been involved in small businesses and start-ups ever since. He first started in business brokerage in 1995, and has since worked for several brokerage firms, including one of the largest M&A firms in the country. Today, Mr. Fenello is with  Keller Williams Realty Partners, where he helps people buy, sell and improve small businesses and start-ups, especially owner-operated businesses and franchises. Jay has an engineering degree from the University of Florida, and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from the University of Arizona. He is a member of the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors, and lives in Woodstock with his wife Beverly.

Mrs. Jandali is an experienced business broker with a track record of more than 10 years of successful transactions and highly satisfied clients.  Mrs. Jandali founded Starwood Business Group in order to provide a boutique brokerage firm for clients seeking personalized service and specialized attention. As a certified Master Business Intermediary, she provides professional business intermediary services to both business sellers and buyers, including high-level business valuation services to business sellers. She has worked as a foreign exchange analyst at Wells Fargo, a marketing specialist at the Bank of America Corporation,  vice president of Jandali Enterprises, Inc., and was managing broker and managing director of VR Business Brokers Mergers and Acquisitions. She has a B.A. in Business Administration Marketing from the McColl School of Business at Queens University of Charlotte, and also studied management at The Belk College of Business at University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Mr. Burgess is president and owner of Priority Business Acquisitions, Inc. & Priority Real Estate Services, LLC, of Lawrenceville, Ga. Mr. Burgess is a licensed business and real estate broker with more than 20 years successful experience handling the sale, acquisition and financing of privately held companies and real estate in the Southeastern United States. Mr. Burgess has a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Maryland, and he and his agents use a Christ-centered, straightforward, successful approach to their brokerage services. He resides in Lawrenceville, Ga., and is an active member of Christ the Lord Lutheran Church in Lawrenceville, Ga.

Mr. Merry is a lifetime member of the Georgia Association of Business Brokers (GABB) prestigious Multi-Million Dollar Club and was the first Georgia broker in the GABB to receive the Phoenix award for being in the Multi-Million Dollar Club for 10 consecutive years. Jeffery has been a member of GABB for more than 20 years, and is a past president and board member. He holds a Bachelors Degree from Mercer University, a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Illinois, and a Juris Doctorate from Atlanta Law School. He is also a licensed real estate broker in Georgia and Florida. Further, he is an Adjunct Professor of strategic management, accounting, and finance in MBA programs.

Mr. Chambless is the president of Abraxas Business Services, a business brokerage focused on businesses with revenues of $5- to $30-million in the manufacturing, logistics, technology, healthcare, and services industries. Mr. Chambless has extensive experience in business development, finance, operations, sales, marketing, and international channel development and management. Mr. Chambless’ service over a 12-year period with various technology organizations (including the Open Applications Group Inc., (OAGi), C=WIN, Inc. PsionTeklogix, QAD, Inc., and The CODA Group), gave him a deep understanding of issues involved in international business and investment. Earlier in his career, Mr. Chambless served as chief financial officer for Aaron Rents, Inc and for Docutronics, Inc. Prior to graduate school, Mr. Chambless commanded components of a U.S. Army Pershing Missile unit in West Germany. Mr. Chambless has a Master of Business Administration in Finance degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Industrial and Systems Engineering degree from Georgia Tech. He is a member of BENS (Business Executives for National Security), the Association for Corporate Growth, and the International Business Brokers Association, and he is a fundraiser for the Boy Scouts of America. He is a nominee to the board of directors of the Callanwolde Fine Arts Center. He is past-president of the GABB where he has been a long-time member of the board of directors as well as a lifetime multi-million-dollar member of the Million Dollar Club. He has served on the boards of directors for the Grant Park Conservancy and the Southeast Atlanta Business Association.

The GABB is composed of professionals who work with owners of Georgia businesses. Many of today’s business buyers are individuals who have decided not to re-enter corporate America, but are ready to control their own destiny by purchasing and operating a Georgia business. The GABB’s monthly meeting is at the South Terraces Conference Center at 115 Perimeter Center Place, Atlanta. For more information about the GABB, contact GABB President Greg DeFoor at president@gabb.org or call Diane Loupe at 404-374-3990.