News Category: Team Highlights

Chartwell is pleased to announce the expansion of its executive compensation team with the additions of Rachel Simon and Matt Martin. Part of Chartwell’s broader consulting practice, our executive compensation professionals help clients make confident pay decisions that attract and retain key leaders, reinforce performance priorities, and sustain long-term value creation.

Rachel Simon joins as a Director with over 10 years of experience in designing incentive programs. She implements successful ownership transition strategies while aligning shareholders, executives, and employees in the achievement of mutually beneficial outcomes. Prior to Chartwell, Rachel led the executive compensation team at RSM US LLP and served on its national tax team as a compensation and benefits subject matter expert.

Matt Martin joins as a Vice President with unique experience providing compensation benchmarking, short- and long-term incentive plan design, IPO readiness assessments, and tax technical support related to compensation and benefits. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and designated as a Certified Executive Compensation Professional (CECP). Prior to Chartwell, Matt grew his career within the compensation consulting practice at Grant Thornton.

“We are thrilled to have Rachel and Matt join our consulting team,” said Matt Keene, Managing Director and Head of Executive Compensation. “Their deep executive and board compensation experience will allow us to better serve Chartwell’s existing clients and offer complementary services to a broader array of privately-held middle market companies.”

We are pleased to announce Chartwell’s acquisition of Atlantic Management Company, a nationally recognized provider of valuation and transaction advisory services. Since its founding in 1968, Atlantic has established itself as a trusted advisor to business owners, corporate boards, and fiduciaries nationwide, offering business valuations, fairness opinions, and solvency opinions tailored to a wide spectrum of legal, financial, tax, and corporate requirements.

Atlantic’s ownership transition group provides specialized expertise in employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), mergers and acquisitions, and business succession planning. Headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Atlantic has earned a reputation for integrity, professionalism, and client-centric service, which aligns well with Chartwell’s core values and strategic objectives.

This acquisition augments Chartwell’s market-leading ESOP advisory practice through Atlantic’s demonstrated expertise in ESOP transactions and ownership transitions. The partnership enhances our capabilities, reinforces our commitment to excellence, and expands our service offerings to privately held and employee-owned companies.

John Murphy guided Atlantic as President for over 35 years. Recognizing the opportunity for strategic growth and succession planning, John identified Chartwell as an ideal partner to support the Atlantic team and its clients moving forward. He remarked, “Partnering with Chartwell allows us to expand our service scope while maintaining the high standards of professionalism and integrity our clients expect. It also provides an exceptional opportunity for our team members to pursue continued professional development within a larger organization.”

Paul Halverson, Founder of Chartwell, stated, “We have a longstanding relationship with John Murphy and the Atlantic team spanning more than two decades. Their reputation for excellence and unwavering commitment to client success perfectly complement our values. We look forward to continuing to serve Atlantic’s clients with the same level of dedication and professionalism they have come to expect.”

The Atlantic team joining Chartwell includes:

• John Murphy – Managing Director
• Brady Finney – Managing Director
• Sandra Smith – Managing Director
• Cory Melnick – Vice President
• Michael Dilly – Senior Associate
• Jordan Hamaker – Senior Associate
• Diego Smith – Associate
• Brenda Lyman – Senior Project Coordinator
• Melanie Matulonis – Marketing Assistant

We are excited to announce the promotions of the following Chartwell team members. These individuals are tremendous assets to our clients, professional partners, and firm. Congratulations all on a job well done!

December 2025

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September 2025

Chartwell is honored to announce the transition of its CEO role from Paul Halverson to Wil Becker. Paul founded the firm 30 years ago, transforming it from a single location office focused on valuation services into a national leader in financial advisory, renowned for its expertise in ownership consulting, corporate finance, and business appraisal.

Since engaging with his first ESOP-owned company in 1987, Paul has dedicated his career to providing unparalleled guidance on the financial challenges organizations face throughout the lifecycle of ESOP ownership. “I am immensely grateful for the friendships forged with colleagues and professional partners throughout this journey. This chapter has been one of my proudest, and I eagerly anticipate Chartwell’s next steps.” Although Paul steps down as CEO, his journey with Chartwell continues as he focuses on developing and leading the firm’s architecture and engineering (AE) industry vertical in 2026.

Wil Becker, who has been with Chartwell since 2002, is a key member of the executive leadership team. Throughout his career, Wil has specialized in supporting middle-market businesses with their unique needs in valuation, corporate development, and M&A services. “I am thankful that Paul took a chance on me all those years ago and for the incredible partnership he has fostered at Chartwell. I recognize the significant shoes I have to fill and look forward to guiding the firm into its next phase of growth.”

Please join us in congratulating Paul and Wil on their next chapters with Chartwell!

Jim Massey has joined Chartwell as a Managing Director in our Dallas office, further expanding the firm’s leadership group. Jim has been an active member of the Dallas business community his entire career, having provided an array of financial advisory services to clients including corporate finance, transaction opinions, and financial valuation mandates.

“We are thrilled to have Jim on the team,” said Wil Becker, CEO. “He brings strong experience to Chartwell from his previous association with nationally prominent investment banking, financial valuation, and wealth management firms.”

