Paul T. Lally III
President

Paul has over 18 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to forming Gladstone, Paul was a Principal with Arthur Andersen's Private Client Services Practice. A 1990 graduate of Widener University, Paul's industry experience began with The Mid-Atlantic Companies in Moorestown, NJ, which was acquired by First Union (now Wachovia Corporation) in December 1998.

During his tenure at Wachovia, Paul served as the senior business advisor to closely-held businesses with values between five million to five hundred million dollars on comprehensive business planning matters, including: Strategic Business Planning, Family Succession Planning, Merger and Acquisitions Consulting, and Inter-Company Transfers and/or Buy-out Planning. Since 1998, Paul has acted as the senior consultant or team member on 33 mid-market deals.

Under Paul's guidance, Gladstone provides buy-side advisory, sell-side advisory, lift-outs, business transition planning, and strategic advisory services exclusively to fee-based advisors, RIAs, and Broker Dealers.

Michael D. Bilotta
Managing Director

Mike joined Gladstone in 2006 with over 12 years experience in the financial services industry. He began his career at Waterhouse Securities (now TD Ameritrade) serving as a stockbroker then as a branch manager and liaison to Registered Investment Advisor participants in the company’s Advisor Direct program. Based in Jenkintown, PA, Mike coordinated meetings, cross-marketing initiatives and seminars with participating RIAs to identify and secure candidates for their advisor services from the company’s existing customer base.

More recently, Mike served as Assistant Vice President at Commerce Bank in Flourtown, PA, where he promoted the bank’s corporate banking services including Cash Management and Corporate Lending services. His focus was on larger, more sensitive corporate relationships and was instrumental in attracting and retaining several high profile Philadelphia-area companies to move their banking relationships to Commerce Bank.

Mike is a graduate of St. Joseph’s Prep and Temple University.

John McKeown
Senior Business Advisor

John joined Gladstone in 2008 as a Senior Business Advisor. Previously, John was a founding partner and head of business development for The Haywood Group, a financial services executive search firm located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, serving top producing wirehouse advisors and Registered Investment Advisory Firms.

John’s additional experience includes 5 years as an advisor with Merrill Lynch in Philadelphia where his duties also included training advisors on how to best transition their business to a fee based platform. Prior to working with Merrill, John was Director of Major Accounts for Geotek Communications, an industry leader in Global Positioning Satellite Software based in Miami, Florida. John brings to us a track record of success in multiple areas of the financial services industry and a skill set which helps us better serve our clients and strengthen the range of services we provide.

John holds a degree in Political Science from Villanova University. 

David Williamson
Associate

David joined Gladstone in 2007 with over 16 years of experience in the financial services industry.

David began his financial services career in 1991 selling 403(b) and 457(b) plans for Copeland Companies (then a Travelers Insurance subsidiary, now part of Citigroup). After a stint as an independent insurance agent, David launched his own business in 2004 administering qualified plans for small businesses. In 2005, to better serve the business owners whose plans he was administering, David started his own RIA firm.

In addition to financial services, David offers a unique perspective as an entrepreneur. He started his first business in 1987, with personal involvement in 4 buy-side and 5 sell-side business transactions. From his experiences owning and managing small businesses and his involvement in business transactions, David is intimately familiar with the emotions which clients experience when considering whether to purchase or sell a business.

David holds a BS degree in Economics with a minor in Finance from Drexel University.

ADVISORY BOARD

Dan Kreuter is founder and president of D.A. Kreuter Associates, Inc., aka DAK Associates, a national retainer-based executive search firm created in 1979. DAK provides infrastructure searches, field searches, and team lift-outs for Broker Dealers and RIAs, among other sectors within the Financial Services industry. Searches include CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CCOs, platform heads, advisors/successors, legal, trust, and estate planners. Gladstone evolved out of DAK's Transaction Advisory Practice.

Mr. Kreuter also funded and launched a successful enterprise software firm, Coates Analytics Group, which provides productivity software, scoreboarding, and benchmarking on behalf of the Global Financial Services industry. Coates Analytics was purchased by PFPC, a subsidiary of PNC Bank, in December 2007.

John P. Kirk
John P. Kirk is the founder and principal owner of Kirk Capital Group (KCG), a private merchant banking and strategic consulting firm, with notable success in Transition Management and Financial Planner software ventures. Prior to his involvement in KCG, Mr. Kirk was Senior Vice President and Managing Director for SEI Investments, a publicly held financial services and technology company. As the head of SEI’s Investment Advisory and Private Client Units, Mr. Kirk created and managed wholesale and direct distribution business units that became the industry’s market share leaders.

Mr. Kirk began his career as an investment advisor serving affluent families and small business owners. He holds a B.S. in Finance from the Pennsylvania State University and NASD Series 6, 7, and 26 licenses.

James P. Quinlan, CPA, CFP
For most of his career, Jim Quinlan has been active in Financial and Transaction Advisory Services. He is currently Executive Vice President of Beneficial Investment Center, LLC a subsidiary of Beneficial Savings Bank. Jim was formerly President of SMART Financial Advisors, LLP, a subsidiary of SMART Business Advisory and Consulting, LLC, and a Registered Investment Advisory Firm. He was also a partner in Transaction Advisory Services, which provided corporate and private equity buyers with a broad offering of accounting, tax, and business advisory services to support mergers and acquisitions, disposition alternatives and post transaction activities.

Jim was awarded the 40 under 40 designation in 2003, which recognized him as a regional business leader in the Philadelphia area. He is a Registered Investment Consultant, and continues to publish articles on a variety of topics specific to accounting and consulting. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Bucknell University, and his Masters of Business Administration from Villanova University. Along with the CPA and CFP designations, Jim is a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC), and a Personal Financial Specialist (PFS). He holds NASD Series 6, 7, 24, 51, 63, and 65 licenses.

Steven R. Howard
Steven R. Howard, a Partner with the law firm of Bingham McCutchen LLP, has over 25 years of experience advising domestic and international investment advisers and investment funds on all aspects of their businesses. He is a nationally recognized expert on investment funds and alternative investments, including mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, green funds and CDOs. He frequently speaks at industry conferences on a wide range of topics concerning investments funds and their advisers and is often quoted in national news services. He also teaches "The Regulation of Mutual Funds" at New York Law School as an Adjunct Professor and recently co-authored a book for investment professionals entitled, Investment Adviser Regulation (2007).

Mr. Howard's practice includes extensive inadvertent investment company analysis for public and private companies seeking exemption from the Investment Company Act of 1940, including advising clients on securitizations, structured finance, REITs, CDOs and other financial structures.

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Mr. Howard earned his MA and
M.Phil at Columbia University and his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.