Espen Robak, CFA

Espen Robak, CFA, President of Pluris Valuation Advisors, is a nationally recognized expert on restricted securities, securities design, levels of value, and discounts for lack of liquidity. Over more than a decade, he has provided valuation services for stock-based compensation and other financial reporting purposes, transaction fairness, corporate and personal income tax, estate and gift tax, employee stock ownership plans, litigation and other purposes. Mr. Robak has particular expertise with venture capital, private equity fund structures and hedge fund structures. He is a prolific writer on business, valuation and taxation topics, and speaks frequently at seminars and professional conferences. Recent topics he has written about include M&A arbitrage data, restricted stock and marketability, and the valuation of trademarks.

Mr. Robak has a master's degree in business administration and a bachelor of science degree from the University of Oregon. He has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. Prior to joining Pluris, Mr. Robak was Senior Vice President of FMV Opinions, Inc., a specialty valuation firm, and directed the firm's restricted stock and blockage discount practices. At FMV, Mr. Robak authored several publications on private placements, restricted stock, and marketability discounts, and oversaw the creation of "The FMV Restricted Stock Study." Mr. Robak's corporate valuation experience also includes allocation of value between common, preferred, and convertible securities, and the valuation of derivative and hybrid securities. Prior to joining FMV, Mr. Robak was an Account Manager for BankAmerica Corp. in Seattle, Washington.

Ashok B. Abbott, Ph.D.

Ashok B. Abbott is an Associate Professor of Finance at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. He has also taught at the Graduate school of Credit and Financial Management held at Dartmouth and Stanford University.

Professor Abbott received his MBA in Finance at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1984, which was followed by a Ph.D. in finance also at VPI&SU, in 1987. His Ph.D. dissertation title was "The Valuation Effects of Tax Legislation in Corporate Sell-Offs." Professor Abbott has over twenty years of experience in the evaluation of businesses as a senior bank lender and as a business appraiser.  He is a consultant to valuation firms in the areas of DLOL and DLOM (S&P, Duff and Phelps, Willamette). The Small Business Administration recognized Professor Abbott as the Small Business Advocate-Journalist for the year 2002.

Professor Abbott has received frequent recognition and awards for his teaching including Best Teacher Award College of Business 1993, Best Teacher Award Division of Economics and Finance 1995, and Lifetime Investment Award given by the Executive MBA graduating class of 1999. He has published extensively in scholarly research journals and made presentations at national and international conferences, with some recent ones pertaining to the BV discipline:

• “Untangling the Web of Discounts: Marketability, Liquidity, and Control Issues in Valuation”, Valuation Strategies, August 2004
  
  
• “Strategic Flexibility and Firm Performance: The Case of US Based Transnational corporations”, Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 2003 Vol4, Nos. 1&2, pp1-8 (lead article), with Kunal Banerji
  
  
• “Discount for lack of marketability: evidence from NASDAQ delistings”,
  Business Valuation Review, December 2003
  
  
• “New Flexible Paradigms in Equity Valuation: Knowledge Based Enterprises”,
  Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management-   2001 Vol 2. No.1
  
  
• "Role of liquidity in Asset Pricing", proceedings of International Conference on Business and Finance, December 2004, Hyderabad, India
  
  
• “Untangling the Web of Discounts: Marketability, Liquidity, and Control Issues in Valuation”, proceedings of Institute of Business Appraisers Meeting, Las Vegas, June 2004
  
  
• "Re-examining the Risk and Return effects of Joint Ventures",
   proceedings of Hawaii International Conference on Business” Honolulu, June 2004, with Tuncer Gocman

Barry Silbert, CEO

Barry E. Silbert is the founder and CEO of Restricted Stock Partners.  Restricted Stock Partners, a division of Green Drake Capital Corp. (Member NASD/SIPC), manages the Restricted Securities Trading Network (RSTN), providing liquidity and trading solutions to institutional and accredited investors who hold restricted securities in public companies.

Prior to founding Restricted Stock Partners in 2004, Mr. Silbert was an investment banker at Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, where he focused on financial restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate financing transactions.  Before joining Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Silbert worked at Bear Stearns, Smith Barney and the Rydex Funds.  He graduated with honors from the Goizueta Business School of Emory University, and holds Series 7, 24 and 63 licenses.

Mr. Silbert is also the Chairman of Pluris Valuation Advisors, LLC, a New York-based valuation firm specializing in restricted securities and other illiquid assets. 

CPE Credit Information

Earn 2 Interactive CPE Credits (Consulting Services)
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