Shannon P. Pratt, CFA, FASA, MCBA, CM&AA, is the Chairman and CEO of Shannon Pratt Valuations, Inc. a premier business valuation firm located in Portland Oregon, and is the founder and Editor Emeritus of Business Valuation Resources, LLC. Over a distinguished career of close to four decades, he has performed valuation engagements for M&A, ESOPs, gift and estate taxation, marital dissolution, shareholder oppression and dissent, and numerous other purposes. He has conducted numerous fairness and solvency opinions, has testified in a wide variety of federal and state courts across the country, and frequently participates in arbitration and mediation proceedings. Dr. Pratt is one of the most successful and respected authors in his field. He is the author or coauthor of several industry standards, including Valuing a Business: The Analysis and Appraisal of Closely Held Companies, Valuing Small Businesses and Professional Practices, The Market Approach to Valuing Businesses, Standards of Value, Business Valuation and Taxes, The Lawyer's Business Valuation Handbook, and Cost of Capital. Roger J. Grabowski, FASA, has had a career of more than 50 years in valuation and headed the editorial team for this third edition.Mr. Grabowski has testified in court as an expert witness on various valuation matters. For example, his testimony in the U.S. District Court was referenced in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Newark Morning Ledger opinion (allowing amortization of customer-based intangible assets). His use of the discounted cash flow (DCF) method and the modified capital asset pricing model (MCAPM) for estimating the cost of capital for operating businesses was accepted by the U.S. Tax Court in the Northern Trust Company decision (the first time that the U.S. Tax Court accepted the DCF method and the MCAPM in valuing a closely held business).Mr. Grabowski is co-developer of the annual Risk Premium Report—Size and Risk Studies for estimating cost of equity capital (available via the Kroll Cost of Capital Navigator) and has coauthored several books, contributed to other books, and authored and coauthored numerous papers.Alina V. Niculita, ASA, ARM-BV, CFA, MBA, is director of Valuation Services at Morones Analytics, LLC., and previously was president and chief operating officer of Shannon Pratt Valuations. She was previously managing editor of Shannon Pratt’s Business Valuation Update and Economic Outlook Update.Over the past 20 years, she has served as an author, coauthor, and contributing author of business valuation articles, book chapters, and books, several with Dr. Pratt. She was assistant author of Valuing a Business: The Analysis and Appraisal of Closely Held Companies, 5th ed. (Wiley, 2008); coauthor of Business Valuation Body of Knowledge Workbook, 2nd ed. (Wiley, 2003); Cost of Capital Workbook, 2nd ed. (Wiley, 2002); The Market Approach to Valuing Businesses Workbook, 2nd ed. (Wiley, 2006); and Closely Held Business Valuation (Bloomberg Tax Portfolio 5147). She is also a contributor to BVR’s Guide to Personal v. Enterprise Goodwill (2009), The Comprehensive Guide to the Use and Application of Transaction Databases, 4th ed. (2020), Valuing a Business, 6th ed. (2022), Lawyers Guide to Cost of Capital (2014); Cost of Capital Applications and Examples, 5th ed. (2014); and Financial Valuations: Applications and Models, 5th ed. (2024).Ms. Niculita has been a designated member of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) for 18 years, and an active volunteer, including serving as treasurer of ASA’s Portland Chapter Committee, a current member of ASA’s Business Valuation Discipline Committee, and a member of the Editorial Review Board of the Business Valuation Review, the official publication of the Business Valuation Committee of the ASA. Ms. Niculita holds the Business Valuation credential and the Accredited in Review Management in Business Valuation credential from the ASA, and the certified financial analyst credential from the CFA Society.Ms. Niculita received her MBA from the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor degree in economics, banking, and finance from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, Romania.
