J. Jeffrey Brausch & Company
Akron, OH
In 1962, Jeff Brausch founded his financial consulting business in Akron, OH. Since then, J. Jeffrey Brausch & Company has been helping businesses with initial public offerings (IPOs), acquisitions and other financial needs.
In the 1960s, Jeff Brausch started visiting Midwestern clients in a Piper Apache 150. Today, he’s still the owner, president and sole pilot, but the company has a full-time senior director, Sara Finan, and Jeff’s wife, Sandy Brausch, is the vice president. With clients now located up to 900 miles away, they fly a Piper Cheyenne II XL.
“When the client says, ‘We really need you to come down and take a look at this acquisition,’ they can’t always plan these deals weeks ahead,” explained Jeff Brausch. “So when they call the night before, the aircraft makes it easy and cost-effective to be there. And it gives us the flexibility to extend our stay if we need to.”
It’s not uncommon for clients to ask to meet the next day in Chicago, Cincinnati, Memphis, New York or Boston. Brausch’s firm is not a financial underwriter; the company is an independent advisor to clients on major deals, helping them choose the best investment-banking partners.
“Unlike some consultants, we work really hard to form long-term relationships with our clients and earn their trust,” said Sandy Brausch. “Many we’ve worked with for 40 years. So when they, for example, want to acquire a company, we have a strong sense if it’s a good fit for their business.”
Brausch & Company combines deep knowledge of their clients, the investment-banking landscape and hardnosed analysis to evaluate underwriters. In an IPO, for example, Jeff Brausch said there are at least 20 factors to consider. And since a company usually only goes public once, clients rely on Brausch to be an objective guide, with no conflict of interest.
Jeff Brausch has flown accident free for more than 50 years, receiving the FAA’s Master Pilot Award in 2013 and NBAA’s Flying Safety Award in 2015.