OUR TEAM
Donald Braun WohlChairman Emeritus
Mr. Wohl brings 50+ years of business experience to our clients. His in-depth financial expertise has given Braun the skills to serve Fortune 1000 companies. Mr. Wohl’s industry specific experience ranges from a regional stock brokerage firm, a telecom company, and Board level experience of many other companies nationwide. As the Chairman of Braun, Mr. Wohl provides our team with leadership, financial expertise, and the necessary long-term relationships within the industry.
Todd Wohl – ASA, BREPartner, Senior Vice President
Mr. Wohl is a partner at Braun and sister company Premiere Estates Auction Company. He is a certified Senior American Society of Appraisers (ASA) Appraiser, as well as a member of the National Auctioneer’s Association (NAA), and Braun’s chief auctioneer. Mr. Wohl’s 27+ years of expertise include residential, medical, office, retail, hotel, and industrial real estate and assets. Mr. Wohl and his work have been featured on FOX, ABC, and HGTV. He has appraised, auctioned, or liquidated business assets ranging from food service, hospitality, machinery, supermarket, bakery, rolling stock, computers-IT, aircraft-aviation, yellow iron, post production, and over 100+ other categories. Mr. Wohl is based out of the company’s headquarters in Hermosa Beach, California.
Anthony Fitzgerald – ASA, CGREA, FRICS, BrokerSenior Broker/Appraiser
Mr. Fitzgerald has 25+ years of banking experience, working with institutions such as Shawmut Bank, Barclays Bank, Bank Boston, and Fleet Boston. In addition, he has spent his career conducting appraisals, giving expert testimony and advisory services for Fortune 500 companies. Previously, Mr. Fitzgerald specialized in large syndicated loans and valued over $1 billion of assets annually. He has sold real estate ranging from $100 million office buildings to $2 million apartment complexes; from single family homes to large office buildings, regional shopping centers, distribution facilities, hotels, golf courses, and industrial buildings, plus many more. Mr. Fitzgerald has collaborated with institutions such as Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, US Bank, GE Capital, Citibank, and a myriad of other worldwide lending institutions.
Mr. Fitzgerald is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyor, a Certified General Real Estate Appraiser and a certified appraiser from the American Society of Appraisers (ASA). In addition, he is also a licensed real estate broker.
Michael SchwartzDirector of National Sales
Mr. Schwartz discovered his passion for Real Estate Auctions very early on being introduced to fine art auctions in his hometown in Philadelphia. A true entrepreneurial spirit, he founded and was the CEO of one of the leading sportswear manufacturers on the East Coast before selling his company to pursue other interests in California. After opening a chain of award-winning southern California based high-end retail clothing stores, Mr. Schwartz turned his focus back to sales and joined the Braun team. One of his favorite parts of his job is to work closely with his clients, achieve success for them in selling their unique properties, and enabling them to pursue their intended next chapter. Mr. Schwartz holds a BBA from the University of Miami, FL.
Chris StraitDirector of Sales
Mr. Strait brings over 20 years of sales experience in the real estate and entertainment fields. He received his California DRE license in 2005, and is a personal investor in multi-family properties nationwide. Prior to joining the Braun team, he had also worked privately in the auction field for real estate, cars, art, and memorabilia. A Los Angeles native, Mr. Strait holds a B.A from California State University Dominguez Hills, and a M.A. from Antioch University.
Katie SchwartzTransaction Manager
Ms. Schwartz has been our Real Estate Closing Coordinator for over 10 years. She devotes her expertise to ensure that clients’ entire escrow experience is as smooth and uneventful as possible. She is responsible for managing details of the closing process and coordinating with all parties involved in a sale to bring the escrow to a successful close. She personally follows up with the escrow officer, lender, appraiser, title officer, buyers, sellers, agents, inspectors, and many more to ensure a timely closing. She provides continuous tracking of contract deadlines and processes the compliance and disclosure paperwork. Ms. Schwartz consults with the team members on a daily basis in order to ensure a smooth and thorough transaction. Before joining our team, she enjoyed a career in business logistics where she was an integral part of the successful expansion of a well-known company, specializing in child proofing items, which was based here in Southern California.
Peyton SuttonDirector of Marketing
Peyton brings nearly a decade of Marketing and Advertising experience to Braun, working with a vast spread of clients ranging from Subaru to Colliers International. In her current role at Braun, she oversees the company’s corporate marketing, creative direction, and branding as well as the marketing and public relations of properties to be sold at auction. An experienced strategist, hands-on creative, department manager and marketing executive, she has a proven track record of developing and executing highly successful marketing and branding campaigns. Peyton graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Florida.
