Meet the 2025 Excellence in Exit Planning Nominees

Every year, Exit Planning Institute^® (EPI) recognizes leaders in the exit planning space through three awards – Member of the Year, Thought Leader of the Year, and Exit Planner of the Year. Each nominee embodies EPI’s core values but are especially adept at communicating and teaching value creation and acceleration. In 2025, EPI is recognizing nine individuals who champion exit planning on all levels and stand as leaders and role models in the profession. Read on to learn a little bit more about them below and see who will win these prestigious awards at the 2025 Exit Planning Summit this May.

Exit Planner of the Year 

The Peter Christman Exit Planner of the Year award recognizes the Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA^®) who has demonstrated a passionate dedication to the profession. Standing as the highest honor offered in the exit planning industry, this award honors EPI founder Peter Christman who emphasized the importance of holistic exit planning. As such, nominees recognize and embody this concept. 2025’s nominees are... 

Joe Seetoo, CEPA®, CFA, CFP®

• Year Achieved CEPA: 2018
• On being nominated for Exit Planner of the Year: “I know there are a lot of really talented professionals in the exit planning space. I really admire and look up to the past winners so to be just even considered to be part of that group is it's very satisfying but also, again, very humbling.”
• On being a Chapter leader: “It's about being persistent and cohesive. There's a lot of business going back and forth. We have everyone from EOS coaches to CFOs for hire, to investment bankers, business brokers, financial advisors, state attorneys, CPAs, and more. We have a lot of high-quality professionals who are a part of that group.”
• On what Joe brings to the table: “We've done a really good job building a service offering that meets owners where they are. This flat fee consulting on the exit planning that is different in the marketplace, at least among financial advisors. That is gaining traction.”
• On the importance of the balancing act: “You must really empathize with the owners. For many of them, it’s the first time they’ve been through some sort of succession or transition. It’s overwhelming. They have a lot on their plate related to their business or their personal life, and there’s so much uncertainty in the world. They’re being pulled in a lot of different directions. Being flexible and being available to be work on the owner's timeline to some degree is something that everybody in the exit planning should prioritize. It's a balancing act of pushing the owners along to make sure stuff gets done, but also again understanding that they have a lot on their plate.” 

Greg Merrill, CEPA®, CFP®

• As a partner of The Shantz Mantione Group, Greg leads the team’s business owner practice, where he is deeply committed to supporting business owners who are looking to grow, transition, or exit their enterprises. He is passionate about aiding owners and their families in the complex and often singular experience of selling their business. His expertise and experience help him understand the unknown unknowns throughout the process and provide guidance so his clients never feel alone. 

• Year Achieved CEPA: 2018
• On the importance of having a team mindset: “Playing hockey was a foundational  aspect of my life and now career…what comes out is the teamwork aspect of it. That teamwork has been ingrained in me from when I started playing hockey at six years old and it’s all I’ve known since. That's what drove me to join the wealth management business and particularly work with owners because the most successful outcomes often require building the right team. To most effectively be a CEPA and leader in this exit planning space, it requires embracing and living this team mindset.”
• On working with business owners: “What I enjoy most in working with owners is that they are two-legged humans at the end of the day…they have core values that made them successful. My team and I take pride in not only working with owners and their families to effectively pass on the new wealth to future generations created by a successful exit, but often more importantly work with them to pass on these core values to the future generations.”
• On the team effort of Value Acceleration Methodology™: “I personally believe it's unrealistic for someone to think they can be an expert in every aspect of The Value Acceleration Methodology…it goes back to exit planning being a team sport. One of the benefits of the CEPA credential and EPI’s Value Acceleration Methodology is that they create an environment where there is shared language and process between the various professional in the field. You can define where you want to play in that process, think about what gaps in the process you need to address, and who you need to fill in those seats to collectively deliver the best outcome for owners.”
• On moving through the unknown unknowns: “For most owners, transitioning from their business is a once in a lifetime, generational wealth creating event for them and their families. It is an intimating and often scary process to take on with a significant amount of not only known unknowns, but even more unknown unknowns. Shedding light on these unknown unknowns and guiding owners and their families through that journey is what I have dedicated my career to do.   

