ZZZ - GMG - VEGAS INC 2011-2014

16 | 3 F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 4 | DaviD Grant, partner Grant Morris DoDDs David Grant handles asset protec- tion and estate planning for some of Nevada's wealthiest families. His firm specializes in trust, probate and guard- ianship law. "I enjoy helping people with answers to questions that are sometimes hard to find," he said. "It's kind of like delivering peace of mind to people." Grant also writes and speaks about asset protection, veil piercing (dealing with the rights and duties of corpora- tions), trusts, estates and taxation. He began his career in account- ing, earning a bachelor's degree from Southern Utah University. He worked an extended internship at Deloitte be- fore earning his master's degree in ac- counting from the University of Utah. During the same period, he also lived in Guatemala for two years on a church mission that allowed him to learn fluent Spanish, a skill he capitalizes on today. "There are an increased number of investors in the Southern Nevada mar- ket from Mexico and South America," Grant said. "I've advised many of them in the local real estate market. I actual- ly probably land five to 10 new clients a year who prefer to do business in Span- ish." Grant earned a law degree from the University of Houston in 2004 and be- gan working at the Jeffrey Burr Law Firm, which handles estate planning and probates. He became a partner in 2010. "Jeffrey Burr was a great mentor to me," Grant said. "I learned so much." In 2011, Grant and two partners — Rob- C O V E R S T O R Y Dan Gerety, owner Gerety anD associates Dan Gerety's dream was to own his own company. Mission accomplished in October 2004. When the accounting firm that's now Gerety and Associates opened almost a decade ago, it was a one-man operation. "I was even my own secretary," he said. "I tied in with another CPA to share office space. We've come a long way." Today, Gerety employs 21 people and runs one of Southern Nevada's largest accounting firms. Battling through a rough economy made his company even stronger, he said. "Prior to the recession, we were going very fast, and it was hard to keep up," he said. "We kept adding people to get the staff where we needed to with the work- load. We went flat during the recession. We had some big clients go away, but rev- enue and income-wise, we stayed pretty flat. It actually allowed us to get stable. We weren't overworking our people like we had at times in the past." Gerety, an Iowa native, holds account- ing and business degrees from St. Am- brose College and said he takes pride in providing personalized service to clients. His company offers accounting, taxation and business consulting. "I was always good at math and sci- ence skills in high school," he said. "I had a lot of confidence in myself and had thought maybe I wanted to be a doc- tor or attorney, but then I realized that would mean a lot of extra college years. "I had it narrowed down to being an accountant or an engineer. Out of ig- norance, I read some short story about a guy who designed the Golden Gate Bridge (in San Francisco) and that he led a very stressful life and needed to take long walks in the woods just to cope. That's when I decided to go the ac- counting route. Plus, my dad was an ac- countant. I just kept it in the family." Gerety got his start in 1982 at McGla- drey and Pullen and worked there for two-plus decades before stepping out on his own. "When I first got into public account- ing, the plan was to stay in it for about five years," he said. "It went a lot larger than that, though. It felt really good to eventually achieve my goal and open my own firm." His company's niche is estate and gift planning, although staff also handle trust taxes and asset protection planning. Gerety is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accoun- tants and Nevada Society of Certified Public Accountants and is past presi- dent of both the Southern Nevada Es- tate Planning Council and Central Illi- nois Estate Planning Council. HeatHer GrecH, partner BraDshaw, sMith anD co. Certified Public Accountant Heath- er Grech has sage advice for business owners: "Save in good times and plan ahead for a rainy day." Grech has worked at Bradshaw, Smith and Co. for 22 years. "The businesses that survived the downturn in the economy were the ones that planned ahead," she said. "Planning and organization are the two biggest keys to a company's suc- cess. You know as a company where you stand, whether you are profitable or unprofitable. If you aren't making the money that you want and some- thing isn't working, tweak it so you can survive in the long term." Grech establishes financial plans for construction companies, real es- tate developers, mortgage banks, hos- pitals, schools, state boards, retailers and nonprofit organizations. She also has handled litigation support for real estate developers, homebuilders, leas- ing companies and others. "There is really no typical day for me," said Grech, who earned a bach- elor's degree in accounting from Cali- fornia State University, Sacramento. "It's not a 9-to-5 job. Some days you come in early and stay late. It's all about getting the clients' needs taken care of." Grech discovered her love of num- bers when she took an accounting class in high school. A teacher recom- mended that she help a local business reconcile its books, which set her on the path to becoming an accounting major in college. After earning her degree, she worked as a staff accountant at Hem- ming Morse in California for two years before relocating to Las Vegas. "I've made some great friends here, some great clients, found some good schools and good sports teams (for my son)," Grech said. "It has been a great place to work and live." Grech is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accoun- tants and Nevada Society of Certified Public Accountants. ann SantiaGo, Senior vice preSiDent of buSineSS Development tMc FinancinG Ann Santiago swells with pride when she sees storefronts of businesses that she and her company helped finance and get off the ground. In 2013 alone, TMC issued 40 loans worth $30.1 million as part of the Small Business Administration's 504 loan financing program, designed for growing small and medium business- es that need financing for purchases, renovations or construction. "I just love to drive down the street and see a business that we helped," Santiago said. "It is so satisfying. Most of our clients are private business owners or family-owned businesses. Making a real estate purchase is a dream for many of them. All of their hard work pays off when they can fi- nance those dreams. There is a certain amount of pride and joy in their busi- ness endeavors." Santiago opened TMC's Las Vegas office in 2007. Under her leadership, it has grown to become the top SBA 504 lender in Clark County for the past three years. "We are like the lending department of the SBA," Santiago said. "We are nonprofit and licensed and regulated by the SBA. There are only 275 certi- fied development corporations in the country. Not everyone can be one." Certified development corporations offer standardized fees and interest rates, as well as low down payments, 20-year low fixed rate terms and re- duced loan fees. TMC works directly with borrowers, first mortgage lenders and real estate brokers to tailor financing packages that meet SBA standards and the cred- it capacity of each business. Businesses that survived downturn were the ones that planned ahead aDviSorS, FROm pagE 1 COnTinuEd, pagE 17 L . E . B aS kO w C O u RT E SY C h R i STO p h E R d e Va R gaS 20140203_VI01_F.indd 16 1/30/14 11:52:38 AM

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