Lori SteeleCorporate Business Development
Ms. Steele is dedicated to providing a breadth of solutions to today’s real estate challenges. Previously in her career, Ms. Steele was responsible for developing and executing highly successful management plans for real estate firms, accountants, lenders and legal counsel, including a focus on trust sales, lending, valuation, P & L, and more. Her varied experience brings a unique skill set, perfectly positioned to create success across all business needs and industries. A graduate of UCLA, she prides herself on expert negotiation skills, client-focused service, and an emphasis on ethics in both business and life. While Ms. Steele’s primary focus at Braun is on the purchase and sale of commercial assets, she also has an acute expertise in luxury assets. She is based out of Braun’s headquarters in Manhattan Beach, California.
Scott Schmidt
Scott Schmidt brings over 15 years of experience as a Senior Sales & Marketing Executive to Braun. In 2007, Scott began a successful entrepreneurial career when he envisioned and founded Cover5, Inc., a gaming platform designed to meet the demands of both casual and diehard sports fans while providing businesses with an ecommerce platform to help them better engage and market to their customers. Scott has always had a passion for real estate, earning a BA in business and triple majoring in finance, marketing and real estate. In 2015 Scott received his commercial real estate license, and brings a wealth of business knowledge, know how and entrepreneurial spirit to the Braun team.
Andrew P. Jensen, JR. SIOR
Andrew specializes in tenant representation in the leasing and sale of office properties. His experience, having worked with both the landlord and tenant side of the business, gives added value to his clients along with his vast market knowledge.
Andrew graduated in 1986 from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with a B.S. degree in Construction Administration and participated in the nationally-renowned Graaskamp Real Estate Program.
David L. IsacksonDirector, Trust Assets & Real Estate
David L. Isackson has over 30 years of experience working with closely held entities & real estate; he specializes in valuing, monitoring (typically via board participation), and selling closely held corporations and real estate entities. He retired from Wells Fargo in 2015 as the Manager of the Business Advisory Services team, which provided business appraisal engagements, lower middle market M&A, business exit planning, and managed over $4 billion in fiduciary assets in 42 states for Wells Fargo Investment and Fiduciary Services.
David has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Minnesota State University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of North Dakota. He is a retired member of the Minnesota Bar Association, attended the National Bank-sponsored Annual Workshops on closely held business interests from 1984 to 2015, and has completed the American Society of Appraiser’s Business Valuation curriculum.
Adam McArthur – ASA, CFASenior Business Valuation Manager
Mr. McArthur is a Senior Business Valuation Manager. He has extensive experience in the valuation of closely held corporations, intangible assets, patents, receivables, partnerships, and professional practices. Mr. McArthur’s assignments include both litigated and non-litigated matters. He has valued a diverse array of business in size from publicly traded corporations to small privately owned business ranging in size from $5 million to $2 billion. Mr. McArthur received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from California State University at Northridge. He has earned the Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) designation in the discipline of business valuation from the American Society of Appraisers (ASA). Mr. McArthur is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), which defines his skills as an expert in asset valuation.
Jim Coulter – CLPF, NCG
Mr. Coulter joins the BRAUN team after a career spanning over 30+ years over many industries and as a Trust, Fiduciary and Guardianship expert. Mr. Coulter serves our clients who are National Guardianship and California Licensed Professional Fiduciaries. His expertise as a Fiduciary and Guardian provide our clients with a high level of understanding of their business and how to assist and protect them when valuing and selling assets. Mr. Coulter’s unique background and specialties prove to be an excellent match for the BRAUN family of companies.
Warren DowStrategic Advisor
As Founder & CEO of Micro Market Media (m3), a disruptive media/marketing company based in Hermosa Beach California, Mr. Dow brings a wealth of “next gen” marketing/media knowledge to the table. With a critical understanding of today’s “connected economy,” he understands how to navigate the fragmented media landscape and deliver multi-channel marketing solutions to a target audience.
Dianne GarciaGraphic Designer
An experienced production artist and graphic designer, Ms. Garcia has worked for agencies, small businesses and magazines for almost 10 years. With a degree in Fine Arts, she constantly strives to expand her knowledge and skills in the print and digital media world. She believes in all forms of creativity and can’t imagine living a day without being surrounded by it.
