YA Group appoints four executives

YA Group, a Nashville-based building consulting and forensic engineering firm, has hired Kristin Winford as chief operating officer, Greg Rumsey as chief financial officer, Justin Petzold as general counsel, and Ravi Mehta as head of corporate development and M&A.

Based in Austin, Winford will serve as YA’s first COO, strengthening organizational operations and guiding scaling to support organic and inorganic growth.

YA Group, which has approximately 600 professionals, was acquired by private equity firm THL Partners in 2024.

Winford is a senior operations leader with over 20 years of experience in professional services and strategic business transformation.

She joins from Accordion, a private equity consulting firm, where she spent two years as global head of operations. Before that, she spent seven years at BDO USA where she was a principal leading strategic planning operational excellence functions for the 2,200-person advisory services business.

Earlier in her career, Winford spent 11 years with Mesirow Financial Consulting (the former restructuring practice of KPMG US), where she was chief operating officer.

She holds a doctor of education from Creighton University, an MBA from Arizona State University, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Southern Methodist University.

Based in Philadelphia, Rumsey will as CFO oversee YA Group’s financial planning, risk management, and compliance functions.

He brings 20+ years of finance experience, including 13 years in the professional services sector. Rumsey joins from sustainability consultancy ERM, where he spent 10 years and was latterly CFO for North America.

Before that, he spent three years at financial services consultancy Bridgeforce, where he was director of finance and administration. Earlier in his career, Rumsey was CFO at the International Literacy Association and Covenant College.

He holds an MBA from the University of Delaware and a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business from James Madison University.

Based in Los Angeles, Petzold will oversee all legal affairs of YA Group. He brings 15 years of legal experience, with deep expertise in private equity M&A and other complex corporate transactions.

He joins from fintech firm InvestCloud, where he spent four years and served as chief legal and human resources officer. Before that, Petzold was assistant general counsel at commercial real estate firm Newmark Grubb Knight Frank and a partner at law firm Kirkland & Ellis.

He began his career at law firm Skadden Arps, where he was an attorney supporting M&A, securities, and corporate finance matters.

Petzold holds a juris doctor and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Based in New York, Mehta will oversee corporate development and M&A at YA Group. He brings 20+ years of experience developing and implementing growth strategies and originating, negotiating, and executing strategic acquisitions.

Mehta brings extensive M&A experience within the insurance broking and HR consulting vertical. He most recent spent two years with Gallagher’s benefits services division, where he was international strategy and M&A leader.

Before that, he spent four years with Buck, where he was chief strategy and chief corporate development officer. Metha also spent 11 years with Marsh McLennan, where he was a managing director leading M&A at the parent company and, before that, at HR consulting subsidiary Mercer.

He began his career at PwC, where he was a senior associate.

Mehta holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting from New York University.

"The expansion of our executive leadership team marks an important milestone in YA’s growth journey," said Wade Bushman, YA’s CEO. "Kristin, Greg, Justin, and Ravi bring deep expertise and leadership experience that will strengthen our foundation and accelerate our progress. It is an exciting time for YA as we look to a strong future driven by continued acquisitions, organic growth, and cross-functional collaboration."

YA was founded in 1997 and provides forensic consulting, engineering, risk mitigation, and related services to the insurance industry, public, and private sector clients. The firm has practices in construction consulting, forensic engineering and architecture, accident reconstruction and biomechanics, government grant consulting and administration, surety services, environmental services, visualization and forensic animation, and equipment consulting.