Specialties

Complex litigation related to investments: Stock Selection, Investment Manager Selection, Due Diligence; Private Equity; Venture Capital and Hedge Fund Investments; Short Selling; Fraud and Ponzi Schemes; Defined Benefit and 401(k) Pension Plans; Alternative Investment Strategies and Implementation; Materiality of Information; Insider Trading; Damages; Lost Profits.

Degrees/Licenses

MBA

Formal Education

MBA, Finance and Investments, Harvard Business School; BS, Physics, Bemidji State University.

Registration and Licenses

Non-Public Arbitrator, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA); California Registered Investment Advisor (inactive) FINRA series 65 (inactive).

Previous/Current Position

Consultant and Expert Witness, Investment Strategy & Analysis; Senior Investment Consultant, Milliman/Sole Consultant to Endowments, Foundations, Defined Benefit Pension Plan and 401(k) Plans; Adjunct Professor of Finance, Golden Gate University; Director of Research, McCullough & Associates; Long/Short Equity Portfolio Manager, Harvard University's Endowment; Head of Distribution, Meros Investment Management.

Honors/Awards

Judge, Pension Bridge 2019 & 2020 Institutional Asset Management Awards; Member, Investment Committee, San Francisco Zen Center Retirement and Endowment Funds; Ellis/LeBaron Fellowship, Harvard Business School; Named to Advisory Boards for several Early-Stage Companies; Board Member, Federated Retirement System for the City of San José (prior).

Prof. Affiliations

Member, Harvard Business School Forum; Voting Member, Securities Experts Roundtable; Advisory Board, Silicon Valley Venture-Private Equity Capital Roundtable (prior).

Publications

"Cypress Semiconductor Corporation and SunPower Corporation," (case and teaching note), Ivey Publishing, September 14, 2009, available at Harvard Business Publishing Education; "Selling Short: Green Mountain Coffee Roasters," (case and teaching note), Ivey Publishing, August 21, 2017, available at Harvard Business Publishing Education; "PIMCO StocksPLUS and StocksPLUS Absolute Return Analysis Report," Contra Costa County Employees' Retirement Association, June 16, 2014.

Prior Expert

Marty Dirks is a court approved Expert Witness and has acted as an Expert Witness in complex Financial Litigation since 2005. In 2019, he served as a Materiality Expert for three large class-action cases. He is recognized as an excellent communicator, who clearly explains complex topics to non-expert laypersons.

Specialties

Baker Tilly's Global Forensics team is a leading FORENSIC ACCOUNTING, BUSINESS VALUATION and CONSULTING practice that specializes in the legal, corporate and insurance markets globally.
Its accountants and consultants have performed comprehensive financial investigations and valuations for over 40 years.
Bringing experience and expertise in a broad range of sectors to clients on every engagement, Baker Tilly's investigative accounting, business valuation and financial consulting services deliver clarity in the most complex situations. Their partners have a long history of serving as financial expert witnesses. They have testified as expert witnesses on the measurement of economic damages, business valuation issues and fraud examinations in dispute proceedings and litigation in State and Federal courts across the U.S.

Degrees/Licenses

CPA's, ABV's, CFF's, CFE's, MAFF's

Formal Education

MBA, Cornell University; BS, Business Administration, Miami University

Prof. Affiliations

Baker Tilly International

Prior Expert

Frank Wisehart is a court approved expert witness with over 25 years of experience in: forensic accounting; business valuation; IP valuation; family law; transaction due diligence; damages; bankruptcy/reorganization. He is a trusted advisor on the financial implications of strategic transactions and business disputes.

Specialties

A nationwide specialist consulting and expert witness company (established 1973) that concentrates exclusively in Banking, Finance, Insurance, Real Estate, Financial Services, Economics / Statistics and Accounting and related Damages.

Area of Expertise include:
BANKING: Operations/Administration, Depository/Checking Accounts, Regulatory issues, Compliance; LENDING (all categories), Underwriting, Credit/Administration, Servicing, Policies/practice; FINANCE: Securities, Investments & Brokerage, Trusts & Fiduciaries, Bankruptcy, Foreclosures and Workouts, Investment Banking, Corporate Finance; REAL ESTATE: Lending, Brokerage, Title/Escrow, Property Management, Development; INSURANCE (all categories): Coverage, Claims, Broker/Agent functions, Industry Custom/Practice, Operations and Actuarial; DAMAGES & ACCOUNTING, Economics, Statistics, Valuations/Appraisals, Forensic Accounting & Accounting/Audit.

Degrees/Licenses

MBAs; PhDs; CPAs; ASA/MAIs; CPMs; CREs; CFPs; RE Brokers/Agents; Insurance brokers/agents; CPCUs; CLUs; ARMs and many more.

Prior Expert

As our primary focus for 30+ years, 500+ highly qualified and experienced experts/consultants providing evaluation, testimony and litigation consulting on behalf of both plaintiff and defendants of all types re: 4,000+ cases. Clients include leading national and regional law firms, also many smaller/boutique litigation firms and attorneys, and numerous governmental / regulatory agencies (FDIC, SEC, IRS, US and State DOJs, FHLB etc.)

We provide TARGETED SEARCHES AT NO COST for unique, hard-to-find/unusually specialized experts not already within our wide-ranging group; STRATEGIC ALLIANCES NATIONWIDE across the banking, financial, real estate and insurance industries; LEADING EXPERTS from the worlds of economics, accounting, academia and the regulatory agencies; POWERFUL CAPABILITIES IN DAMAGES, Forensic Accounting. Economic Analysis, and Valuations / Appraisals.