GUILLERMO BIRMINGHAM

Baru Exit Partners is an exit planning firm serving privately held companies across the Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland market. Founded by Guillermo Birmingham, the firm works with owners who are two to five years from a transition, the window in which preparation still changes the outcome. Most private companies sell for materially less than they should. Baru finds out why, quantifies the gap in dollars, works alongside the owner to close it, and advises through the transaction itself. The firm's Enterprise Value Assessment scores a business across more than fifty readiness factors and measures it against closed transaction data, producing three numbers: what the business is worth today, what its current performance implies it should be worth, and what it could be worth in best in class condition, together with the specific work required to move from one to the next.

Guillermo brings more than 35 years of financial and operational leadership across the private sector, nonprofits, government and United Nations organizations. He is a retired United States Air Force Colonel with postings throughout the world, recognized personally for outstanding performance and, as a squadron commander, leading two separate organizations to Air Force wide recognition through the Major General Eugene A. Eubank Award. Before retiring from the Air Force in 2008, he served as Chief Financial Officer of a $2 billion per year global operation focused on the quality of life of the Air Force community. He went on to serve three and a half years as Director of Administration for the World Health Organization's Regional Office for the Americas, overseeing finance, information technology, procurement and human resources, then as Senior Vice President at Global Communities, and as a partner and regional leader for the DC, Virginia and Maryland territory of B2B CFO, the largest CFO services firm in the United States.

The work that defines Baru began there. As a partner at B2B CFO, Guillermo guided an owner through the sale of a major stake in the business to a publicly traded company at more than ten times the standing offer, an eight-figure outcome where a seven-figure one had been on the table. That result came from preparation rather than negotiation, and it is what Baru Exit Partners now does deliberately and in sequence rather than opportunistically. Guillermo is a founding member and the Education Chair of the EPI DC chapter, and a member of XPX DC and Provisors DC Metro.

Guillermo is a longstanding advocate for those who need social, legal or financial assistance, and has been appointed to boards, commissions and committees throughout his career. He served two consecutive terms on the Audit Committee of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Geneva, Switzerland, as Board Treasurer of Ayuda Inc, a Washington based nonprofit serving immigrant communities in the DC metro area, and as Board Chairman of Express Microfinanzas SAS in Bogota, Colombia, where he oversaw the sale of the company to a larger acquirer entering the Colombian market. He holds a Master of Science in Professional Accounting and certifications as a Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Global Management Accountant, Certified Exit Planning Advisor, Certified Value Builder and Certified Mergers and Acquisitions Advisor.

Baru Exit Partners is an exit planning firm serving privately held companies across the Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland market. Founded by Guillermo Birmingham, the firm works with owners who are two to five years from a transition, the window in which preparation still changes the outcome. Most private companies sell for materially less than they should. Baru finds out why, quantifies the gap in dollars, works alongside the owner to close it, and advises through the transaction itself. The firm's Enterprise Value Assessment scores a business across more than fifty readiness factors and measures it against closed transaction data, producing three numbers: what the business is worth today, what its current performance implies it should be worth, and what it could be worth in best in class condition, together with the specific work required to move from one to the next.

Guillermo brings more than 35 years of financial and operational leadership across the private sector, nonprofits, government and United Nations organizations. He is a retired United States Air Force Colonel with postings throughout the world, recognized personally for outstanding performance and, as a squadron commander, leading two separate organizations to Air Force wide recognition through the Major General Eugene A. Eubank Award. Before retiring from the Air Force in 2008, he served as Chief Financial Officer of a $2 billion per year global operation focused on the quality of life of the Air Force community. He went on to serve three and a half years as Director of Administration for the World Health Organization's Regional Office for the Americas, overseeing finance, information technology, procurement and human resources, then as Senior Vice President at Global Communities, and as a partner and regional leader for the DC, Virginia and Maryland territory of B2B CFO, the largest CFO services firm in the United States.

The work that defines Baru began there. As a partner at B2B CFO, Guillermo guided an owner through the sale of a major stake in the business to a publicly traded company at more than ten times the standing offer, an eight-figure outcome where a seven-figure one had been on the table. That result came from preparation rather than negotiation, and it is what Baru Exit Partners now does deliberately and in sequence rather than opportunistically. Guillermo is a founding member and the Education Chair of the EPI DC chapter, and a member of XPX DC and Provisors DC Metro.

Guillermo is a longstanding advocate for those who need social, legal or financial assistance, and has been appointed to boards, commissions and committees throughout his career. He served two consecutive terms on the Audit Committee of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Geneva, Switzerland, as Board Treasurer of Ayuda Inc, a Washington based nonprofit serving immigrant communities in the DC metro area, and as Board Chairman of Express Microfinanzas SAS in Bogota, Colombia, where he oversaw the sale of the company to a larger acquirer entering the Colombian market. He holds a Master of Science in Professional Accounting and certifications as a Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Global Management Accountant, Certified Exit Planning Advisor, Certified Value Builder and Certified Mergers and Acquisitions Advisor.