The Mentor Group Experienced and Accountable Senior Professionals 818-991-4150
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Our Story

​The Mentor Group, Inc. was founded in 1987 by Davis Blaine. His vision was to perform high value preeminent services for clients, utilizing senior professionals with superior experience and expertise. That philosophy and culture thrive today, creating an unmatched capability in valuations and appraisals, financial consulting, and litigation support services.

For over three decades, we have served thousands of clients, small and large. Many of these clients have been with us from early on, trusting us to deliver results year after year.

Who We Are

Davis R. Blaine, ASA

Davis Blaine, Chairman of both Mentor Securities LLC and The Mentor Group Inc., is expert in the accounting, tax, and financial aspects of acquisitions, recapitalizations, valuations and appraisal. He has frequently lectured and written on technical valuation issues. Mr. Blaine has counseled many clients on buying, selling, or raising capital. In addition, he has prepared companies for public and private investment, strategic partnership, and joint ventures.


D. Justin Blaine

Justin Blaine is a Senior Managing Director of Mentor Securities LLC and The Mentor Group Inc. His experience includes performing business and IP valuations. These valuations have ranged from medical service firms to car dealerships….from Internet advertisers to construction companies…and from consumer goods to aerospace, and many more.

Brad M. Cashion, CFA

Brad Cashion is a Managing Director with The Mentor Securities LLC and The Mentor Group Inc. He has extensive experience in valuing and preparing private companies for sale and capital raising. In addition, he has participated in financing of real estate and business assets. Among the investment banking transactions completed by Mr. Cashion are sellside, buyside, restructuring, strategic partnerships, private placements, spinoff, and senior and mezzanine debt. He has counseled many public companies regarding fairness opinions, stock options for IPO's, and acquisitions.

Jon S. Epperson

Mr. Epperson is Senior Manager at The Mentor Group, Inc. He has more than twenty years of professional experience preparing numerous cost segregation studies of new and used construction. These depreciations analysis have significantly reduced taxes for clients in industrial, retail, office, medical, residential rental, refineries, auto dealerships, broadcast facilities, and high-tech operations.

Eric D. Klein

Eric Klein is a Managing Director with Mentor Securities LLC and The Mentor Group Inc. As an investment banker, he has completed a variety of corporate advisory transactions, including mergers, acquisitions, capital raises (debt and equity), and RTO's (reverse take-overs). Many of these transactions involved emerging growth and established middle-market companies. Primary industries include information technology, manufacturing, business services and eCommerce. He actively maintains extensive domestic and international relationships with institutional (Private Equity Groups, Family Offices, SPAC) and strategic investors.

Gary E. Lotzer

Gary Lotzer is a Managing Director with Mentor Securities LLC and The Mentor Group Inc. He is an expert in business valuation, business and marketing plans, industry research and financial modeling. His valuations have been used for partner dissolutions, IRS estate tax support, litigation damages, and business sales.

Wesley E. Romberger III

Wesley Romberger is a Managing Director and Senior Financial Appraiser with The Mentor Group. He has diverse and substantive expertise in the valuation of both public and closely-held companies. Engagements have involved options, preferred and common stock, derivative securities pricing and intangible assets. He has counseled many buyers and sellers, and written detailed prospectus for raising capital.

M. Mark Sarchet, ASA

Mark Sarchet is a senior finance professional who has valued and sold many businesses in a variety of industries. The breadth of his practice includes financial advisory, business and IP valuation, and valuations of financial derivatives and debt instruments. These analyses have involved public and private companies in numerous industry segments, from hedge funds to high tech.….. from medical instruments to food distribution …… from aerospace to software development, and more.

Fritz Strehlow, CSBA

Fritz Strehlow is a Managing Director with Mentor Securities LLC and The Mentor Group Inc. with expertise and extensive experience in business valuations, mergers and acquisitions, raising equity, and business management. His work has involved private and public entities - corporations and partnerships. In addition, he is an expert witness in financial valuations.

George Ruth

Senior appraiser of real property, George Ruth focuses on Southern California real estate. Among his engagements are supermarkets, nurseries, recording studios, apartments, condominiums, offices, hospices, restaurants, retail, warehouses and vacant land. His reports have been applied to litigation, divorce, 1031 exchanges, settlements, estate and gift tax, and sale-leaseback.

Bert Jones

Bert Jones, Senior appraiser, manages and performs appraisals for a wide variety of inventory, equipment, and machinery - from computers and peripherals to steel production equipment and MRI's. Examples of machinery and equipment appraised include computer, high tech milling, food processing, printing presses, oil and gas drilling, transportation, medical imaging, and manufacturing. On numerous occasions he has testified in court as an expert witness.

Mark S. Justmann, MAI

Mark Justmann is a Senior Real Estate Appraiser with The Mentor Group. His experience spans multi-state and international appraisals for all types of commercial, industrial, multi-family, vacant land, and special purpose facilities, estate homes, and agriculture. Most of his appraisals have involved the Western U.S. - California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

Rhett Plotner

Rhett Plotner is a Managing Director of Mentor Securities and The Mentor Group, Inc. At Mentor Securities, his investment banking expertise spans numerous sell-side, buy-side, and capital sourcing engagements. He has also advised early-stage companies via venture and angel funding and consulting. Industries served range from food & beverage to high-tech SaaS, healthcare to cybersecurity, manufacturing to industrial services, and many more in-between. Mr. Plotner possesses exceptional skills, indispensable to execute any investment banking transaction and deliver optimal client results.


Senior Professionals

The TMG management team includes persons well-known in their respective disciplines. We have relevant experience in nearly every industry and with every type of asset.

Daniel Christian

Daniel Christian specializes in the appraisal of single family residences, multiple residential units, apartments, condominiums, planned unit developments, and small commercial facilities. His appraisals have been used for gifting, estate tax, charitable donations, litigation, and 1031 exchanges.

Andrew Collins, FRICS, AACS

Andrew Collins is a senior real estate appraiser with experience in multi-state and international engagements. His appraisals have included vacant land, commercial, industrial, retail, agriculture and vineyards, and many types of special purpose facilities. He is qualified as an expert witness in many courts.

Robert Hunt

Robert Hunt manages and performs machinery and equipment appraisals throughout the United States. He has a particular specialty in the food and agriculture industries and all types of industrial equipment. Mr. Hunt is expert in modeling for forced liquidation.

Rhys Jones

Rhys Jones is a Senior Equipment Analyst with The Mentor Group. His clients have ranged from aerospace contractors to healthcare facilities and many other industries. His appraisals have been used for sale, bankruptcy, property tax, lender collateral, and receivership. He is adept at software applications for fixed asset reporting.

Alexander Kurin

Alexander Kurin manages and performs real estate appraisals throughout the United States. He has a particular specialty in multi-location projects. These appraisals have been used for financing, sale, reorganization, property and estate tax, depreciation basis, and allocation of purchase price.

Andrew Sheriff, MRICS

Andrew Sheriff is a senior real estate appraiser with multi-state and international experience. He has appraised nearly every type of industrial, commercial, retail, apartment, government, university, and manufacturing property. Some of the major facilities include petrochemical, food and beverage, cement manufacturing, plastics, and rubber plants.

Who We Are
Davis R. Blaine
D. Justin Blaine
Brad M. Cashion
Jon S. Epperson
Eric D. Klein
Gary E. Lotzer
Wesley E. Romberger III
M. Mark Sarchet
Fritz Strehlow
George Ruth
Bert Jones
Mark Justmann
Rhett Plotner

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