Richard Schammel, CBB – Is the Owner of the VR Franchise in Pasadena, California. Rich has over 25 years experience in senior financial positions at industry leading firms, including the titles of CFO, VP Finance and Senior Vice President, Controller at Kennedy Wilson Properties, Grubb & Ellis Real Estate Management Services and CB Richard Ellis, respectively. As a Director at KPMG / BearingPoint Consulting – he managed domestic and international consulting engagements. Rich has led numerous corporate acquisition efforts, and has extensive experience in the pricing, negotiation, due diligence and structuring of business consolidations.
Rich has BA in Economics from UCLA, an MBA from Santa Clara University.
He is currently a Director and Treasurer of the California Association of Business Brokers.
He is also Chairman of the Board of the Pasadena Center Operating Company, a Director of the Rose Bowl Operating Company, and President of the Oak Knoll Improvement Association.
Rich is a licensed pilot and former USAF Captain.
Steven Benson, CBB, CBI
With over 30 years experience in Business Brokerage and having successfully completed over 2,000 transactions – Steve is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced Brokers in the industry!
Steve is a previous office owner and was integrally involved in the formation of the VR Business Brokerage organization. He has served as President of the Southern California Franchisee Association, was a member of the Franchise Advisory Committee and served as National Director of Franchise Support.
Steve is a Director of the California Association of Business Brokers and is responsible for the organization’s Education and Certification programs.
In 2007 Steve was elected to VR Business Brokers’ Hall of Fame.
Steve represents both buyers and sellers of main-street sized businesses as well as larger, merger and acquisition type transactions throughout southern California.
Ray Ghayoumi, MBA
Ray has an exceptional breadth of experience – both domestic and international, upon which to draw in servicing his clients. He has owned an international trading company and several fast food businesses. He has worked in the commercial real estate and residential home building businesses, has been a Director of Marketing and Distribution for the subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company and provided consulting services to equipment manufacturing companies.
Ray’s specialty is the fast food businesses – both franchised and independently owned. As a former owner and operator he can provide both Buyers and Sellers with insights into improving operations, pricing and evaluating opportunities.
In addition to English – Ray is proficient in Farsi and Turkish, and has an MBA in Finance.
Cathryn Vallevieni
Cathy has worked with VR Business Brokers for 30 years, and has won numerous company awards for Excellence. She has experience with a wide range of business types as well as sizes – successfully representing Buyers and/or Sellers of both main-street and multi-million dollar businesses.
Her specialty is Buyer Representation. That is, she works directly with business buyers – individual owner/operators, investors or corporations to clearly define the specific type of business that is right for them … then goes out and finds it! Cathy is widely respected by, and has close working relationships with most of the brokerage community in southern California who will co-broker their transactions with her.
Steve is a native of China, and earned a master of education from Nanjing University. He is fluent in Chinese and English.
Steve specializes in serving Buyers and Sellers of all types of businesses within the Asian community.
He is very much in synch with VR’s objective of providing professional representation and high quality service to small and middle market businesses. Steve strives to provide the utmost in service to Buyer and Sellers, particularly non-native principles who may not be familiar with the details of properly completing a business transfer.
Linda Norton
Linda has been with VR Business brokers for over 17 years. Prior to VR she had experience in banking and loan origination, as well as escrow – serving as the Branch Manager for a multi-location escrow operation in Orange County.
This experience provides Linda, and her clients with an attention to the details of each transaction and an understanding of how to get things done.
Linda has won numerous awards for the high quality of service she provides to her clients and resultant success in business sales. She enjoys working with people and handles main-street as well as industrial engagements.
Karen Doss
After 10 years as a management consultant and operations manager working for Fortune 100 companies such as Lockheed IMS, Helene Curtis, Inc., and Kaiser Permanente, Karen decided to put her management skills to work in the real estate industry. Her real estate career quickly took her from Real Estate Agent, to Mentor and Coach, and then Sales Manager and Sales Trainer. Karen’s real estate practice expanded to include representation of buyers and sellers in the Business Brokerage Industry.
Karen’s unique blend of Operations Management and Real Estate Sales experience gives her the ability to understand the needs of both buyer’s and seller’s throughout the business acquisition process, resulting in “win-win” transactions.
Karen works with small and medium sized businesses and specializes in the Los Angeles/Pasadena metro areas and throughout Southern California. She is bilingual in Spanish and holds a B.S. in Operations Management from California State University Pomona and a MBA from University of Phoenix.
Contact Karen directly at 626-340-4024 or kdoss@vrpasadena.com
Tom Ellis – Is a Business Broker in the Pasadena Office of VR.
Tom Ellis has been a small business owner, a sales executive for a multi-national corporation and an entrepreneur. His experience as a small business owner and his enjoyment working with small business owners led him to become a VR Business Broker.
As the managing partner for a printing and office supply company for seven years, Tom was instrumental in growing the annual revenues to a million dollars. Later, as a partner in an Internet-related company, Tom helped to create strategic alliances that continue to enable the company to prosper.
After graduating from The Ohio State University, Tom started his business career with ITT World Communications. He went on to become the Western Area Manager for a domestic communications division of ITT.
In the 1990s, Tom identified and helped to develop a database marketing service for the travel industry. He became one of the founding members of a new corporation based upon the service. The company quickly became successful and well known within its travel industry market. Ten years later, it was sold to a publicly traded communications company.
Tom represents both Buyers and Sellers of small business in the southern California area.