Erich K. Schmid, CBI, M&AMI, President

Mr. Schmid is cofounder and President of BIS. He is a 25-year veteran in the mergers and acquisitions arena. In 1974 Mr. Schmid's corporate career began with The Babcock & Wilcox Co. (B&W) in its Corporate Planning and Business Development Department; and following the acquisition of B&W by J. Ray McDermott (NYSE:MDR) in 1978, he was moved to McDermott's corporate staff. In 1980 Mr. Schmid was selected by Tidewater, Inc. (NYSE:TDW) to be its first Director of Corporate Development and served in that position until 1985 when he resigned and moved to Asheville, North Carolina, where he joined a local business brokerage firm where he specialized in larger transactions. During nine years in general business brokerage he performed valuations of several hundred businesses for buyers and sellers and was involved in over 100 transactions. In 1994 Mr. Schmid and William J. Fass founded BIS to focus solely on middle market transactions.

Mr. Schmid has both a B.S. in Industrial Management and M.S. in Management from The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio. Mr. Schmid also studied Strategic Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Business. He is a member and accredited Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) and Merger and Acquisition Master Intermediary (M&AMI) of the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a life member of The Institute of Business Appraisers and holds charter membership in the Southeastern Chapter of The Institute of Business Appraisers. Mr. Schmid is a licensed real estate broker in North Carolina and South Carolina. In addition, Mr. Schmid is an active member of the Charlotte chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG). His e-mail address is ekschmid@prodigy.net.

Mr. Bickar has over 30 years experience in manufacturing as a business owner and operator. He recently sold Accutech Machine, Inc, a production machine shop that he established as a start-up company 14 years ago. Prior to staring Accutech, Mr. Bickar was part owner of an automotive parts manufacturer and was involved in the design, sales, and production of replacement auto parts and new parts for the racing industry.

He also has had experience in primary metal manufacturing as an industrial engineer. He is concentrating his efforts on clients in all areas of manufacturing, and his wide range of experience will be an asset to them.

Mr. Bickar attended The Ohio State University's School of Engineering. He is a member of the International Business Brokers Association, and is a candidate for the Certified Business Intermediary (CBI) designation. Mr. Bickar lives in the Charlotte area and serves clients from his Charlotte office. His e-mail is rbickar@mindspring.com.

Mr. Smith has an extensive background in commercial brokerage and economic development. For more than 30 years, he has been involved as a principal or officer in firms in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states which were engaged in business brokerage, commercial real estate brokerage and management as well as commercial real estate development.

For 12 years, Mr. Smith has participated in office building development and management in the Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. areas, as president of Land Resource Group, Inc. and LRG, Inc. In the Carolinas and Virginia, he was instrumental in the development of several regional shopping centers; from conceptualization through feasibility, site selection and acquisition, into construction stages.

In 1995, Mr. Smith returned to Asheville and affiliated with Business Intermediary Services, Ltd. Along with middle-market merger and acquisition endeavors, he completed the International Business Brokers Association accreditation as a Certified Business Intermediary (CBI). In recent years his practice have been interspersed with real estate development consulting, as well as buy-side representations in business transactions.

In addition to his membership in the International Business Brokers Association, Mr. Smith belongs to The Institute of Business Appraisers (IBA) and is a charter member of the IBA's Southeast Chapter, the Urban Land Institute and the International Council of Shopping Centers. He was educated at both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Asheville, and completed the graduate certificate program in real estate economics at Johns Hopkins University. Mr. Smith holds real estate broker licenses in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. He can be contacted by e-mail at robsmith@earthlink.net

Mr. Gingrich has over 20 years of experience in the management and ownership of manufacturing and distribution companies. After an early career associated with Pepsico and McDonald’s Corporation, his roles have included Vice President/General Manager for a $100 million home furnishings manufacturer, Managing Director in Europe for the subsidiary of an American company, President of a $40 million consumer products company and President and CEO of a manufacturing company in which he was minority owner along with a Private Equity Group. Mr. Gingrich has business experience in North America, Europe and the Middle East and he has an extensive background in Asia.