Jessica Fialkovich, CEPA®

• Year Achieved CEPA: 2023
• On seeing the person beyond the numbers: “What we miss is that, for us, this is very analytical. But for the business owner, it's very personal and it is very emotional. I have overseen exits for more than 1500 clients. I've completed 22 M&A transactions times myself. When I'm in the deal and the in the moment or I'm doing something in my company, I still find myself making the same fundamental errors that I see our clients making. And when I'm making that error it's not because I don't know what to do. I obviously know what to do. It's because there's emotion behind that decision.”
• On finding the niche: “Rather than being like a Jack-of-All-Trades, you need to really know what you're good at and where your define your functional niche – for me that is value growth consulting - is and then surround yourself with a team and other collaborators that can help you get the job done right like wealth managers and CPAs.”
• On following your own advice: “I joke all the time that the plumber's house always leaks. Many of us as are CEPAs, and some of us do own big businesses. All of us at least own our own business practice. If you're not doing the same Value Acceleration Methodology in your business practice, you really don't understand what it feels like. So, even if you're a wealth manager and you're just managing your book of business, there's no reason that you can't do a triggering event for your book of business. There's no reason that you can't do a value growth consulting engagement for your book of  business. It doesn’t matter how small or how big you are, you can put the same methodology into practice.” 
• On alignment with EPI: “As an organization, it's been very meaningful to me, because I've been doing this on my own since 2013 either in the M&A space or value growth space. I feel very fortunate to have found an organization that is aligned with what I've been trying to do on my own in my own business—both in the methodology but more importantly with the collaboration with different functional team members. I really feel that I have found my group of peers, and people that have the same set of core values and mission that I do. So, to be nominated for an award like this by people I truly value, that makes it even more special.” 

Member of the Year

This award recognizes a CEPA in the community who contributes significantly to the EPI advisor space as well as the overall exit planning profession. 

Rick Krebs, CEPA®, CPA

Rick Krebs, CPA, CEPA, M&A Advisor—widely known as the "M&A Cowboy"—is a principal at Business Sales Group, a premier M&A firm based in Heber City, Utah. He is also the founder of My Biz Value, a business valuation firm providing affordable valuations tailored for exit planning. With over 15 years of experience, Rick has successfully closed 100+ transactions, specializing in deals ranging from $2 million to $30 million in enterprise value. As a co-founder of the EPI Utah Chapter of Exit Planners—the first of its kind in the state—Rick has been a pioneer in exit planning. His contributions to the industry earned him a nomination for the Exit Planning Institute’s Member of the Year award (2024). Rick is the author of Sell Your Business By Design, Not By Default and the host of the popular podcast M&A Murders & Accusations: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Selling Your Business. A Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA), he holds a Master of Accountancy (MAcc) and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Utah State University. When he's not guiding clients through successful business sales, Rick enjoys exploring Utah’s stunning mountains and deserts alongside his wife, often riding his favorite horse, Cookie Monster. 

• Year Achieved CEPA: 2022
• On the importance of service: “Chris and Scott Snider tell us we need to be Best-in-Class. Best-in-Class advisors are the ones who have a servant's heart. They're the people who are always giving to the client and always adding value. Being a team player is crucial. That starts with knowing what you do well and defining what you do well, then bringing in people who do things outside of your lane. Anything that's outside of your lane, you have to surround yourself with really smart people who do what you don't do.” 
• On exit planning’s impact: “Truly, as I look at the other people who've been nominated over the years, I’m honored. Peter Chrisman is a personal friend of mine, and he was the first. He was the one who started it all. And just to be surrounded by such talent and such knowledgeable people, the nomination is the win in my mind. Whether I win it or not, the nomination is the win because these are really smart people and they are changing people's lives and they are helping business owners with an exit.”  

Wally Waldron, CEPA®

Beginning his career as an IT systems administrator at an accounting firm, Jason “Wally” Waldron became familiar with the perspective of a full service accounting firm and the value of their multi-disciplinary approach. From there, Wally became an entrepreneur, by supporting a startup ski company in his home state of Colorado. With his experience as an entrepreneur and in the accounting firm, Wally founded Exitology – a business growth and value acceleration firm that creates positive outcomes for clients. 

• Year Achieved CEPA: 2022
• On the existential work of exit planning: “Taking someone from success to significance like this is existential work. This is a very big deal, and the thing that strikes me of the importance of the work is this – you've got a one in 40 chance.  When owners talk about it, even if you do exit, 75% of people are experiencing this profound regret. That means one person out of 40 people has both exited, is happy financially secure and, is also happy as a human being two years later. There's seven that might have been okay financially, but they're experiencing profound regret. And then there's 32 who are wondering what could have been. I think there's so much opportunity to use business as a vehicle to truly help humans. That's the importance of this work.”
• On not being afraid: “Don’t be afraid to look like the dumbest guy in the room. Somebody else has the question, too. Just ask the dang question, and take a long view and be persistent. You just have to keep at it. Anybody who's been in business long enough is usually just stubbornly persistent and is, a survivor. It’s ok to be vulnerable for 10 seconds to get the big question solved. Nobody’s going to remember that you asked the question anyways – they're just going to say, ‘Yeah, I had that question too.’”  

