Jeffrey B. Wolpin

 

Current Credentials: 

 

MBA in Finance (with emphasis in Securities Valuation & Analysis, Finance & Accounting); California Certified General Real Estate Appraiser

 

Voluntary Membership, Non-compulsory (for profit) Trade Associations Credentials Previously Awarded and Held but Discontinued:  CBA, ASA, CREA, CCRA

(See Footnote Below)

 

Mr. Wolpin has been performing business and real estate valuations for over 30 years. When the firm’s associates are counted, the years of appraisal experience represented by the company as a whole more than triples.

Prior to organizing his own firm Mr. Wolpin was a mergers and acquisitions deal maker and valuation professional with Hambros Bank of London. In his capacity as deal maker he negotiated mergers and acquisitions transactions and valued companies in excess of $100,000,000. Previous to Hambros Bank, Mr. Wolpin was a securities analysis and investment manager with the wall street firms of Shearson American Express and Prudential Bache. During this time, in addition to his securities analysis functions, Mr Wolpin evaluated and privately place numerous public market limited partnerships.

Mr. Wolpin has an M.B.A. in finance and accounting with an emphasis in Securities Valuation and Analysis, from Hofstra University, where in recognition of his academic achievement he was awarded membership in Beta Gamma Sigma, the national business honors society, equivalent to Phi Beta Kappa, which recognizes academic achievement.

Mr. Wolpin currently holds or has held various appraisal designations with “voluntary membership trade associations” and state licenses including California’s Certified General Real Estate Appraiser and Broker License, ASA with the American Society of Appraisers, NASD Broker and Principal Licenses Series 7 and 24, CBA with Institute of Business Appraisers, and Commercial and Residential Property Appraiser (CCRA & CREA) with the National Association of Real Estate Appraisers.

Academic, Professional Licenses, and Trade Association Credentials Currently or Previously Held:

• Masters of Business Administration, Securities Analysis, Finance and Accounting, Hofstra University.
• Loyola Law School
• Bachelor of Arts, Business, University of Oklahoma
• California Licensed Certified General Real Estate Appraiser (AG040015)
• California Licensed Real Estate and Business Broker #01417005
• Certified Business Appraiser (CBA) with the Institute of Business Appraisers (Voluntary Membership Trade Association – I discontinued this membership)
• ASA with the American Society of Appraisers (Voluntary Membership Trade Association – I discontinued this membership.)
• Certified Residential and Commercial Property Appraiser with the National Association of Real Estate Appraisers (Voluntary Membership Trade Association – I discontinued this membership)

Position and Experience:

• President, Accredited Business Appraisals
• Mergers and Acquisitions Dealmaker and Valuations Professional – Hambros Bank of London, 1989 – 1992.
• Securities Analyst and Investment Manager – Shearson American Express, Prudential Bache and Goldome Bank, 1979-1987.
• Qualified Expert Witness under the Federal Rules of Evidence

• Beta Gamma Sigma – Awarded membership in this business scholastic honors society.

Speaking Engagements:

• Invited Speaker on Valuations at Riverside County Bar.
• Invited speaker on Family Limited Partnership Valuation at the American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Articles Written:

• “Should You Rely on the Transaction Data Bases to Determine Fair Market Value”; Valuation Strategies, July/August 2002.
• “Examining The Reliability of the Small Business Transaction Databases”, Valuation Strategies, Nov./Dec. 2003
• “Statistical Reasoning in Family Limited Partnership Appraisals: New Tax Court Scrutiny”; Probate & Property, May/June 2004.
• “Statistical Reasoning in Family Limited Partnership Appraisals: New Tax Court Scrutiny”; The Appraisal Journal, Autumn 2004.
• “Unreliability of the Small Business Databases and the Guideline Company Method”, Valuation Strategies, Sept./Oct. 2004
• “Mythbusting – Discrediting Appraisal Myths Through Properly Applied Statistical Reasoning,” Valuation Strategies, Jan./Feb 2008
• “Statistical Reasoning in Family Limited Partnership Appraisals: New Tax Court Scrutiny”; Probate & Property, May/June 2004, – was selected as the centerpiece article for presentation and discussion of statistical methods in valuation by Honorable Judge Halpern, one of the pre-eminent Judges on the U.S. Tax Court, at a recent 2009 Judicial Tax Conference.
• “Monte Carlo Simulation in Traditional Real Estate and Eminent Domain Appraisals,” Valuation Strategies, Nov./Dec. 2015

(Footnote: We have discontinued payment of annual membership dues in these aforementioned non-compulsory trade associations after determining there was no benefit to membership, no return on investment and the education they provide is all unaccredited, vanity based opinion and below university level thresholds.

The Institute of Business Appraisers which issued the CBA was sold to another company and is no longer being viably supported or promoted as an independent quality credential. 

The American Society of Appraisers which issues the ASA, has, in our opinion, undermined its credibility and promoted a fictional narrative as to its prestige and high ethical standing. Apparently, incapable of generating revenues through organic membership growth in the face of increasing trade association competition, the business valuation section of the ASA instead decided, in our opinion, to betray its members by gratuitously fractionalizing its credentials (the CEIV) to generate cash flows, and more contemptibly to promote a politically favored group within the organization. Which begs the question as to whether the ASA is a trade association or just another discreditable credential mill?

Or, as Milton Friedman, Nobel Laureate in Economics, declared “Licensure, almost inevitably becomes a tool in the hands of a special producer group to obtain a monopoly position at the expense of the rest of the public.”

In the face of rising competition among finance and valuation trade associations (last count indicated at least 15 such trade associations), which impedes organic growth, the business models of these voluntary member, for profit, trade associations require that they ultimately betray their members to sustain and grow their revenues and to offset the attrition of members leaving upon their realization that their annual membership dues offers little to no return on investment.  This is accomplished in a variety of ways such as but not limited to: selling out or merging with other trade associations; lowering both ethical and educational standards to attract new members; bowing to internal political pressure and pushing biased agendas (valuation theory and dogma) to favor one faction over another within their organizations; torturing and distorting fundamental valuation principals to promote a political agenda; gratuitously creating artificial credentials to increase their cash flows and favor certain internal political factions; repackaging old courses under new names to extort continuing education fees; exaggerating self-serving assertions as to the superiority and high moral standing of their members over non-members; fraudulently claiming that their credentialed members are statutorily required to be hired within certain legal contexts; and exaggerating self-serving assertions as to the prestige of their association over other trade associations.)