Mr. Gingrich majored in Accounting at the University of Illinois at Chicago and earned an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the International Business Brokers Association and the IBBA’s M&A Source. His motto is ‘Make Good Things Happen’.

His e-mail address is daveg@SycamoreMP.com.

Mr. Rives is a strategic, operations-oriented senior executive with extensive experience in fundraising, acquisitions, financial management and strategic planning in multiple industries for a $2+ billion NYSE company and for two venture-backed startups.

As a founder of Perigon Medical Distribution Corp., Mr. Rives was responsible for all accounting, tax and treasury functions, risk management, strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, information technology and legal. He led the completion of 11 acquisitions and helped raise over $41 million in equity capital. Mr. Rives was also President of The Morrocroft Group, a private investment firm located in Charlotte, NC.

Mr. Rives spent 18 years at United Dominion Industries (UDI), a diversified public company with revenues in excess of $2 billion where he served as Chief Financial Officer for United Dominion’s $600 million Industrial Products Segment and ran the Strategic Planning and Development function reporting to the CEO. Mr. Rives played key roles in the acquisition and integration of target companies as well as the development of financial controls within the segment.

Mr. Rives received his MBA at the Amos Tuck School of Business. He earned his bachelors degree at Dartmouth College and his masters from John’s Hopkins University. He is a licensed real estate broker in North Carolina and is a National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) registered representative. Mr. Rives is also a member of the Carolinas-Virginia Business Brokers Association (CVBBA).

Mr. Rives’ e-mail address: Lrives@aol.com

Robert (Bob) W. Lichauer, Vice President

Mr. Lichauer has joined the firm following a 33 year career with Foleys, Inc., a health and beauty aids distributor, and its retail store chain, White Star Discount Centers, where he was a Vice President and Controller and also served on the boards of both companies.

Mr. Lichauer is an avid hunter and fisherman and will be an industry specialist serving the owners of companies in the marine and sporting goods industries. He holds a U.S. Coast Guard 100 Ton Master’s license and has 20 years experience as a weekend deep sea charter boat Captain. He is active in the North Carolina Salt Water Fishing Federation and Ducks Unlimited (DU). Mr. Lichauer is currently the Chairman of the Band the Billfish Tournament in Morehead City, NC, a fund raising event for DU’s water fowl conservation program.

He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) with a degree in Economics and Business Administration.

Mr. Lichauer is a member of the Carolinas-Virginia Business Brokers Association (CVBBA). His e-mail address is: bobl@northstate.net

Batista S. Gigliotti, Joint Venture Partner

Mr. Gigliotti is responsible for business strategy and new business development at Fran Systems Consultoria, Ltda. ( www.fransystems.com.by ) in São Paulo. His responsibilities to the joint venture include identifying and engaging Brazilian franchisors that want to expand into the U.S. and coordinating with Business Intermediary Services, Ltd. the selling of the master franchise to a U.S. company; and, vice versa.

Mr. Gigliotti has 23 years of new business development experience at multinational companies (Burger King, Yum Restaurants, Diageo) and at large Brazilian companies (Camargo Corrêa, Planconsult) including 16 years dedicated to franchising systems. He was responsible for the successful launch of the Burger King brand into Brazil; and, supporting franchisors and business consultants in several American and European countries. He frequently gives lectures on franchising issues at the Brazilian Franchising Association (ABF); and, at Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) and at IBMEC-SP, both business schools.

He earned an Global Executive OneMBA from FGV, São Paulo – Brasil; which included courses at: Tecnológico de Monterrey (EGADE) at the Universidad de Monterrey, Monterrey – Mexico; The University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business at Chapel Hill, NC – USA; Erasmus University Rotterdam’s international school of business, RSM Erasmus University, Rotterdam – The Netherlands; and, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), Hong Kong - China. Also, he has a post-graduate degree in Business Administration from FGV-SP – Brasil, and graduated in Civil Engineering from E.E.Mauá - Brasil.