Trace Udall, CEPA®, CFP®, AIF®

As a CEPA, Trace Udall possesses the expertise, training, and tools necessary to build strong relationships with business owners, serving as their most trusted advisor. A native of Arizona, Trace has been operating his own practice for over 30 years, emphasizing integrity, small-town values, and honesty in his approach.

• Year Achieved CEPA: 2023
• On Doing the Right Thing: "My greatest success comes from seeing others succeed. I don’t need to be directly involved to appreciate their achievements. I’m not the kind of person who thinks, ‘If this business owner doesn’t work with me, I hope they fail.’ That kind of mindset is just petty. To me, it’s always about people and doing the right thing. It’s not just a buzzword—I genuinely believe in building relationships, not just talking about it. Too many people say the right things but don’t follow through. Execution is what truly matters."
• On the Next Three Steps for Advisors:
  • Determine whether you’re a strategist or a tactician.
  • Identify your unique value within that role.
  • Clearly communicate your fees, compensation structure, and costs to business owners.

Thought Leader of the Year

This individual acts as a champion of initiatives, ideas, or plans, that take ideas from strategy to action. These nominees have significantly contributed to the exit planning profession through their willingness to take action and act as leaders in the space. 

Darren Cherry, CEPA®, MBA

• Year Achieved CEPA: 2018
• On serving the clients: “I do what I do to serve clients that have a particular need. There are too many lower-middle market companies that, as the owner exits out of that company, that's the end of the income. My goal here is to help them transform that outgoing income into something that they can then rely on after their exit.”
• On keeping three things in mind: “Number one—we live in a rule of abundance. The maximum value we can provide to the client is working and collaborating with others. We have to believe and practice in abundance. Number two—we don't sell services. We serve clients. Our goal is to tear down the walls that business owners may have to doing exit planning or strategies that could help them going forward with education. And the third thing—it's not easy. It's frustrating. Business owners will test and try you, but it is the most rewarding thing that you could ever experience.” 

Renee Russo, CEPA®

Renee Russo is a high-energy business coach and facilitator, fueled by her purpose to set business owners free by working on their business with their personal and financial goals in mind.

As an Expert EOS Implementer^®, Renee has spent more than 500 full days in the session room helping entrepreneurial leadership teams to implement the Entrepreneurial Operating System so that they could build scalable and sustainable companies. In 2021, in the midst of her own “double exit” from her marriage and business, in which nothing seemed to be going her way, Renee was called into action by a long-standing client to help him prepare for the biggest act of his career, the sale of his business. Without question she stepped up to the plate and became a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) to help him mange his risk and achieve his desired outcomes. As a true Value Advisor, Renee genuinely loves every opportunity she has to work with business owners to unlock the value in their business through the four intangible capitals, and help them to align their business, personal and financial goals, so that they may can get what they want in business and in life. As the founder leader of a bespoke advisory practice, Rise Up Business Coaching Ltd, Renee has worked hard to leverage the power of systems intelligence, technology accelerators, and team building strategies, to have game changing impact for her clients while running with a lean practice model. Through her own experience of building her practice, she now also spends a portion her time mentoring other newly minted CEPAs to launch their practice with confidence.

