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Senior Advisors

Duff & Phelps Senior Advisors support our client service professionals with valuable relationships, industry insight and deep experience.

Gary Bannon, Senior Advisor

Gary joined as a Senior Advisor in 2010. Prior to his retirement from the firm in 2010, Gary was the managing director in charge of the Chicago office of Duff & Phelps and part of the Valuation Advisory Services business unit. He has more than 35 years of professional experience.

Gary joined Duff & Phelps in conjunction with the merger of the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Corporate Value Consulting Division. Prior to S&P, Gary was a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He spent 12 years in the audit and tax practices of Price Waterhouse and 14 years in the valuation practices of Price Waterhouse and PwC.

He has advised many multinational corporations and midcap companies on a wide range of value related issues. Gary’s experience includes advising board members and senior officials in connection with financial analysis to assist in acquisitions, divestitures, reorganizations and joint venture formation; valuations for purposes of implementing equity based compensation programs; assessment of strategic and financial alternatives; valuation and financial analysis for bankruptcy engagements, including fresh start accounting, fairness opinions and valuations for financial reporting and tax planning purposes.

Gary received his M.B.A. in finance from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and his B.B.A. in accounting from Wichita State University. He is a certified public accountant registered in Illinois. He is a former member of the Business Valuation and Appraisals Subcommittee of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Stephen Cole, Senior Advisor

Stephen R. Cole, FCA, FCBV joined Duff & Phelps in 2010 as a managing director in the Dispute and Legal Management Consulting practice and became a Senior Advisor in 2013. Stephen has more than 35 years of experience in business valuation and expert testimony.

Prior to joining Duff & Phelps, Stephen founded Cole & Partners, one of Canada's leading independent financial advisory firms. Stephen has been an advisor in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions regarding privately and publicly held business and real estate interests. He also has significant experience as an advisor to independent committees of public companies in various circumstances concerning sale, mergers and acquisitions and fairness opinions. He has been a director or advisory committee member of various private and public companies, charitable and professional organizations as well as an investment committee member and active advisor to numerous, significant, public and private funds and pools of capital containing public and private company investments. In addition, he has also testified before the Federal Court of Canada, the Supreme Court of Ontario, the Ontario Court, Competition Tribunal and other tribunals and panels as an expert witness in business valuation, damage quantification and other related matters.

Stephen is the business valuations editor for C.A. Magazine and author of valuation articles for numerous professional journals. He has also served as a speaker and lecturer for numerous professional organizations, including University of Toronto, York University, Canadian Bar Association, Law Society of Upper Canada, Ontario Bar Admission School, Insight Educational Services, Canadian Institute, Canadian Tax Foundation, Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators, Federated Press and Judicial Institute.

Stephen is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario and the Canadian Chartered Institute of Business Valuators. In the past, he served as director of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators as well as a member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants’ National Specialization Council and Specialization Implementation Task Force.

Edward J. DiPaolo, Senior Advisor

Edward J. DiPaolo has served as a Duff & Phelps Senior Advisor since 2011. He brings more than 30 years of experience in the Energy industry.

Edward was a Partner at Growth Capital Partners, L.P. for 8 years. Prior to that, Edward worked for over 27 years at Halliburton Company where he held several positions. Edward was a Group Senior Vice President of Global Business Development with Halliburton Company since 2003. Prior roles at Halliburton included serving as North American Regional Vice President and Far East Regional Vice President. In these roles, he was responsible for overall operations of Halliburton Energy Services’ North America and Far East operations.

Edward currently serves on the Board of Directors of the following public companies: Evolution Petroleum Corporation, and Willbros Inc. He also sits on several private company boards. He previously served as Interim Chairman of the Board of Directors of Boots and Coots Group. He also served on Superior Well Services' board prior to being sold to Nabors Industries. In addition, he served on the board of Innicor Subsurface Technologies prior to being sold to BJ Services.

Edward received his undergraduate degree in Agricultural Engineering from West Virginia in 1976. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the West Virginia University College of Engineering.

Ted Lee, Senior Advisor

Ted Lee joined Duff & Phelps as a senior advisor in 2008 advising our Shanghai office’s practice development in Greater China. Ted has more than 30 years of audit and accounting experience, serving international and multinational companies in China and the United States. Ted has a broad range of experience in accounting standards, including PRC GAAP, IFRS and US GAAP, and in advising the Boards of overseas-listed Chinese companies.

Prior to joining Duff & Phelps, Ted was a senior partner at Deloitte, where he spent 31 years in both Asia and the United States. Ted pioneered Deloitte’s China initiative and opened its first office in Shanghai in 1992. He also led the Manufacturing - Automotive Industry Group of Deloitte China’s national practice.

Ted holds a MBA in accounting and finance from University of Southern California and a B.S. in accounting from California State University, Fresno. Ted is a U.S. certified public accountant. He is also a member of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants, American Chamber of Commerce and is chairman of USC Alumni Club of Shanghai. He also serves as an independent board member and Audit Committee Chairman on a number of overseas-listed Chinese companies.

Peter J. Neckles, Senior Advisor

Peter J. Neckles became a senior advisor in 2012. He was previously a managing director in Duff & Phelps' Global Restructuring Advisory Practice, a role in which he leveraged more than 30 years of restructuring and financing experience. Currently Peter focuses on developing client relationships that involve all of Duff & Phelps’ Investment Banking services, which include mergers and acquisitions, transaction opinions and restructurings; he also helps develop business related to transaction and litigation support.

Prior to joining Duff & Phelps, Peter spent more than 25 years as a partner with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York where he helped establish the firm’s commercial banking law practice. During his legal career, Peter represented debtors, creditors, equity participants and directors in a wide range of restructuring and financing transactions, including acquisition financings, work-outs, chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganizations and bankruptcy-related financings.

Peter received his J.D. cum laude from Fordham University School of Law, where he was Writing & Research Editor of the Fordham Law Review, and his B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. After graduation from law school, Peter served as law clerk to the Honorable John M. Cannella, U.S. District Judge, Southern District of New York. Peter has been a member of the New York Bar for more than 30 years. Throughout his legal career, Peter was recognized as one of the leading New York City banking lawyers in various legal publications and directories, including Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business; The Best Lawyers in America; and New York Super Lawyers.

Eric ter Hark, Senior Advisor

Eric ter Hark has served as a Duff & Phelps' Senior Advisor since 2006. He brings more than 34 years of expertise in strategy, mergers and acquisitions.

Previously, Eric was the director of corporate development for Amsterdam-based Royal Vendex KBB and a member of the company's executive board. Prior to that, he served as general counsel, leading all merger and acquisition transactions for GIB Group, a $6 billion retail conglomerate based in Brussels. Eric began his career as a lawyer and practiced 14 years in Amsterdam and Paris.

Today Eric serves as president of the supervisory board for HARG BV, a company operating 400 optical stores in The Netherlands, Belgium and France and serves as supervisory director of Biotech Tools, a Brussels-based biotechnology company.

Eric holds a law degree from the University of Leyden and is an AMP alumni from Insead.

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