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the process and has a history of further growing successful businesses after the transaction. AT: What advice do you have for other potential sellers and the acquisition process? DC: First, do your research. Attend M&A conferences, ask questions, talk to buyers, sellers, and advisors. Network and have open dialogue with others who are active in the process. Learning from others helps to inform your decision-making. During the due diligence phase, don’t be afraid to get and use help. Most business owners aren’t experts in law, tax, human resources, or IT. Bringing on advisors with M&A experience is key, as is including those members on your team who can help carry the load. When thinking about your team and how they will integrate with the buyer’s team, don’t forget about administrative and marketing roles. Those people are key to how the business functions and need to be accounted for going forward. Make sure they feel just as appreciated as your project managers or technical experts. Finally, don’t underestimate the importance of cultural alignment. This process is complicated and can feel invasive at times. The Westwood team shared our values, which helped us trust them during the entire process, mitigate the inevitable challenges, and emerge as great partners.

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clients. Although we had natural concerns about employee buy-in and their potential reactions, ultimately, all had high confidence in our decision. They trusted we had the firm’s best interests in mind. AT: Now that the integration process is underway, what synergies are you most enthusiastic about, and what are your hopes, aspirations, and expectations for the future partnership? DC: We are excited about the additional resources to support our services and supporting Westwood’s geographic growth overall. Although we are early in the process and have details to finalize, there are many conversations between new team members across services, markets, and offices, and excitement about what is yet to come. Throughout these conversations, we appreciate the respect we have received from Westwood regarding what our team has built and how we contributed to the whole company. We feel like true partners. In the future, I’d like to see us expand further in California, bolster growth in our current offices, and see many of our team members take on new challenges and new leadership roles throughout the company. We are happy to have joined a team with acquisition and geographic growth experience. We didn’t want to be anyone’s first experiment with mergers and acquisitions. Westwood proved their capabilities throughout

THE ZWEIG LETTER JUNE 17, 2024, ISSUE 1542

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