Espen Robak, CFA, President

Espen Robak, President of Pluris Valuation Advisors LLC, is a nationally recognized expert on intellectual property and business valuation, restricted securities, securities
design, levels of value, and discounts for lack of liquidity, and a prolific writer on business, valuation, and taxation topics. Recent article topics include PIPE (private investment in public equity) valuations, TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program), illiquidity discounts, valuation of stock options, M&A arbitrage data, and restricted stock and marketability. Mr. Robak has been quoted in Reuters, Markets Media, TheDeal.com, Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and TheStreet.com, amongst others. He is a regular columnist for Wealth Strategies Journal. Read Full Bio

Rick Martin, CPA, Vice President

Rick Martin, Vice President of Technical Accounting, is in charge of resolution of technical accounting issues as they pertain to our valuation clients, and manages our relationships with audit professions. Prior to joining Pluris, Mr. Martin served as Head of Technical Accounting at Cowen and Company in New York and Senior Technical Accounting Advisor at Credit Suisse in Zurich. Prior to Credit Suisse, Mr. Martin also held advisory roles in financial services at each of the Big Four accounting firms since 1997. Mr. Martin’s advisory experience includes resolution of technical accounting issues in complex areas of accounting involving derivatives and other complex financial instruments, implementation new accounting pronouncements, and assessments of IFRS and conversions. Mr. Martin earned his MBA from the University of Maryland at College Park and his undergraduate degree in accounting from Liberty University. Mr. Martin is a Certified Public Accountant. ^TOP

Ori Bash, ASA, Vice President

Ori Bash, ASA, Vice President, heads up our Palo Alto office, focusing on our west coast expansion. Mr. Bash’s valuation clients range from high-net-worth families and family-owned businesses to public companies. Mr. Bash is particularly experienced in providing valuations for financial reporting as well as for estate and gift tax purposes. Prior to joining Pluris, Mr. Bash served as Assistant Vice President at FMV Opinions, a California-based business valuation firm specializing in valuations for estate planning transactions and estate tax returns. Prior to FMV, he was a Valuation Analyst at ValueNomics Research, Inc., in San Jose, California. Mr. Bash has earned the Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) designation from the American Society of Appraisers. He graduated with an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. ^TOP

David A. Gaynor II, ASA, CBA, Vice President

David A. Gaynor II, ASA, CBA, Vice President, provides leadership in business development and management, and concentrates on valuations for financial reporting, as well as for estate and gift tax purposes. Prior to joining Pluris, Mr. Gaynor served as a Vice President and Business Valuation Analyst at Management Planning, Inc. and as a Vice President at Valuation Research Corporation, both of Princeton, N.J. Before that, he served as Senior Manager of the Valuation Services Group at Crowe Chizek and Company LLC in Louisville, Ky. He was also a Supervisor in the Litigation and Valuation Group for Amper, Politziner & Mattia, PC in Flemington, N.J. Mr. Gaynor is an Accredited Senior Analyst (ASA), a Certified Business Appraiser (CBA) and a member of the Appraisal Issues Task Force (AITF). Mr. Gaynor earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from The College of New Jersey. He served as President of the Kentucky Chapter of the American Society of Appraisers and Vice President of the Princeton Chapter of the American Society of Appraisers. ^TOP

Ronni Gussin, Director of Operations

Ronni Gussin, Director of Operations, is responsible for office management, human resources, marketing, and accounting. Prior to joining Pluris, Ronni was the VP of Operations at GoSmile Aesthetics where she was responsible for all aspects of business operations including finance, marketing, and business development. Ronni has 8 years experience in creating, positioning and building organizations, as well as expertise ranging from systems creation, business planning, and brand visualization to website creation management and client relations. Ronni is a graduate of Emory University where she earned her B.A. in Sociology. ^TOP

Eric Y. Liu, Senior Associate

Eric Liu, Head of Research, is responsible for research on illiquid securities and for developing valuation models for PIPE securities, auction-rate securities, limited partnership interests, bankruptcy claims, and other illiquid assets. He is primarily in charge of the maintenance and transactions analysis required for the LiquiStat™ database. Furthermore, as a member of the Product Development team, he assists in developing and expanding the firm’s business lines. Prior to joining Pluris, Mr. Liu worked for Merrill Lynch and Haver Analytics where he gained asset management, and economic and financial research experience. He also has four years of engineering and project management experience in the IT/Telecom industry in China. Mr. Liu earned his Master’s of Business Administration from Pace University and his Bachelor of Engineering degree from Xidian University. ^TOP

Stuart Solomon , Senior Associate

Stuart Solomon, Head of Tax Valuation, is primarily in charge of analysis, project management, and sales responsibilities for Estate Tax, Income Tax and Gift Tax Valuations. Mr. Solomon has provided business valuation services for numerous purposes including estate and gift taxation, valuation discount opinions, restricted stock discount opinions, bankruptcy and restructuring situations, management planning, and other tax, corporate, and litigation matters. Prior to joining Pluris, Mr. Solomon was an analyst at Stout Risius Ross, a business valuation firm and an analyst at Guardian Industries Corp., focusing on valuation research and analysis related to the firm’s acquisitions. He is a graduate of Michigan State University where he earned a B.A. in Finance from the Eli Broad College of Business. ^TOP

Tito Hill, Head of Auction Rate Valuation, is in charge of analysis, research project management, and sales within the group. Prior to joining Pluris, Mr. Hill worked as a Senior Associate at Accuserve, a valuations firm specializing in business valuations for the purpose of IRC 409A and FAS 123R compliance. Prior to Accuserve, Mr. Hill worked as an Associate at Calyon Securities in the Debt Capital Markets Origination Group, where he assisted Senior Originators in client management and business development capacities. Mr. Hill earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Columbia University. ^TOP

Aparna Singh, Associate, focuses her efforts on Auction Rate Securities and other illiquid debt instruments. Ms. Singh’s core duties include research on illiquid securities transactions, creating interest rate models and financial engineering tasks related to valuation models. Before joining Pluris, Ms. Singh interned with Alternative Assets and Investment Management, a premier capital raising firm for hedge funds and fund of funds. Prior to completing her M.S., she interned with the Consumer and Industrial division of General Electric where she was responsible for generating sales and performance metrics. Ms. Singh also possesses an undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering. She graduated with a Master’s of Science in Operations Research Engineering from Columbia University. ^TOP

Business Development Team

Brent Blankenship

Brent Blankenship, Business Development Manager, specializes in sourcing and managing key client and strategic relationships. Prior to joining Pluris, Mr. Blankenship worked at Morgan Keegan, an investment bank and broker-dealer located in Memphis, Tennessee. Mr. Blankenship graduated from Furman University with a B.A. in Economics and has completed post-graduate work at Columbia University. ^TOP

Marketing Team

Please direct all marketing inquiries to Adam Oppenheimer or Ronni Gussin by calling 212-248-4500 or by E-mail.