Kevin Layton

Andy Cavanaugh possesses a unique skill set obtained over 20 years of experience owning, working in, and consulting for companies ranging from a single store shop on Main Street to Fortune 500s and quite a few in between. He is currently serving as a Senior Advisor for Apex Business Advisors, where he connects buyers and sellers of small to mid-sized businesses. In this role, he can utilize the skills and experience he has acquired over the past 20 years and combine those with the passion he has for Small businesses to match Business Owners interested in selling their business with qualified, interested, and capable Buyers in the transaction process. Before joining Apex, Andy owned and operated a retail franchise in the Kansas City area. As an owner-operator for nearly ten years, he was responsible for everything that went on with the business, from Marketing, Customer Relations, and Human Resources. This provided a real-world education of a company's life cycle from establishing to growing to selling the business. This experience provided an even deeper understanding of managing a Profit and Loss to maximize the cash flow and business value to ready the company for a sale. Prior to owning and operating his business, Andy spent nearly 15 years working in various consulting and leadership capacities for CommunityAmerica Credit Union, Accenture, H&R Block, and RSM US (formerly McGladrey). His consulting background can be found today in how he manages his Clients through the Buying and Selling process of a Business. Through detailed requirement gathering and understanding the needs of each client, Andy can match buyers and sellers with the exact opportunities they are seeking. This has resulted in a proven track record of incredibly high ROI, productivity, quality, and customer satisfaction while making the process as painless as possible. Before his work with Apex, Andy was involved with the buying and selling his entrepreneurial ventures, including an online Golf Tee Time Reservation and marketing company, a procurement consulting firm, and a wraps and salad restaurant, to name a few.

Tom's experience in many small businesses makes him well-suited to helping owners and entrepreneurs exit and/or find their next business venture. With an original detree in engineering, and further education in business management and accounting he brings a wide swath of knowledge to business sales.

SELLER REPRESENTATION Debbie specializes in manufacturing, distribution, and service operations and has closed millions of dollars in small business sales during her career as a Senior Broker with Apex Business Advisors. Debbie has extensive experience pre-qualifying buyers and generating 90-100% cash at closing for most sellers. She will help you determine how much your business is worth with no upfront fees. With her vast 25+ years experience as a business consultant, Debbie Small helps business owners understand the complexities of selling their company and guides them every step of the way during the negotiation process with a prospective buyer. Once a qualified buyer has been identified, Debbie works with both parties to help them through the sales process by facilitating training, transition, and closing details. She also prepares and packages your business to SBA lenders and orchestrates the entire loan approval process to advocate for the sale. Debbie is committed to finding you the most suitable, financially-qualified buyer for your business. She understands that confidentiality is of the utmost importance in selling your business and will maintain your privacy while bringing you buyers who will yield you the maximum sales price in the least amount of time. In addition, she understands the economic impact of selling your business and consequently, will connect you with tax specialists in order to minimize your corporate, personal and real estate tax burden. Debbie can be reached at (913) 433-2304 or dsmall@kcapex.com to set up a FREE consultation and Broker's Opinion of Value on the sale of your business. BUYER REPRESENTATION Debbie has found that buyers often have difficulty finding the right acquisition opportunity. Typically, buyers spend many, many hours shopping website to website looking for the right opportunity to find that A) the business is already under contract B) it's overpriced or C) they are competing with 5+ other buyers on the same business. Debbie Small is highly experienced at removing these challenges for buyers through the Apex customized Buyer Acquisition Search. She utilizes key strategies and techniques developed over several years to help buyers purchase the maximum cash flow business for the least amount of capital out of their pockets. Her business search rapidly expedites the acquisition process and identifies potential target companies with verifiable income based on 1) geographic location 2) industry and 3) revenue. In addition, she orchestrates the entire loan approval process to ensure financial arrangements for the sale are complete. To learn more about her customized Buyer Acquisition Searches, call her at 913-433-2304 for a FREE consultation.

As a Certified M&A Professional with Apex Business Advisors, I help people buy and sell businesses. While most of these businesses are in the Kansas City metro or within a 100-mile radius many are located across the United States.