• Year Achieved CEPA: 2022
• On changing the game: “Business coaches, consultants, and advisors who are in the trenches with business owners can build a practice that allows them to not only impact the day-to-day operations of the company but truly change the game for business owners. After years of working alongside entrepreneurial leadership teams in the trenches, I noticed that many business owners had hit the ceiling, were out of balance, and expressed that they felt stuck. I wanted so desperately to help them get unstuck, but I didn’t know how. Then, when a client asked me to help him prepare to sell his company, I discovered the system I was missing, the Value Acceleration Methodology. Since becoming a CEPA in 2022, I have enjoyed the honor of working with business owners to align their personal, financial and business goals to get what they wanted all along, their freedom. As a nominee for the Thought Leader of the Year Award, I plan to use this recognition as an opportunity to be a voice to the world and an example to my fellow business coaches and advisors, to help inspire them to step up into the owners box and change the game for our business owners. The thought of augmenting a business coaching practice into an exit planning practice can seem overwhelming at first. It is certainly not easy, but it is worth it. With the power of technology accelerators and team-based collaboration with fellow Advisors, CEPAs can work together with business owners and put them in control of their future. I plan to share with CEPAs far and wide that they too can build a systemized and sustainable business model that allows them to be independent and create enormous impact for business owners. The world needs more CEPAs. Not just CEPAs who speak the language and educate and inspire business owners, but CEPAs who can roll up their sleeves and go into the trenches and change the game for business owners and help them unlock all that intangible capital in the business and align the business with what they want personally and financially.”
• On the value of personal experience: “I've been through all of those ups and downs of business ownership myself and have been through many of the 5Ds we talk about as Exit Planning Advisors. When I work with owners and mentor other advisors, I bring to the table all of the lessons I have learned through my first-hand experience as an owner and thousands of hours in the trenches with operational leadership teams. My unique talent professionally lies in my ability to bridge the gap between theory and execution very well and learn through execution. I identify myself as a design thinker, I build mastery through repetition, failure, and adaptation. One of the things that spoke to me about the Value Acceleration Methodology was the reference to “relentless execution.” Through my years of business coaching, I live, breathe, eat, and sleep the 90-day world of disciplined execution. This practice extends beyond my client work, in my personal life I practice daily energy management and a 90 day world of personal planning to help me live my desired life. Every day that I look around at the growing community of Certified Exit Planning Advisors who have taken up the challenge to become best-in-class, I confirm that I have found my tribe. As I observe the leadership of the Exit Planning Institute continuously break down barriers and find better ways to bring resources and expertise to business owners, I am reminded that I have found my home for extraordinary impact. This is a dream come true."

Todd Yeiter, CEPA®

• Todd Yeiter grew up wanting to be an “Insurance Salesman.” Actually drawing out his life insurance policies when he was eight years old and sell them door to door. While other kids had lemonade stands, Todd had his “insurance company.” With a father in the business, Todd wanted to follow in his footsteps, realizing that the closer he got to college, the more he wanted to join the financial advisor profession. Todd currently works at Thrivent, a Fortune 500 financial services company that puts generosity at the heart of saving and investing.* And for nearly 30 years, Todd has been helping financial advisors uncover personal and financial planning needs for their clients. With a passion for being a student of the business and finding new ways to expand the breadth and depth of what financial advisors can help their clients with, Todd realized that helping business owners was being neglected. When he discovered EPI and the CEPA designation, it opened his eyes to enormous untapped potential.  

• Year Achieved CEPA: 2024
• On the importance of business owner education: “I am humbled to be nominated for the Excellence in Exit Planning award. There are so many incredible leaders associated with EPI who bring tremendous real-world experience and history to the industry. This recognition reinforces my passion for educating financial advisors and their clients and prospects about what Exit Planning truly is and how it can benefit not only the current business owner, but thousands of employees and clients to come.”
• On finding a place in the community: “When I received my CEPA, I was blown away on how big the opportunity is to help business owners plan for a thoughtful exit. I loved the thoughtful process and each step along the way, and I wanted to do it all immediately. My advice is to breathe. Start with what you know and leverage the broader CEPA community to do those things you do not yet have experience with. The EPI Chapter events are amazingly helpful. Everyone is on your side, and nobody seems to want to disrupt existing relationships. The CEPA community supports one another, and it gives you an amazing opportunity to gain experience from the best and expand your services over time if that is what you choose to do.” 

*Thrivent is a Fortune 500 financial services company that helps build, grow and protect financial well-being through purpose-driven advice, investments, insurance, banking and generosity programs. Thrivent serves more than 2.4 million clients through thousands of financial advisors across the country and has more than $193 billion in assets under management/advisement (as of 12/31/24). Thrivent carries superior financial ratings from independent rating agencies, which demonstrate the company’s financial strength and stability. This includes an A++ rating from AM Best, an Aa2 rating from Moody's Investors Service, and an AA+ rating from S&P Global Ratings. For more information about Thrivent, visit Thrivent.com or find us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.  

Thrivent is the marketing name for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. Insurance products issued by Thrivent. Not available in all states. Securities and investment advisory services offered through Thrivent Investment Management Inc., a registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC, and a subsidiary of Thrivent. Licensed agent/producer of Thrivent. Registered representative of Thrivent Investment Management Inc. Thrivent.com/disclosures.  

Thrivent provides advice and guidance through its Financial Planning Framework that generally includes a review and analysis of a client’s financial situation. A client may choose to further their planning engagement with Thrivent through its Dedicated Planning Services (an investment advisory service) that results in written recommendations for a fee. 

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Related Resources: 

• Championship Mindsets: Jimmie Johnson and Maury Gallagher to Keynote the Exit Planning Summit
• The 2025 Exit Planning Summit
• Recap of the 2024 Exit Planning Summit