Become a Board-Certified Business Broker with the GABB
The Georgia Association of Business Brokers is launching a new educational program which will help our members achieve proficiency in the profession of business brokerage. The Board-Certified Business Broker designation, or BCBB, is intended to make clear to prospective clients that the broker has the knowledge and skills to professionally represent them in future transactions.
The GABB operates Georgia’s only Real Estate School dedicated specifically to business brokerage. The BCBB curriculum includes 42 hours of coursework covering a wide range of topics important to business brokers in the areas of valuation, finance and legal issues. The program is designed to be completed within a two-year period.
SUMMARY:
To earn the designation, business brokers must successfully complete a minimum number of hours in Business Brokerage Fundamentals, Financial Knowledge, and Legal Issues. The remainder of the hours can be chosen from the Miscellaneous category.
Proposed: To earn the BCBB Certification, business brokers must:
- Be an active member of the Georgia Association of Business Brokers.
- Earn 42 hours of educational credits, which must include 12 hours of Business Brokering Fundamentals classes, 12 hours of classes covering Financial Knowledge, 12 hours covering Legal and Business Issues, and 6 hours of Miscellaneous classes.
- Each class will have a written test, and brokers must pass the course test to earn credit.
- Have at least two years of business brokering experience.
- GABB members may opt to take a limited numbers of missed courses online for a fee and will receive BCBB credit for the course upon successful completion of the course’s final exam. This option will not confer any CE credits. Additional fees for taking BCBB classes will apply.
- Attend at least three GABB events each year, which may include meetings or classes.
- Negotiate and complete the sale of at least three businesses as lead agent or demonstrate relevant, comparable business brokerage experience approved by the GABB Board.
- The GABB Board reserves the right to revise the requirements as deemed necessary and in the best interest of the GABB Real Estate School.
Business Brokering Fundamentals, 12 hours of coursework required
- All classes are three hours each
- Introduction to Business Brokerage: Offered on 2-9-21, taught by Dave Chambless
- Elements of Value: TBD
- Business Broker Process: TBD
- Securing Businesses for Sale Listings: Offered on 8-17-21, taught by Matt Wochele
- Marketing Your Listings: Offered as Business Broker Marketing on 6-15-21, taught by Jeff Merry
- Setting Up Your Business Broker Practice: TBD
- Pricing a Business: Offered on 4-26-22, taught by Erin Crawford
- Business Broker Models: Offered on 7-13-21, taught by Mike Ramatowski
- Introduction to Buy-Side Business Brokering: Offered on 4-27-21, taught by Marty Rueter
- Introduction to Sell-Side Business Brokering: Offered on 4-29-21, taught by Dave Chambless
- Business Broker Practice Approaches: Offered on 10-28-20, taught by J. Snypp and Robin Gagnon
Financial Knowledge, 12 hours of coursework required
- All classes are three hours each
- Introduction to Accounting Terms & Federal Tax Returns: TBD
- Understanding Financial Statements: TBD
- Recasting Financials: TBD
- Recasting and Accounting Fundamentals: Offered on 3-1-22, taught by Jon Roman
- Business Valuation Basics Business Valuation Basics,
- Offered 10-27-20, taught by Dan Browning
- Business Valuation, Offered on 10-19-21, taught by Jeff Forrestall and Ricky Moore
- Financing a Business Sale: TBD
Legal Issues, 6 hours of coursework required
- All classes are three hours each.
- Understanding Business & Corporate Structures: TBD
- Legal Issues in Business Brokering: Offered on 5-24-22, taught by Shannan Collier Stalvey
- Business Brokering Ethics: Offered on Oct 25, 2022, taught by Matt Wochele
Miscellaneous, 12 hours of coursework required
- All classes are three hours each.
- Negotiations: TBD
- Inventory Valuation Basics: TBD
- Valuing Real Property: TBD
- Understanding Leases in a Business Transaction: Offered as Evaluating Lease Issues When Buying and Selling a Business on 5-20-20, taught by Wendy Kraby and Jon Roman
- Due Diligence: TBD
- License Law: Offered on 5-19-20, taught by Ann Cyphers
- Any classes from other categories
For more information about the GABB Real Estate School or the application process for the BCBB credential, please contact Diane Loupe at diane.loupe@gabb.org. For more information about the GABB or GABB membership, contact GABB Administrator Courtney Foley at courtney.foley@gabb.org or 770-744-3639, or GABB President Judy Mims at judy@childcare.properties.
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GABB Class: Recasting Financials and Accounting Fundamentals for Business Brokers, March 1
Jon Roman
Learn how to recast financials and accounting fundamentals in a March 1 class to be taught by Georgia Association of Business Brokers Board Treasurer Jon Roman.
