Leo Berwick strengthens financial due diligence practice with senior hires in US
Leo Berwick, a New York-headquartered M&A consulting firm, has hired Ryan Orme as a managing director and Justin Liao as a director in its financial due diligence practice.
Based in San Francisco, Orme brings 20+ years of transaction advisory and financial due diligence experience, having led more than 200 buy-side and sell-side engagements.
He has expertise across the transaction lifecycle, including analyzing Quality of Earnings, cash flows, net working capital, and indebtedness; assessing key business drivers; commenting on valuation models; advising on purchase and sale agreements and purchase price mechanisms; and evaluating post-close purchase price adjustments.
Orme previously spent six years with Alvarez & Marsal, where he was a senior director in the infrastructure and energy transaction advisory practice. Before that, he spent nearly six years with KPMG, where he was a director in the private equity M&A practice, and eight years with Deloitte, where he was a senior manager in the M&A practice.
Orme has master’s and bachelor’s degrees in accounting from Brigham Young University and is a certified public accountant.
Based in Houston, Liao has over 13 years of accounting and transaction advisory experience, and has led financial due diligence on 100+ transactions.
He has expertise in analyzing quality of earnings, cash flows, net working capital, and indebtedness; assessing key business drivers; advising on purchase and sale agreements and purchase price mechanisms; and evaluating post-close purchase price adjustments.
Liao previously spent six years with Alvarez & Marsal, where he was a director in the transaction advisory group. Before that, he spent seven years with PwC, where he was manager focusing on M&A financial due diligence engagements.
Liao has master’s and bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and is a certified public accountant.
“It is critical we continue to invest in senior talent with proven transaction experience as we build a scalable, market-leading diligence platform,” said Nick Kato, managing partner of Leo Berwick.
The firm’s infrastructure and energy financial due diligence practice launched in 2024 and has grown to more than 25 professionals supporting 70+ transactions.
“Colin Schmidt, Leo Berwick’s head of financial advisory, said, “Our practice has grown rapidly, but more importantly has proven to clients how essential our deep experience and attention to detail are to navigating the thorny challenges of due diligence.”
The consulting firm also announced the addition of Craig Wigginton, Erik Lange, and Anthony Bohnert as senior advisors – bringing a combined 100+ years of experience in complex transactions in the infrastructure and energy sectors.
Leo Berwick also recently hired Mayanka Sharma as country leader for India. Sharma will support the firm’s clients with investments in India.
Leo Berwick was founded in 2021 and has more than 120 professionals across offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, and Vancouver. The firm works with private equity funds and their portfolio companies across sectors, but has depth of expertise in infrastructure and energy.
Leo Berwick has practices in integration and separation advisory, buy-side, sell-side, modeling, valuation and cost segregation, and post-closing, among other areas.
