It all begins with an idea.
Larry Stevens retired as a Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an international accounting firm, where he led a team of transaction specialists involved in all aspects of buy-side and sell-side mergers & acquisitions, financial due diligence, valuation analysis, financial and tax structuring, and transaction advisory services. He was previously a Partner in the Corporate Finance Group in Atlanta, where he was a Member of the legacy Price Waterhouse National Corporate Finance Executive Committee, and the Partner-in-Charge of Corporate Finance for the Southeast Region. In this role, which he held from 1989, Mr. Stevens led a team of investment banking and transaction specialists involved in all aspects of selling businesses, raising capital, IPO’s, valuation analysis, financial and tax structuring and corporate finance advisory services.
During his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, he was especially active in working with middle market companies, both public and private, and in assisting shareholders in developing and executing strategies for maximizing shareholder value. Mr. Stevens has advised on hundreds of transactions in a variety of industries including advertising, retail, television and communications, poultry and agri-business, nuclear energy, and numerous other manufacturing sectors.
Mr. Stevens started his career with Price Waterhouse in September, 1970 and was admitted to the partnership in 1981 as an Audit Partner. Prior to July 1989, he was Partner-in-Charge of the Entrepreneurial Services Group for the Atlanta office. In this capacity he had direct responsibility for audit clients with revenues ranging generally from $100 million to $1 billion. In addition to examinations of financial statements, he was responsible for advising clients on acquisition and divestiture strategies, initial public offerings, growth initiatives, and strategies for maximizing shareholder value.
Currently, in addition to consulting with middle-market companies on acquisition and divestiture strategy, Mr. Stevens is an adjunct Professor at Kennesaw State University where as a member of the faculty of the Accounting Department of the Coles College of Business, he teaches courses in mergers and acquisitions and accounting in the graduate Master of Business Administration program. Additionally, he is the founder of the Coles College M&A Academy, an executive education program in the Coles College for senior executives focused on M&A issues including strategy, valuation, negotiation, financing and post-deal integration. Mr. Stevens is the author of two published books, Riding Elevators Backwards: The Aspiring Leader’s Field Guide to Building Relationships, and Curiosity Made the Cat: Breaking the Rules and Becoming Extraordinary. He is currently working on his third book, The Bubba Effect: Second Chances in Golf and Life.
Mr. Stevens received a BBA from Georgia State University, and completed the Executive Program for Smaller Companies at Stanford University. He is a Certified Public Accountant and is a member of the Georgia Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Mr. Stevens continues to be active in civic and community affairs and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Kennesaw State University Foundation where he has chaired numerous Foundation committees, including the Past Presidents’ Council, Finance, Development and Corporate Governance. He was also recently appointed to a second term as a member of the Board of Commissioners of the Marietta Housing Authority, a seven-person governmental Authority, focused on providing affordable housing to eligible constituents.
He has been involved in a variety of civic and business organizations in Cobb County and is a graduate of Leadership Cobb and Leadership Georgia and is on the Board of Directors of the Georgian Club. He has held a number of board positions in the Cobb Chamber of Commerce and was Chair of the Chamber in 1991. Additionally, he is a Deacon at the First Baptist Church of Marietta, where he has taught an adult Bible class for the last twenty-five years.
Mr. Stevens and his wife Lynn have lived in the City of Marietta since 1982, and have two grown children and five grandchildren. Mrs. Stevens is a practicing attorney specializing in Social Security law.
Mr. Stevens can be reached at jlarrystevens@gmail.com or at jlarrystevens@blackveilpress.com.