The class Recasting Financials and Accounting Fundamentals for Business Brokers will be eligible for three hours towards the GABB’s Board-Certified Broker credential, and is eligible for continuing education credit under Course #73934 approved by the Georgia Real Estate Commission.
This class, which will earn credits towards the Board-Certified Broker Credential, will cover what business brokers need to know about basic accounting as well as how to recast the seller’s financial statements. Recasting is the accepted accounting principle of removing or adjusting items on a business’s financial statements that are unrelated to the ongoing business.
Recasting financial statements demonstrates to a buyer the financial results of the business “as if” it was owned by the buyer, taking into account tax-motivated or other discretionary transactions that reduce corporate earnings. Recasting typically involves the adjustment of certain expenses recorded on the income statement of the Company that are considered to be discretionary or non-recurring in nature.
The class will be held on March 1 from 1 p.m.-4 p.m. at the Georgia Association of Realtors classroom: 6065 Barfield Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30328-4402
- How to understand different Types of Financial Statements.
- About the Balance Sheet, Income Statement (Profit & Loss) and the Cash Flow Statement
- How to recast financials.
- How to analyze the EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization
- How to analyze tax returns and why you must review them.
Fourteen Georgia Business Brokers Achieve 2021 GABB Million Dollar Club
The top five brokers in the 2021 GABB Million Dollar Club are, from left , Steve Josovitz, Matt Wochele, Sarabjeet Kaur, J. Snypp and Jeff Merry. Photo by Roger Easley
Fourteen members of the Georgia Association of Business Brokers (GABB) were named to the 2021 Million Dollar Club for helping broker the sale of more than $86 million worth of small, medium and large businesses.
The GABB Million Dollar Club awards recognizes professional Business Brokers for successfully
closing business acquisition transactions totaling one million dollars or more. The GABB has the only accredited real estate school in Georgia that focuses on business brokerage.
The top producer for 2021 was Sarabjeet Kaur, a Business Broker and Realtor with Virtual Properties Realty.
“It’s an honor to be included among the industry’s top producing brokers this year,” said Sarabjeet Kaur. “I’m grateful to GABB for elevating the profession of business brokerage and for bringing so many successful like-minded individuals together. It’s a powerful organization, and I’m glad to be a part of it.”
Business brokers among the top five brokers with multi-million dollars in business sales for the year are Jeffery Merry, founder of the BUSINESS HOUSE, inc.; Matt Wochele, founder of Preferred Business Brokers, Inc.; J. Snypp, Vice President at Preferred Business Brokers, Inc; and Steve Josovitz, Senior Vice President at The Shumacher Group.
Other multi-million-dollar brokers were Lisa Young, Senior Business Advisor at Transworld Business Advisors of Atlanta; Brian Judson, Senior Business Broker at Best Business Brokers (B3); Jon Merry, Senior Business Broker with the BUSINESS HOUSE, inc.; Pedro Ferreira, Business Advisor at Transworld Business Advisors of Atlanta; Greg DeFoor, founder of DeFoor Business Services, Inc.; Rob Margeton, Business Broker and M&A Intermediary with Ryco Advisors, LLC; and Dean Burnette, founder of Best Business Brokers (B3).
Other million dollar honorees were Michael Horwitz, Business Broker and M&A Advisor with Transworld Business Advisors of Atlanta; and Brad Coffman, President and Managing Director of Valorem Business Brokers.
Mr. Snypp and Mr. Jon Merry were honored as Phoenix Members of the Million Dollar Club for
achieving more than a million dollars in sales for any ten years.
Mr. Judson, Mr. Ferreira, and Mr. Burnette were honored as Life Members of the Million Dollar Club for achieving more than a million dollars in sales for three consecutive years or any five years.
The Georgia Association of Business Brokers (GABB) is the state’s only professional organization dedicated to buying and selling businesses and franchises. GABB broker members have represented thousands of business sellers and buyers, and the group has a dedicated membership of lenders, attorneys and other professionals to assist business buyers and sellers at every step of the process.
“The Georgia Association of Business Brokers is dedicated to improving the professionalism of our members through education, through the Board Certified Broker program, and through our Code of Ethics,” explains GABB President Judy Mims. “Our members have the opportunity to network with others in this field and in supporting professions, which ensures smoother transactions.”
The GABB’s website lists hundreds of businesses and franchises for sale throughout Georgia in a variety of fields, including automotive, business services, child care, cleaning, construction, electronics equipment, fitness, flooring, floral, food, gas stations, landscaping, manufacturing, medical, shipping, restaurants, retail, security, signs, and businesses related to the internet.
