Diego Obando, CEPA®

Our Equity Award Analysis (EAA) tool allows you to capture your employee stock and option holdings and estimate hypothetical gross and net values, and analyze exercise and sell strategies to make recommendations that seek to meet the liquidity, investment, and financial objectives of clients

Our nonpurpose or purpose loan products may enable you to leverage your concentrated stock to gain the liquidity you need for income and cash flow purposes.

There are several steps we can help corporate executives take to maximize the tax efficiency for if and when they liquidate their company stock or pass ownership to the next generation

Exchange Fund- Clients may benefit from greater diversification and deferring capital gains in their concentrated stock by exchanging a concentrated stock position for fund shares without triggering a taxable event

Corporate trading policies
limit the number of days
when company insiders are
allowed to transact in their
stock. These restrictions may
reduce the number of days in
open trading windows to less
than 60 days per year.

These trading restrictions can
make it difficult for company
executives to manage their
personal holdings, which
often represent a source of
concentration risk within their
broader investment portfolios.

Utilizing a 10b5-1 plan allows
the insider to establish a
trading plan that allows for
transactions in the stock
during blackout periods that
surround important corporate
events, announcements and
quarterly earnings releases.

Our Equity Planning & Education Team has over
-40 Years of Dedicated Equity Planning Experience
-60 Years of collective financial planning experience

The EPEC team helps clients with specific guidance on All Award Types– Public and Private

-Guidance on interpreting ISOs, NSOs, SARs, RSU/RSA, PSU/PSAs, ESPP

‒Pre-IPO planning and prepositioning

-Equity tax education and considerations

‒Strategy and Decision Making

‒Timing/Sequence, Execution, Value, Efficiency

‒Trigger events (retirement, IPO, M&A, job change, significant price change, acceleration)

‒Executive Issues

‒Consultative support on Section 16/144, 10b5-1, NQDC, Optics

The Certified Exit Planning Accreditation^® (CEPA^®) designation is the only certification that is focused on selling businesses. Diego Obando knew that earning a CEPA^® designation would give him and his clients a solid foundation in exit planning and the insight and confidence to make well-informed choices. Diego's CEPA^® training helps assemble, organize and prepare your selling team for a smooth transition. But we believe The Obando Group adds even more value. "To us, this isn’t a one-and-done event. From the early stages of planning to the final closing and the post-sale years, we’re committed to your financial well-being, your family and your future."

Identify and retain a highly qualified, multidisciplinary team of professionals to help guide you through the exit planning process and beyond. Your core team should income
• An experience wealth advisor to help you make timely well-informed decisions in the context of your goals
• An attorney with experience handling transactions similar to yours
• An Estate Attorney who specializes in working with UHNW clients
A CPA with sophisticated capabilities in valuation, and financial reporting

Exit planning is the conscious effort to grow enterprise value in a manner that enables the-efficient conversion of ownership into personal financial freedom and peace of mind. Exit Planning is a process not an event. The most valued businesses are transition ready. We believe even if business owners have 0 plan to sell they should always be transition ready. We help evaluate opportunities to not just close potential gaps, but also enhance the value of your business

Examine different monetization paths and develop a plan for managing post-transaction liquidity.

Sell to Insiders
• Intergenerational transfer
• Management Buyout
• Sale to existing partners
• Sale to employees

Sell to Outsiders
• Sale to a third party
• Recapitalization or refinancing
Orderly Liquidation

Take advantage of pre-liquidity strategies and techniques to reduce personal taxes, transfer wealth to family, and fund philanthropic goals. This topic should be visited at least 2-3 years before a potential exit. It is never too early to prepare for what could be next. With a comprehensive plan in place, you can have the confidence to get there.

Implement a customized wealth management plan that encompasses investment strategy, liability management and multi-generational legacy considerations

A partner platform for every stage of business growth.
Whether your company is an early-stage start-up looking for a cap table management solution; a mature private company considering a future IPO, DPO, or SPAC; or a public company, Shareworks can support your equity plan. Other platforms may typically support only private companies or only public companies – and they may not be able to help you transition your private company plan when the time comes to go public. The upshot? As your plan grows or becomes more complex, you may need to switch providers.

-Scalable global equity plans
-A dedicated valuation services team
-Experienced customer support
-Controlled and simplified tender offers

Mike works with clients around areas including estate planning, charitable giving, asset management, insurance and risk management, alternative investments, diversification strategies, business succession, hedging and monetization, and liabilities management.

Mike joined the firm in June 2000. Previously, Mike spent 24 years in a private practice of law in Atlanta, Ga., concentrating in the areas of wills and trusts, probate, tax-exempt organizations, estate planning, estate administration and fiduciary law. Mike received his undergraduate degree from Auburn University and his law degree from The University of Georgia. While at the University of Georgia, he was senior editor of The Georgia Law Review. Mike is admitted to practice before all Georgia courts as well as before the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the United States Tax Court and the Supreme Court of the United States.

Mark Jansen is a Family Office Resource specialist. In this capacity, Mark provides specialized expertise for clients across a broad range of family wealth management issues including; family governance and wealth education, strategic estate and financial planning, philanthropy management and lifestyle advisory. Mark has over 30 years of experience advising wealthy families, business owners, and their children.

Most recently, Mark worked with New York Life in their Advanced Planning Group working with agents and their UHNW clients advising them on estate and legacy planning, business buy sell planning, and succession planning. Prior to New York Life, Mark held similar Advanced Planning Consulting roles in several National financial organizations. He originally started his career in the financial services industry in the tax department of the public accounting firm Grant Thornton. He is known for taking complex ideas and making them easy to understand. Frequently speaking to groups and individuals on estate and business planning, he brings a conversational style that helps to clarify the complex nature of these topics.

Jeff Holzbach is a Vice President and Senior Equity Planner with Morgan Stanley at Work. He has 25 years of experience in equity and financial planning helping families understand and manage their equity awards. Jeff is a Certified Financial Planner and Certified Equity Professional.

For 25 years, Jeff has worked to guide families and companies with equity awards and financial planning. Analytics and a holistic education and discovery process enable him to identify and prioritize key considerations to help his clients make effective financial decisions.
After graduating from Duquesne University (Pittsburgh) in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance , Jeff grew in his role to eventually lead his Financial Planning division and earned the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation in 2003. In addition, he has worked the past 10 years to develop knowledge and skills to help families and companies with equity award analysis and planning. This includes earning the Certified Equity Professional (CEP) designation in 2019. In 2021, Jeff joined Morgan Stanley to support initiatives to enhance the depth and breadth of education and planning capabilities related to equity awards.

Outside of work, Jeff has been married for 22 years and has two children. His time is spent finding ever smaller windows of time with his kids. His son is a freshman in college studying economics, and his daughter is a Junior in high school with a focus in the area of STEM. Jeff enjoys outdoor activities including hiking, camping, and fishing.