Entrepreneurs invest many years building successful businesses. Selling a business, or buying an existing one, is a life-changing event. It is Ron's passion to help goal-oriented individuals realize their dreams. Ron has successfully handled dozens of business sales throughout the USA for buyers and sellers. Over the last four decades he has personally owned, operated, and sold more than forty businesses including supermarkets, retail stores, shopping centers, franchises, ecommerce websites, manufacturing and distribution companies. This first-hand experience ideally qualifies Ron with the expertise to assist with the purchase or sale of businesses. Ron, who resides in the Kansas City area, is a trusted advisor in the Midwest and throughout the USA. In addition to providing professional consultation for business sellers, Ron specializes in locating off-market acquisition opportunities for buyers. Ron can be reached at 913-815-6049 to schedule a COMPLIMENTARY consultation with you in regards to the sale of your business. Or, if you're looking for acquisitions, a discussion about a customized BUYER ACQUISITION search.

Jerry brings over 30 years experience of business ownership with an award-winning company in the design-build industry. This extensive experience was followed by an executive level position with a firm specializing in large transaction funding, refinancing, commercial real estate acquisitions, and venture capital giving Jerry hands-on underwriting and banking knowledge. As President of Meinert Enterprises, he has been able to provide quality consulting services to the small and mid-sized business community advising on business plans for start up, expansion, as well as assisting with sales and marketing strategies. This experience has given him the insight to provide quality advice to business owners planning to sell their companies and entrepreneurs seeking ownership opportunities. Jerry's administration, ownership, finance and consulting expertise will be critical for any business owner needing an honest appraisal of their enterprises value and establishment of an exit strategy to maximize their estate value. Jerry has been active with numerous local and national business organizations and past board member and Chairman of the Board of the Better Business Bureau. Married for 33 years, he and his wife have daughters enrolled at TCU and KSU. Jerry has been involved in multiple non profit boards and volunteer work. A lifelong Kansas City resident, they currently live in Shawnee. Favorite activities are working, reading, fishing, hunting, gardening and taking vacations on any beach. You can reach Jerry at 913-927-9911

Jay's combination of accounting/finance and sales experience make him ideally suited for the business brokerage industry. He earned his B.S. degree in accounting from Kansas State University while on a baseball scholarship and received his M.B.A. in finance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He also has a Kansas Real Estate License. With his accounting background, he is especially strong at recasting financial statements to reflect a company's true value in the marketplace. Jay most recently owned a franchise of a leading promotional marketing company, Adventures in Advertising. Jay held accounting/treasury positions with Health Midwest and Metmor Financial. He also was a recruiter for an executive search firm, Morgan Hunter Corporation. Jay is ready to sit down and systematically prepare your business for sale. Then, using strategic resources only available through Apex Business Advisors, he will take your business to market to maximize your proceeds in the shortest amount of time. Jay also has a Kansas Real Estate License. Jay can be reached at 913-433-2307 or 816-550-5730.

Jeff Crooks, one of our Senior Partners who joined the Overland Park Apex Team in 1999, comes to us with more than 20 years of sales experience. He works primarily with privately held business owners with sales from 2-200MM gross revenue in a broad range of industries. Service companies, manufacturing, aerospace, medical, dental and distribution companies are areas of his specific skill. Additionally, he also works on the buy-side, for middle market corporate acquirers engaged in a build-up strategy, private equity firms looking for specific add-on acquisitions to existing platforms and for large strategic acquirers looking to acquire specific middle market companies in an industry space that he has developed expertise in. He fully understands the role taxes can play in selling a business and is well versed in facilitating a solution beneficial to his clients. His background and experiences allow him to understand many of the unique issues, challenges, and opportunities facing his clients. His understanding of his clients’ expectations has gained him long-term client relationships. Jeff holds undergraduate degrees in Molecular Cell Biology and Chemistry, as well as Graduate degrees in Gerontology and Business. He has been nationally recognized as a member of the Million Dollar Roundtable and number 1 producer for the last 14 years. Active in Church and his community, Jeff is a member of the Masonic Lodge, and Kansas Special Olympics Management Team. He also brings 27 continuous years of military experience to the table as a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army Reserves, serving our country as a Staff Instructor at the Command and General Staff College, Ft Leavenworth KS. In his spare time, Jeff loves long range rifle shooting, competitive pistol, fly fishing and traditional muzzle loading. He also enjoys music,politics, and entertaining family and friends. Reach Jeff at 913 433-2305 or 816 510-0255 (cell) http://www.kcapex.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffcrooks Specialties:Mergers and Acquisitions 2-200MM in gross revenue.

Purchased, operated, and sold a candle manufacturing business. Experience in commercial real estate, marketing, operations, and finance. MBA from Kellogg School at Northwestern University.