Find a professional business broker today at https://gabb.org/gabb-business-brokers/.
The Awardees:
SARABJEET KAUR, a business broker and REALTOR® with Virtual Properties Realty, specializes in commercial properties, hotels, and convenience stores. She is a member of the Northeast Atlanta Metro Association of REALTORS® (NAMAR) and the Atlanta Commercial Board of REALTORS®. She was 2019-2020 Million Dollar Club Gold Award winner with NAMAR; a Million Dollar Club Active Member 2019 and 2020 with Atlanta Commercial Board of REALTORS®; and a 2019-2020 All-Star Award winner with Virtual Properties Realty. She is a member of the Asian-American Real Estate Association of America (AREAA). She studied in Delhi, India, with certifications in IT and fashion designing. She earned her REALTOR’s license in 2017 and is a licensed Life Insurance agent in Georgia. She and her husband, Prakash Srivastava, and her teenage daughter live in Cumming, Georgia, where they are involved in social activities with Sewa International, a Hindu faith-based, humanitarian, non-profit service organization.
JEFFERY MERRY, Sr., M.B.A. J.D., past president of the GABB, has been the GABB’s top producer many times and has been
a part of the Million Dollar Club since its inception in 1999. He is a GABB board member and will continue to be on the GABB board in 2022. Mr. Merry, owner and founder of the BUSINESS HOUSE, inc., is also a member of the International Business Brokers Association (IBBA) and the Business Brokers of Florida Association. For more than three decades, his firm has specialized in serving the manufacturing, distribution, technology, service, veterinary and medical industries. As a business intermediary, Certified Exit Planner, and consultant, Mr. Merry has been involved in mergers and acquisitions that have ranged in acquisition price from $60,000 to more than $15 million. He is a member of the Advisory Board at the University of North Georgia and is a past adjunct instructor for their MBA program. Mr. Merry holds a bachelor’s degree from Mercer University in Macon, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Illinois Edwardsville, and a Juris Doctor degree from Atlanta Law School. Mr. Merry is a licensed Real Estate Agent in several southeastern states, a Senior Business Analyst, and a member of the Exit Planning Institute. Mr. Merry and his wife, Mary, reside in Suwanee. He has five children and five grandchildren and enjoys traveling, reading, and riding his motorcycle.
MATT WOCHELE, CBI founded Preferred Business Brokers, Inc. in 1996 after a successful 17-year career in the investment banking industry. He is a Life Member of the GABB’s Million Dollar Club, Vice President of the GABB board, a GABB Phoenix Award recipient and a member of IBBA. As President and Managing Broker of Preferred Business Brokers, Inc., he has had the opportunity to be personally involved in hundreds of private business sales. The combined personal experience in the public sector with the private business sales has positioned the company to handle both the smaller main street business deals and the larger middle-market business acquisitions. Matt and his wife, Kathy, a professional artist, have five daughters and live in Sandy Springs.
J. SNYPP III, a former GABB board member and recent continuing education class instructor, lives in Dunwoody, grew up in 
Atlanta, and graduated from Georgia Southern University with a degree in marketing. Mr. Snypp spent more than two decades in the office furniture business before becoming a business broker and has been with Preferred Business Brokers, Inc. for more than fifteen years, serving as Vice President and Associate Broker. He has found success selling businesses in a variety of industries, most recently selling a medical services company and a landscaping business. He is past president of the Dunwoody North Driving Club, a board member of the Dunwoody High School Gridiron Club, and chairman of the Wildcat Classic Golf Tournament which benefits the Dunwoody High School Football Team. He has also served on the board of the Dunwoody High School Tip-Off Club and the diaconate of his church. He is married and has two boys, ages eighteen and twenty-three. Therefore, when he is not selling businesses, he is usually trying to keep up with the boys or involved in some other family activity.
STEVEN JOSOVITZ is Senior Vice President of The Shumacher Group, having joined the firm in 1992. He heads up the company’s restaurant business brokerage division in addition to providing commercial retail and restaurant real estate site selection, sales, and lease negotiation expertise. A former restaurant owner and trained professional chef, Mr. Josovitz has an extensive background in restaurant and hotel management. He earned a B.S. in Hotel/Restaurant Management from Florida International University in 1981 and has studied in Europe. As a 28-year GABB member, Mr. Josovitz is a Life Member and a past recipient of the Phoenix Award. He annually receives the GABB’s Multi-Million Dollar Club Award and Top Five Award for business and restaurant brokerage sales in Georgia.
