Regardless of a business's philosophy or strategy, without the right staff, success is extremely difficult, especially in the business brokerage and M&A world. The proper execution of a business sale transaction from inception to closing requires a culmination of many skills- including sales & marketing, knowledge of accounting, auditing, knowledge of business valuations, negotiations, resource management, project management, and so on; our greatest differentiator is our staff's experience in these areas.

Salvatore B. Urso • Founder, Broker
Salvatore Urso founded Florida Business Acquisitions in 2006 after his stent with First Venture Associates, a thirty year-old business brokerage firm in Tampa, FL. He has over 18 years of experience in business, sales, marketing, and finance that has rendered him very adept and effective at selling companies. Aside from Florida Business Acquisitions, he co-founded two family businesses; he has personally invested in, bought, managed and sold investment properties and businesses for almost two decades. His fundamental recipe is to combine integrity, honesty, experience and attention to detail, so the buyer and seller both experience a dispassionate business transaction. To that end, this company will not sell a business that he personally would not buy for himself.

Salvatore was born in Sicily, Italy. He immigrated with his family in 1969 at the age of five. He grew up as an American with immigrant work ethic. He has been a resident of Temple Terrace, Florida for 36 years. He graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Electrical Engineering.

Franc Urso • Sr. Associate • CPA • MBA
Franc is a Certified Public Accountant in Florida with nearly 20 years of experience in business consulting and operations and buying and selling businesses. Franc began his business career when he co-founded a real estate investment group that purchased, managed and sold commercial real estate and retail property. Franc has a Masters Degree from the University of Florida in Accounting and a Bachelors Degree in Accounting and Engineering from the University of South Florida.

After graduating from UF Franc joined the Tampa office of Price Waterhouse where he serviced clients in the manufacturing, real estate, retail and financial services industries. His clients included both large and small companies like Thrucomm, Lykes Brothers, Walter Industries, World Access, Nobility Homes, Sun Hydraulics, Pinnacle Towers, Prudential Florida Realty, Bay Transportation, Lehigh Acres, Celotex, Health Plan Services, Harvard Industries and Disney. His primary responsibilities included auditing his client's books and records and performing due diligence for acquisitions. Franc was also involved in the IPO of Sun Hydraulics.

Franc became Controller for Thrucomm, Inc., an early-stage high-growth telecommunications company, located in St. Petersburg, Florida. While at Thrucomm, Franc was successful in raising $6.5 million in bridge financing and $5 million in leasing financing; completed a private placement of $15 million in Senior Preferred Stock; and raised $70 million in capital from private equities market. Franc was also responsible for day-to-day activities of the accounting department and completing special projects for the executive team.

Franc then joined Gulf Atlantic Capital, an investment banking firm, located in Tampa, Florida, where he helped clients sell their middle market companies. While at Gulf Atlantic, Franc was integral in selling the following businesses:

• $45 million wallboard manufacturer, located in Birmingham, Alabama
• $6 million apparel machinery manufacturer, located in Atlanta, Georgia
• $100 million auto parts distributor, located in Dallas, Texas and Tampa, Florida
• $50 million 50-chain restaurant franchisee, located in Scottsdale, Arizona
• $15 million specialty wire manufacturer, located in New York, New York
• $80 million go-cart manufacturer, located in Ft. Wayne, Indiana

Brad Freeman • Associate • CPA

Brad Freeman is a Certified Public Accountant. He brings an innovative, refreshing perspective to the business brokerage industry. Brad graduated with degrees in Accounting and Finance from Florida State University.  After graduating from FSU, Brad worked in Public Accounting joining Vestal & Wiler in Orlando and Deloitte & Touche in Tampa where he serviced clients in the manufacturing, real estate development, utilities, hospitality, and insurance industries. His clients included both large and small companies like Met Life, Progress Energy, MC Test and Assembly, and Flanders/Precisionaire. His primary responsibilities included auditing his client's books and records and performing due diligence for acquisitions/dispositions.

After Deloitte, Brad became the Florida Controller for Anthony & Sylvan Pools, a national manufacturer of pools.  While at A&S, Brad helped develop strategic goals in reviewing financial reports; he highlighted favorable and unfavorable variances, including trends that may impact the future performance of the business. Brad also analyzed procedures for receiving, storing, relieving and costing inventory.

His experience as a CPA provided him with extensive financial analysis experience combined with integrity and honesty, which is critical to a successful business transaction. This diversified business experience has broadened Mr. Freeman into a knowledgeable business intermediary. Brad’s overall background in selling companies, leadership experience, and attention to details are essential elements to selling and buying a business for a fair price.

Anthony LoMenzo • Associate Broker
Anthony LoMenzo began his career in the real estate industry in 2001 with Century 21 in Long Island, New York. He then moved to Tampa, Florida where he has been a Business Broker since 2004. Prior to his real estate occupation, Anthony was a Technology consultant for over 18 years, where he helped many business owners find and implement custom technology solutions.

As a business intermediary, Anthony continues to provide business owners a very high level of custom solutions through creative bargaining and transactions that result in win-win solutions for all parties involved.

Most of the relationships that Anthony creates with business owners continue even after the sale. Anthony is also fluent in Italian and Spanish.

Stephen J. Morehouse • Associate • MBA
Stephen Morehouse is a Graduate of the University of Pittsburgh where he majored in business. He obtained his MBA from The Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College in 1992. Steve held a procurement Directors position at Siemens Corporation from 1993-1996 where at the time he was the youngest person to ever hold that position. Steve successfully managed over $500 million dollars of purchasing expenditures while strategically marketing to the various Siemens suppliers to achieve a greater than 10% cost reduction year on year. In 1996 Steve left to join a large manufacturers' representative firm in Florida. In less than three years he was the standout salesman of the company and in 2002 was made partner and sales director and drove a $200 million dollar sales force before leaving the company to join Florida Business Acquisitions, Co.

Bill Burnham • Associate • MBA
Bill Burnham is a lifelong resident of the Tampa Bay area. He is a graduate of the University of South Florida where he majored in Accounting. He obtained his MBA from The Florida Institute of Technology in 1983. Bill has 25 years experience working with Fortune 500 companies, nearly twenty of those years in management positions. During that time he managed over 200 employees and spent time in accounting, finance, manufacturing, production control and strategic planning. He managed government contract budgets in excess of 50 million dollars and operating budgets of more than 25 million dollars. He prepared analysis for potential acquisitions, proposals for government contracts and conducted companywide training programs on several different topics. Bill’s experience includes successfully integrating the manufacturing operations of acquired companies into existing operations on two separate occasions. He also led the implementation of a new MRP system which was completed six months ahead of schedule. Complementing his large company background, Bill also has five years experience as a small business owner. In his own business Bill tripled his sales, achieved twenty percent profit margins and retained ninety eight percent of his customers in his first four years in business. Bill combines this diverse background of experience with a passion for small businesses and an overarching commitment to honesty to make him uniquely qualified as an associate with Florida Business Acquisitions.