• Thursday, December 15, 2005

One of the most common questions asked by established business owners is, "How can I position my company to be sold?"

In this EVOLVE seminar, a panel of entrepreneurs and professionals will discuss the strategic, operational, and financial issues that must be addressed to prepare your business for acquisition.

Our panel will consist of entrepreneurs who have successfully sold companies, as well as legal, financial and transaction intermediaries. They will discuss the amount of work that goes into the selling process, what buyers look for, and how to place a value on your company.

Panelists:

Gloria Jean Kvetko, founded Gloria Jean's Gourmet Coffee in Long Grove, Illinois because she believed that the public would embrace a good cup of coffee, even if they had to pay a little extra. While her fore bearers took their coffee seriously, steadily, and without frills, Gloria Jean ruffled feathers-and taste buds- with her introduction of gourmet and flavored coffees. Her stores sold only Arabica beans, which were hand-picked and cultivated in higher altitudes over a longer growing season than those used by most commercial coffee companies. This created a coffee with greater body, texture, flavor, and aroma.

Gloria Jean brought espresso coffee to the front counter. Branding of the Gloria Jean name made her the nation's "coffee queen," and gave her a permanent foothold on the coffee industry. The color green, splashed with the gold Gloria Jean's inscription, became a mainstay in cities around the United States, as the chain blossomed into the nation's leading mall-based coffee retailer. Today, you can find the Gloria Jean's brand in more than 200 U.S. locations and 36 countries.

Gloria Jean sold the franchise for an estimated $40 million in 1993. Today, the world's annual bean production could make 3,644,000,000 cubic feet (1,112,000,000 cubic meters) of liquid coffee, a volume equal to the Mississippi River's outflow for an hour and a half. But every time you enjoy your favorite blend at Starbucks, or Dietrich's, or Seattle's Best Coffee, say a little prayer of thanks for Gloria Jean Kvetko, the matriarch of gourmet and flavored coffee. (Gloria Jean actually introduced the word "gourmet" to coffee which, at the time meant expensive, but today means better.) Until she followed her entrepreneurial instincts and stepped out on faith, the country had yet to figure out how to brew that perfect cup.

John J. Cummins is a partner at Cummins & Hession, P.C. He concentrates his practice in business advising, mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, and intellectual property protection. His clients are primarily technology oriented companies, health care ventures, licensed professionals, and entrepreneurs. He has represented clients varying from Fortune 500 companies, shareholders of public and private corporations, to emerging companies and entrepreneurs.

Mr. Cummins has experience as a general counsel, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, and a member of the boards of director of several businesses. He previously was general counsel and CFO for PocketScript, Inc., a software developer for wireless physician systems. He also worked for the legal departments of DePaul University and a Federally chartered savings & loan with assets in excess of $1 billion and eighteen branches.

Mr. Cummins received his B.A. and J.D. from DePaul University and currently is Vice Chairman of the Dean's Advisory Council for the DePaul University College of Law and Chairman of the Athletics Advisory Council for DePaul Athletics. Mr. Cummins shares the distinction of being the first four-year letter winner in Men's NCAA Division I soccer at DePaul University. Most recently, Mr. Cummins was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award by the DePaul University College of Law.

Paul F. Manzano is a Principal of FOCUS Enterprises Inc. He has over 15 years of experience as an operator, adviser and financier of emerging and mid-market growth companies. Mr. Manzano uses his unique combination of legal, financial, and operational experience to advise FOCUS clients on corporate finance and M&A opportunities, with an emphasis on maximizing shareholder value as it relates to the pre- and post-transaction planning process.

Previous to FOCUS, Mr. Manzano served as the President and CEO of EVO Knowledge, Inc., a digital media content and platform infrastructure company. In this role, Mr. Manzano developed the corporate strategy, placed the company's first two rounds of financing, and executed a sales and marketing plan resulting in a compound annual growth rate of nearly 200% over a three year period.

Formerly, Mr. Manzano was a Managing Director of Finlay Benson Group, LLC, a management consulting and strategy firm, where he provided operational guidance to technology companies from start-up to $50MM in revenues. During his tenure with Finlay Benson, he also served as the Executive Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs of Shoplocal, Inc, where he was responsible for engineering the company's primary product integration alliances, overseeing business development efforts, developing corporate strategy, and serving as the firm's counsel.

Prior to joining Finlay Benson, Mr. Manzano was a transactional attorney with the Family Office Enterprise Planning Practice of Handler, Thayer & Duggan, LLC, where he structured family offices for closely-held business owners with enterprise values ranging from $50MM to over $1B. In this role, Mr. Manzano executed complex corporate restructurings, corporate finance transactions, and asset protection strategies as a means to enhance and protect family wealth. Before his tenure at Handler Thayer, Mr. Manzano was a Portfolio Manager at William Blair & Company, LLC, Chicago's largest investment banking firm.

Paul received a B.S. degree in Finance from Indiana University. He studied law at St. Edmund Hall at Oxford University, and received his J.D. and M.B.A. degrees concurrently from the University of Washington in Seattle. He sits on the advisory panels of several technology companies, and he is a former board member of Chicago Youth Programs, Inc.

Ron Repking is the CEO and co-founder of Capable Networks, LLC, a start-up that creates and manages online communities. This is his third start-up, after having founded a high-tech computer consulting company, Bauhaus Technologies, Inc., in Chicago and a non-profit Montessori preschool in Glen Ellyn.

Ron was CEO of Bauhaus for five years and grew the company from $200K in revenue its first year to an annual run rate of $5 million with 30 employees. In 2000, Bauhaus was sold to software giant BEA Systems, Inc., where Ron worked for one year as the Senior Practice Director – Professional Services in the Central Region. His Montessori school has an enrollment of over 70 children, and has been self-supporting in its three years of existence. Ron is currently a member of its Board of Directors.

Ron graduated with honors from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, after which he spent several years at Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) as a software developer and consultant.