Mr. Gigliotti can be contacted either by phone at 55 (11) 3884-0399, or by e-mail at batista@fransystems.com.br, or by Skype at batistag.

Nelson C. Penna, Vice President (Rio de Janeiro, Brasil)

Mr. Penna has joined Business Intermediary Services, Ltd. (BIS) as a Vice President and will represent owners of Brasilian companies who want to sell their businesses. Mr. Penna will be responsible for sourcing and marketing transactions within Brasil and BIS will coordinate the marketing the businesses to buyers outside Brasil.

A native and resident of Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, Mr. Penna has extensive experience in business consulting and developing and implementing marketing strategies. Marka Plena Consultoria, Ltda., a marketing, events and publicity company owned by Mr. Penna and his partners, developed commercial projects for the promotion of Brasilian companies and the Brasilian Soccer Federation (CBF). Mr. Penna has traveled all over Brasil and internationally on behalf of CBF. For the 2002 World Cup he coordinated the implementation of kiosks depicting the history of Brasilian soccer in malls and at fairs throughout Brasil. Marka Plena also created the “Itinerant Mail” that collected letters and e-mails from soccer fans delivered them to the national team for the 2006 World Cup. Additionally, Mr. Penna has established for foreign investors two “turn-key” bingo parlors in Rio; and, he has also trained sales teams throughout Brasil for a Swiss fiber optics company.

Mr. Penna earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro’s Faculdade de Economia e Finanças (Economics and Finance College).

Nelson Penna’s e-mail address is: contato@idademaior.com.br

Joanne Câmara Hughes, Consultant

Ms. Hughes advises the firm on developing and implementing the firm's Brasilian business brokerage strategy. Ms. Hughes is a native of Rio de Janeiro where she attended Pontifícia Universidade Católica (PUC-Rio) prior to transferring to the University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNCA). In 2005 she graduated from UNCA with a B.A. in Mass Communication.

Mr. Halsey is a consultant to BIS assisting the firm identify and engage clients in Brasil. He is an American born citizen, who upon finishing his formal education in 1977 at the University of West Virginia BS in Forestry and a Minor in Wood Industries, went on to become a certified lumber inspector at the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA) in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1978, he was appointed the position of Assistant General Manager at Harless Imported Hardwood's Brasilian division in Belem, Para, Brasil. In 1979 Mr. Halsey was promoted to General Manager of the sawmill and export operation with some 200 employees, taking the company to its all time record in production and sales. In 1981, he started his own sawmill operation and within two years became the largest softwood exporter from Northern Brazil. During the following years, he diversified and began producing finished products such as flooring, decking and others wood products and in the late 1990s started manufacturing furniture in Northern Brazil which was exported to companies in the US. Sales to these companies continued up to 2006 totaling approximately $30 million. During the first quarter of 2007, Mr. Halsey in addition to consulting to BIS, he is involved in the reforested pine industry in southern Brazil.

Mr. Halsey's e-mail address is: pmhalsey@gmail.com; and, his Skype name in Brasil is: peter.halsey

Humberto V. Meyer, Senior Consultant (Rio de Janeiro, Brasil)

Mr. Meyer joins BIS as a consultant, working closely with Mr. Nelson C. Penna in Brasil, advising the firm on matters related to agricultural projects, including but not limited to, ethanol produced from sugar cane and biodiesel manufactured from soy beans.

He has over 40 years of experience as Executive Director and Advisor for several companies. Prior to joining BIS, in 2001 and 2002 he worked as a consultant for Paulo Afonso Pereira Consultores, a company that deals with industrial property and patents. Mr. Meyer also worked for 15 years for Consulmar, an industrial and commercial conglomerate involved with foreign trade.

Mr. Meyer was also a Founding Partner and Managing Director of Locação e Comércio de Armazéns, Ltda., a company that manufactured warehousing and storage units for grains either in bulk or bags.

Mr. Meyer attended the Escola Nacional de Engenharia - Nacional School of Engineering.

Humberto Meyer's email address is: hvmeyer@hotmail.com