LISA YOUNG is a Senior Business Advisor at Transworld Business Advisors of Atlanta North. She is an alumna of Georgia 
College and State University in Milledgeville, where she earned a BBA in Information Systems. Through her extensive background in real estate, entrepreneurship, and business consulting, Ms. Young brings a broad spectrum of knowledge and expertise to her clients and is passionate about helping them achieve their goals. She maintains residences in both Canton and Greensboro so that she may better serve her clients. She is a Life Member of the GABB Multi-Million Dollar Club and has been a Transworld Business Advisors President’s Club member for the last four years. A proud “Gigi” of three grandchildren, Ms. Young enjoys hiking, swimming, boating, golf, and volunteer work with organizations such as Second Harvest Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, and her church.
BRIAN JUDSON has been a Senior Business Broker with Best Business Brokers (B3) since 2015. He has more than a dozen years in the business brokerage industry after thirty years in automotive service management. In 2021, he served on the boards of Buy Local Savannah and TEDx Savannah. He holds a leadership position in Gulfstream’s Student Leadership program mentoring high school students and is a member of the Savannah Traffic Club, the CFO Council of Savannah, and the Savannah Estate Planning Council. His recent community involvement includes chairing the Savannah Historic Review Board, serving on an investment panel for United Way, and being a Master Docent at the Telfair Academy and the Jepson Center for the Arts. Brian moved to Savannah in 2006 after more than thirty years in Santa Cruz, California. He and his wife, Liza, a Coordinator of Advising at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), have three children, two rescue mutts, and more art than they can hang at any one time.
JON MERRY, a senior business broker with the BUSINESS HOUSE, inc., has been in the Business Mergers and Acquisition 
Industry for more than fifteen years. He specializes in serving the manufacturing, distribution, service, medical, and healthcare industries. He has a keen understanding of the buying and selling process and is well versed in the industry, handling a wide range of deal-making activities for the firm and assisting with numerous M&A transactions. Since 2012, Mr. Merry has been recognized as one of the GABB’s top five brokers for closed M&A transactions and is a former GABB board member. In addition, he has been a Certified Machinery/Equipment Appraiser (CMEA) with the National Equipment Business Builders Institute (NEBB Institute) since 2000 and became a Master CMEA in 2014. As a CMEA, he is intensively trained in the legal requirements involving USPAP standards, as well as the methodology approach employed in establishing fair market value, orderly liquidation value, and forced liquidation value in any market condition. Mr. Merry is a member of IBBA and the International Society of Business Analysts (ISBA). A native of Georgia, Mr. Merry was a professional umpire for Minor League Baseball for eleven years. He and his wife, RaeLynda, and their two sons, Jacob and Joseph, live in Historic Dahlonega.
PEDRO FERREIRA is a Business Broker with Transworld Business Advisors. Mr. Ferreira has successfully sold businesses from several industries including technology, automotive, retail, hospitality, construction, distribution, beauty, and manufacturing. He is committed to creating win-win deals by listening to the needs of all the parties involved and providing the most comprehensive business sale process. Mr. Ferreira has volunteered as a PR Director with the Brazilian American Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast and has published business and economics articles in government and international media publications. He is currently on the advisory board of the Customer Experience Executive Education program at George Washington University and has served on the Food and Beverage Advisory Board of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Ferreira has volunteered as Assistant Director of Development at Peacebuilding Solutions and as an Artistic Associate for Pinch ‘N’ Ouch Theatre. He currently lives in Suwanee with his wife, Sara Bess, two children, Olivia and Leonardo, and their pet Yorkshire Terrier, Sampson.
GREG DeFOOR is a business broker, CPA, and 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 engaged in business transactions and decided to use that knowledge and experience to start his own firm. He has a unique blend of accounting, tax, 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, DeFoor Business Services, Inc., specializes in the sale of small and middle-market privately owned businesses in a diverse mix of industrial classifications. Mr. DeFoor is a past President and current board member of the GABB. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree with a concentration in accounting from Auburn University. He resides in Cobb County.
ROB MARGETON is co-owner of Ryco Advisors, LLC, a professional lower-middle market business brokerage firm serving Atlanta and the Southeast that specializes in selling owner-operated businesses with annual revenues between $3 million and $50 million. He has more than eighteen years of experience in financial services and as a business owner. Prior to co-founding Ryco Advisors, Mr. Margeton was a Managing Director at a New York middle-market financial restructuring firm and has worked on more than fifty transactions across a diverse set of industries. He also has extensive experience running and managing his own business. Together with his wife, Mr. Margeton acquired the flagship Fleet Clean location in 2013 and oversaw a successful sales process in 2018. During their tenure, they successfully grew revenues and EBITDA by 75% and 95%, respectively. They managed more than thirty employees and served more than 150 clients throughout Metro Atlanta, including many Fortune 500 companies. An Eagle Scout and a Certified M&A Professional, he is a member of M&A Source and the Atlanta Commercial Board of REALTORS®. He and his family reside in Peachtree City.