Debbie GlasscockCreative Director
Ms. Glasscock has been an artist for as long as she can remember, when she used to illustrate her mother’s grocery lists the moment she first picked up a crayon. She grew up in Texas and made her way out west in the early 2000s to pursue graphic design at USC. She’s a die-hard Trojan fan and a lover of sports. Debbie spent many years designing for entertainment and much of her work has graced the hands of Morgan Freeman, Meryl Streep and Ben Affleck, only to name a few. When she’s not in the office creating, she’s spending time outside soaking up the California sun and playing with her Westies, Lucky and Sugar.
Sandra MartinezMember, Business Asset Group
Ms. Martinez brings 23+ years of experience providing business asset sale, auction, and liquidation expertise with a wide range of assets that include machinery, retail inventories, furniture inventory, supermarket, wholesale inventory, manufacturing, and rolling stock, among others. She has sold assets for Fortune 500 companies such as Valero, Hilton, McDonald’s, Piggly Wiggly, Amgen, and many others
John DzuibaPresident of Diversified Aero Aircraft, Airframe, Engine
Mr. Dzuiba is an expert in the commercial and corporate aviation industry, and President of our aviation division, DASI. He is a second-generation aircraft industry specialist. His database of buyers is worldwide and his skills range from inventory valuations, consignment management and market analysis. Mr. Dzuiba operates the aviation liquidation center in Miami, Florida. In addition, he also manages the liquidation center in Mojave, California, where aviation assets are sold and/or liquidated. Some of his specialties include McDonnell-Douglas aircraft types starting at DC-8 models through the MD-90 series, as well as Boeing models ranging from the 707 to current types such as the 757-200 and 767 model.
Robert EffingerVice President, Cost Segregation
Mr. Effinger manages and performs a variety of real estate and construction related services, with emphasis on cost segregation studies to maximize tax savings from accelerated depreciation. In his career, he has analyzed nearly every type of facility, ranging from high technology manufacturing to chemical processors, refineries, and cogeneration facilities. In addition, Mr. Effinger has developed proprietary software, which provides efficient costing and audit trail for property details.
Alexander GrossmanVice President, Business Development
Mr. Grossman is responsible for working with medium-sized businesses and Fortune 1000 companies, lenders, law firms, and accounting firms to develop asset remarking programs, appraisal/valuation programs, and cost segregation programs. Previously, he served as a career diplomat for 7+ years as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of State. Mr. Grossman joined the Foreign Service as a Vice Consul and Commercial Attache in El Salvador. In that capacity, he was responsible for helping to promote U.S. business, trade and investment. He also served in Santiago, Chile as an Economic and Political Officer, Science Attache, and Vice Consul in which he was responsible for analyzing political developments and their potential impact on U.S. interests; promoting adoption by the host country of foreign policy decisions; and advising U.S. business executives on the local political investment climate and economic trends.
Mark Justmann – MAICommercial Real Estate Appraiser
Mr. Justmann is a Senior Real Estate Appraiser with Braun. His experience spans multi-state and international appraisals for all types of commercial, industrial, multi-family, vacant land, and special purpose facilities. Mr. Justmann provides expert testimony, as well as condemnation and eminent domain matters and expertise throughout the U.S.
Todd Lee – CFAVice President, Financial Analysis
Mr. Lee is a Chartered Financial Analyst and runs Braun’s Business Valuation Group. He provides our clients with senior quantitative and analytical skills, which assist in providing the most thorough analysis of business finance. Mr. Lee gained his expertise working with firms such as Drexel Burnham Lambert, Bear Stearns, and Omega Advisors. He assists our real estate appraisers with their analysis and provides a comprehensive examination of the completed report, testing theory, com parables, and conclusions.
Kieron McKayDirector of Videography
A video marketing specialist with over 400 productions under his belt, Mr. McKay is master at finding the story. With a degree in Psychology from Loyola Marymount University, he is one of the premiere South Bay Los Angeles Architectural / Real Estate videographers and video editors.
Amanda NelsonCreative Director
Amanda sure knows how to mix it up. She consistently blends her traditional print sensibilities with some wild digital techniques to create incredibly original designs. A fresh-faced publisher by the age of 21, Amanda has run national magazines as well as started several of her own. Her quirky, humorous style often comes through in her design via little tongue-in-cheek touches that are uniquely hers. Amanda has created some rocking designs for major brands like Disney, Universal Studios, FOX Studios, Paramount, BCBG Max Azria, Honda, Wal*Mart, FIJI Water, Frederick’s of Hollywood, Tiffany & Co. and Cartier. A diehard design geek, she can (spookily) name fonts on sight.
