So You Want to Sell Your Aerospace & Defense Business

Please join us for a breakfast, networking, and panel discussion So You Want to Sell Your Aerospace & Defense Business?

The panel will be moderated by Carter Freeman, vcfo Denver's Vice President - Western Region. Expert panelists include:

• Mike Dill - Partner at Holland & Hart

• Sarah Ehrhardt - Senior Wealth Strategist at PNC Private Bank

• David Hollenbach - President and General Manager at DSoft Technology

• Karri Palmetier - Founder at Palmetier Law
• Adams Price - Board President at the Colorado Technology Association

The event will be held at Holland & Hart (555 17th Street, Suite 3200, Denver, CO 80202).

MODERATOR

Carter is the Vice President for vcfo’s Western Region. An accomplished professional with over 25 years of senior-level financial and accounting experience, Carter’s capabilities encompass negotiating ownership transition, leading and supporting capital raising efforts totaling over $100 million, participating in multiple acquisitions from both the buy- and sell-side, in addition to merging operations as acquirer and acquiree. He is also adept at establishing financial and operational accounting systems, managing finance and customer service personnel, and leading software implementations and integrations.

Carter has experience with venture capital-backed start-ups, internet-related firms, distribution and manufacturing and publicly traded multi-bank holding companies. Prior to vcfo, Carter held finance and accounting positions with Brain Matters, Bid4Vacations, Powerworx Online, TEC Direct and Integration Alliance Corporation. He began his career in public accounting with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Carter has a BS in Accounting from Montana State University and an MBA in Finance from the University of Colorado.

PANELIST

Mike Dill provides advice to companies at all stages of growth, from start-ups to publicly traded companies. His expertise is helping clients raise capital, complete acquisitions and divestitures, and other strategic transactions. His practice includes serving as outside general counsel to clients across multiple industries, with a number of energy, outdoor recreation, services and technology clients. Mike's approach to the practice of law is to always put the client-first.

He help growth-oriented clients determine the best way to reach their personal and corporate objectives – from initial formation and financing, through growth stages, culminating in an IPO, sale, or other exit strategy. Mike has sophisticated experience working with entrepreneurs and nascent companies in the technology and energy industries. He often represents clients in financings, mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. His deal experience ranges from sales of small private companies to mergers of large publicly-listed companies, including IPOs and other registered offerings.

PANELIST

As a senior vice president and a senior wealth strategist, Sarah leads the deep and dynamic discovery process to achieve a mutual understanding of your family, business, and financial goals to determine what is truly important to you in achieving peace of mind. She works with you and your advisors to help develop a strategic financial plan which integrates your financial, estate, tax and philanthropic considerations and preferences. She has the high level of technical experience in complex estate, tax and wealth planning issues to help bring about successful outcomes as your trusted advisor.

Prior to joining PNC, Sarah practiced for more than 17 years as an estate planning attorney and was a partner at Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, working in the Denver, Salt Lake City, and Milwaukee offices. Areas of expertise include estate planning, business succession planning, asset protection planning, charitable planning, and trust and estate administration. Sarah is licensed with the Colorado Bar, Utah Bar, Wisconsin Bar and Illinois Bar.

Sarah graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and sociology from Hanover College and cum laude with a Juris Doctor from University of Wisconsin -Madison. Sarah was recognized as a 40 Under 40 recipient (2019) by the Denver Business Journal. She was also recognized in The Best Lawyers in America©, in Trusts and Estates, from 2018-2023.

PANELIST

Adams Price is a Managing Director of PMCF and leads the firm’s Rocky Mountain Region team. In addition to leading this team, he is responsible for leading transactions within the software and technology sectors. He has nearly 20 years of direct experience in M&A transactions and capital formation transactions. In addition, Adams spent more than 15 years in the industry providing strategic planning and execution for mergers and acquisitions, transaction development and execution, profit and loss management, consulting services delivery in strategic services, software selection and implementation, e-commerce, and management consulting.

PANELIST

Karri Palmetier is a government contracts attorney with more than 20 years of experience working in the defense and space industries. In 2016, she founded Palmetier Law to help small and midsize businesses navigate the maze of government contracting regulations.
Her government contracts background includes working for - and with - the U.S. Government, e.g., Department of Defense, NASA and the Intelligence Community. This work gave Karri significant experience in major systems programs, operational contracting, DoD policy development, international procurements and small business matters. She understands how the government makes decisions as a customer, and she is very familiar with its operations such as internal processes, budget and fiscal regulations, and acquisition planning requirements.
With a passion for aerospace and an enthusiasm to be more than just another outside attorney, Karri enjoys becoming a strategic partner and trusted advisor for her clients.

PANELIST

David A. Hollenbach is the Founder and President of DSoft Technology, Engineering & Analysis, Inc., Hollenbach founded DSoft Technology in 1998, built it into a prominent technology company in Colorado Springs and later sold it to Yulista Holding, LLC. Under his leadership, the company has received numerous awards, including Colorado Companies to Watch and Microsoft Gold Partner.

With more than 35 years in space operations and military space modeling, Hollenbach’s career spans roles in engineering, analysis, and project management across military, civil, and commercial sectors. He graduated with distinction from the US Air Force Academy in 1987 with a degree in Engineering Mechanics and earned a Master’s in Systems Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology. His military career included systems engineering for space launch and information systems, program management, and working on high-profile projects such as Titan 34D launch failure investigations, and space operations for programs like GPS and MILSATCOM. Post-military, Hollenbach worked at Booz-Allen & Hamilton, leading projects in satellite systems and IT development. Hollenbach has also co-authored a book on modeling and simulation and has published several articles and presentations on space readiness and military operations.

Thank you to all event cohosts for making this event possible!

Host or Publisher vcfo