DEAN BURNETTE is the founder of Best Business Brokers (B3) in Savannah. More than three decades of business ownership 
and management experience in various industries have given Mr. Burnette a wide range of experience and business knowledge. These experiences contribute to his abilities to help identify and qualify appropriate buyers, put together sales prospectuses, negotiate terms of a sale, and recognize the importance of confidentiality in these types of business transactions. He has been a member of the GABB Multi-Million Dollar Club many times. Mr. Burnette, a past president of GABB, is excited about the many opportunities that the current economic conditions and recent economic events have created in Georgia. He is a sponsor of the Georgia Logistics Summit; a past president of the Savannah Small Business Chamber; and a member of the Savannah Traffic Club, Savannah Real Estate Commercial Alliance, GAR, and NAR. Mr. Burnette also serves on the Education Advisory Committee for the Georgia Real Estate Commission and on the Board of Directors for Maritime Bethel Savannah. He is married and has two children and four terrific grandchildren.
MICHAEL HORWITZ is a Business Broker and M&A Advisor with Transworld Business Advisors of Atlanta North. He has been helping people buy and sell small and lower-middle market businesses for more than five years. His experience runs the gamut from senior management roles in Fortune 500 corporations to leadership positions with venture capital-backed high-tech enterprises. Mr. Horwitz also brings small business knowledge through his seven years of owning an independent bicycle shop. He has been in the North Atlanta area for more than twenty-five years now. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and received his undergraduate degree from Case Western Reserve University. After ten years in the workforce, he went on to receive his M.B.A. from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Horwitz is an avid cyclist, kayaker, and backpacker.
BRAD COFFMAN, CBI, CM&AP, CFC, BTS, is President and Managing Director of Valorem Business Brokers and has more
than fifteen years of experience in starting and growing businesses. Mr. Coffman is an entrepreneur who was only twenty years old when he established his first startup company, which grew to a multi-million dollar entity with more than thirty employees within the first two years. Mr. Coffman’s diverse background as a founder and CEO of multiple businesses includes commercial real estate, commercial relocation services, mergers and acquisitions, restaurants, and more. He has won several awards and designations during his career in Florida and Georgia including but not limited to GABB Million Dollar Club Top Five, IBBA Members Excellence Award, and IBBA Chairman’s Circle Award. Mr. Coffman resides in Palm Beach, Florida, with his wife and two sons.
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Business Valuation: GABB BCB Class Oct 19, 2021
Learn basic approaches to business valuation, including how COVID may have impacted what a business is worth and tax strategies for maximum profits in this three-hour class offered by the Georgia Association of Business Brokers. The class will be held from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021 at the Georgia Association of Realtors classroom and also available online. Registration is now closed. Students who successfully complete the GABB class will earn credits towards the Board-Certified Broker designation, the first Georgia-specific certification for business brokers. To earn the BCB, business brokers must be members of the GABB and complete 45 hours of coursework. During this extraordinary time in our nation’s economy, the GABB feels that an excellent use of time would be to strengthen the skills professionals need to represent clients fairly, ethically and responsibly. The class (GREC #73547) also offered three hours of continuing education credit towards renewing a Georgia real estate license through the Georgia Real Estate Commission and the GABB’s Real Estate School (GREC #8074). The class will be taught by Jeff Forrestall, CPA, CFF, ABV, PFS, Managing Partner of Forrestall CPAS and Ricky Moore, CPA, PFS, ABV, QKA, MBA, the Manager of Advisory Services at Forrestall CPAs. Both instructors have experience in tax and financial planning and business valuation. Topics to be covered in this three-hour class include:
- Reconciling Valuation Approaches – Why sellers like the market approach and buyers like the income approach
- COVID Updates: How COVID can affect entity value
- Evaluating and Reducing company-specific risk
- How to increase after-tax proceeds at the exit point
- Ethical issues affecting business valuations
If you want to attend via Zoom, and you have not received an email with information about how to join, contact GABB School Director Diane Loupe at diane.loupe@gabb.org or text her at 404-374-3990 for more information. INSTRUCTORS:
Jeff Forrestall, CPA, CFF, ABV, PFS – Managing Partner of Forrestall CPAs.
Ricky Moore, CPA, PFS, ABV, QKA, MBA is the Manager of Advisory Services at Forrestall CPAs.