About Jim

Jim’s investment banking experience is focused on facilitating business succession strategies for owners of privately held middle-market companies and executing the best course of action to activate shareholder value and liquidity. Representative transactions include recapitalizations, sell-side transactions, and ESOP transactions. Jim has supported positions of fairness and solvency to special committees and has produced financial analysis used by a variety of stakeholders.

Jim is an active member of The National ESOP Association, the National Center for Employee Ownership (NCEO), the Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors (AM&AA), and The University of Texas at Dallas Corporate Governance Program. Jim has been a featured speaker on a variety of financial advisory topics for these organizations as well as management teams, boards of directors, ESOP trustees, and employee groups.

Jeremy Alinder has joined Chartwell as CFO, where he will oversee financial strategy and accounting operations. Jeremy is a proven leader with a combination of business management, deep financial experience, and a passion for growing businesses through organic and inorganic strategies. With broad international and domestic experience supporting global businesses in a wide variety of industries, he is known for transforming businesses and achieving operational excellence with a keen focus on building value.

“We are excited for Jeremy to join the team to support our strategic growth plans,” said Paul Halverson, CEO. “His leadership and M&A experience will be instrumental as we enter the next chapter of Chartwell’s success.”

About Jeremy

Jeremy has nearly 30 years of accounting and finance experience. Prior to Chartwell, Jeremy served in key leadership roles at Tierra Encantada (CFO), Blue Ops Partners (Managing Director), Ulteig Engineering (CFO), Fluence Corporation (CFO – North America), Jacobs Electric Company (CFO), and Pentair (Director of Corporate Business Development).

Jeremy holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, as well as Bachelor of Arts degrees in accounting and finance from the University of St. Thomas.

Chartwell is pleased to announce that Austin Piech and Will Rehnberg are recipients of the 2025 Emerging Leaders Awards presented by The M&A Advisor. These awards distinguish rising stars shaping the future of mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, and corporate finance. Award winners were selected by an independent judging panel for their innovation, leadership, and community contribution.

Please join us in congratulating Austin and Will on this professional achievement!

Past Emerging Leaders Awards Winners

• Matt Dennison – 2023
• Matt Ewing – 2022
• Dan Kaczmarek – 2022

Amanda Strickler has joined Chartwell as a Vice President in our consulting practice. Amanda brings robust experience in financial modeling and analysis, ownership strategy, corporate development, leadership, and communication. She adds significant value to Chartwell’s team as well as our clients. With Amanda comes the addition of Chartwell’s newest office location in Akron, Ohio.

“We are delighted to have Amanda as the newest member of our growing team. As a former ESOP company leader, she brings a unique and valuable perspective to our sustainability studies,” said Ashleigh Newlin, Managing Director and consulting expert in executive incentive design and ESOP repurchase obligation planning.

About Amanda

Prior to Chartwell, Amanda was Director of Financial Planning & Analysis at ACRT Services, a 100% ESOP-owned environmental consulting company. While at ACRT, she facilitated an ESOP sustainability study and implemented a pivotal new distribution policy, preserving cash flow and enhancing the long-term health of the ESOP. Preceding ACRT, Amanda was a Financial Analyst at FirstEnergy Corp, a $15B investor-owned electric utility company, where she focused on corporate budgeting and forecasting as well as treasury capital markets.

Amanda holds a Master of Business Administration degree in finance as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in finance, with a minor in international business, from The University of Akron.

Matt Clark has joined Chartwell as a Managing Director in the firm’s corporate finance group. Matt is responsible for deal origination, relationship management, and transaction execution. He has over 25 years of experience providing strategic, mergers & acquisitions, and capital raising advice to public and private companies and their boards of directors, CEOs, and CFOs in a variety of industries. Matt will contribute to the leadership and growth of Chartwell’s industry verticals in the architecture/engineering (AE) and construction markets. Matt expands our corporate finance presence in the Western region and is based in Los Angeles, California.

“Matt is a key senior addition to our team,” said Greg Fresh, Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance. “He brings both large cap and middle market expertise, as well as deep experience in the AE and construction industry sectors.” Matt spent four years as head of corporate development at AECOM, the world’s leading infrastructure engineering firm, ranked #3 on the 2023 ENR Top International Design Firms list.

About Matt

Prior to Chartwell, Matt provided investment banking services to clients as Managing Director at Wells Fargo Securities, served as Senior Vice President of M&A at AECOM, and was Partner at Moelis & Company. Matt led the execution of AECOM’s $6 billion acquisition of publicly-traded URS and executed M&A transactions ranging in size from $200 million to more than $2 billion at Moelis & Company.

Earlier in his career, Matt worked at Barrington Partners, UBS Investment Bank, Credit Suisse First Boston (Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette), and Deutsche Bank Alex Brown (BT Alex Brown).

Matt holds a Master of Business Administration degree in finance from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and English from the University of California, Berkeley.

We are pleased to announce that Legacy Equity Valuations has joined Chartwell. Located in Seattle, the team at Legacy has expertise performing valuations for annual ESOP administration, gift and estate tax, financial reporting, and corporate planning purposes.

“Legacy is well-respected not only in the Pacific Northwest but throughout the country. We are fortunate and excited that this team is joining Chartwell,” said Steve Nelson, Managing Director.