Nicholas ProutyDirector of Braun Capital
Mr. Prouty is the Director of Braun Capital. He previously ran acquisitions and restructuring for a $1 billion hedge fund focused on asset based lending to middle market companies across the United States. During his tenure, Mr. Prouty was responsible for lending over $250 million. Based in Greenwich, CT, he was employed by the hedge fund for 5+ years and was responsible for lending over $1 billion during that time. Mr. Prouty is a graduate of The Claremont Colleges in Claremont, California.
Stacey Roman – IAIDirector, Personal Asset Appraisals
Mr. Roman is a second-generation Fine Arts dealer and appraiser with 25+ years of experience, including his position as Director at Butterfield & Butterfield. His broad experience has qualified him as an expert in American, Californian, and European fine arts, ranging from the Old Masters through the 20th Century. He buys and sells fine and decorative arts, and also provides private consultations and appraisals. Mr. Roman is also a professional auctioneer.
Mark BrookinsMid West Office
He has worked in the MHP and real estate development industry for over 30 years. Mark is one the foremost experts in Manufactured Housing parks, operations and development. He has developed and operated one of the largest MHP’s in the U.S. with over 1500 operating pads.Mark works in the Northeast Markets from Cleveland. Most recently Mark has been working with Cuyahoga County redevelopment agency creating valued open space within the city of Cleveland.
John R. JohnstonWestern State Office
John is located in our Western states office in Jackson Wyoming. John has extensive expertise in ranch and land properties. He has developed and built numerous properties. He has been a noted expert in water rights and land development. John has auctioned his own properties and understands the value of the Worldbid Auction Platform.
Rick Rosenbloom – JD, MBADirector, NE Region
Mr. Rosenbloom has 20+ years of distressed investment, restructuring, and operational experience including his position as General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Hilco Trading Company, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Acquisitions for an international brand marketing and specialty advertising firm, Principal of Continental Plants – a special situations investment and distressed debt firm, and most recently as a Principal and Head of Restructuring for Gemini Partners – a boutique investment banking firm. Mr. Rosenbloom holds a JD/MBA degree from UCLA and a Bachelor of Arts Degree with distinction from the Honors College at the University of Michigan.
Charles (Chad) DonohueReal Estate Consulting Manager
Chad’s career spans 30 years of construction technologies, construction management and risk analysis experience in three of the premier metro areas of the United States, Washington D.C., New York City and San Francisco Bay/ Silicon Valley CA. He has decades of involvement with multi-family, high-rise, condominium, commercial, and retail acquisitions, development, repositioning and construction. Along with this he has headed up the operations and property management for thousands of condominiums, rental apartments, commercial and retail spaces in the NYC tristate and the San Francisco Bay areas. He has consulted on and helped reposition numerous large multifamily garden style properties and apartment buildings in both coastal markets.
While in the New York City Tri-state metro area working for Houlihan Parnes Realty Group, he managed a team of 12 property managers and 6 construction managers plus administrative staff as the Director of Management, Development and Construction. Houlihan Parnes, founded in 1880, acquires, repositions, renovates and manages for its own portfolio 3,200 +apartments, co-ops, condominiums along with 500+ retail and commercial spaces. The building types include high-rise, mid-rise, garden style and walk-up buildings along with one- and two-story retail and commercial spaces. The geographic area encompassed Fairfield County CT. Dutchess, Putnam & Westchester Counties N.Y across to the Albany Metro area south thru all the N.Y. counties and the five boroughs of N.Y. City. The portfolio extended south thru New Jersey to the Delaware River.
While in the San Francisco Bay Metro Area working for such firms as Sares Regis,T2 Hospitality, The Bohan Company and the Holland Partner Group, Chad helped in the acquisition, repurposing and upgrading of numerous multi building garden style apartment complexes throughout the Bay area, the reorganization of a 120 building property portfolio, the ground up build of six Marriott hotels and headed up the operational / organizational management of the build teams for $1.3 bil of high rise apartments in Oakland, and San Jose / Santa Clara .
Chad began his career by getting degrees in Economics and International Affairs from George Washington University, two years if which were spent at the University of Madrid, Spain. Thereafter, he moved to Hamburg Germany and completed a full seven-year guild apprenticeship as a master builder. Returning to the U.S. he built his professional career on the European master builder model. Mid-career he received master’s degrees in Project Management and Construction Management from NYU.
On his off time, he is active in competitive sailboat racing, mountain biking, and various academic pursuits.