About Focus Advisors
Who We Are
Focus Advisors helps MSO owners achieve the best results when they sell their business, enabling them to realize the full value of what they’ve worked so hard to build. We’re focused exclusively on collision repair – and we’ve sold more MSOs than any other firm.
By staying at the forefront of industry trends and utilizing our database of buyers and investors, we provide our clients with unparalleled insights and a competitive edge. In the ever-evolving collision repair market, this allows you to maximize the value of your business and navigate the sale with confidence you are achieving the best possible result.
Hear What Our Clients Have to Say
The Focus Advisors Story
Our CEO, David Roberts, has done more transactions (both buying and selling) than any other advisor. He is best known for co-founding Caliber Collision Centers in 1995 — envisioning a more collaborative repair process across insurance companies, insureds, and repairers. At that time, 52,000 separate collision repair shops represented what was then a $25 billions industry in the US. Together, David and his partner began buying, rationalizing, and systematizing one of the nation’s first consolidated, performance-based MSOs — which by the time of its sale in 2008, would become the world’s largest collision repair consolidator.
After leading dozens of acquisitions for Caliber, David saw an opportunity to help MSO owners achieve the best results when they sell their business. He founded Focus Advisors with a proven method to help them grow, thrive, and prepare for a strategic exit. Today, Focus Advisors has grown to a team of trusted advisors — all committed to the same mission of helping MSO owners realize the full value of what they’ve worked so hard to build.
Our Team
David brings unparalleled knowledge and experience to his strategic advisory and mergers and acquisition work in the automotive services industry. In 1995, he and his partner, Matthew Ohrnstein, co-founded Caliber Collision, the world’s first and now its largest collision repair consolidator. As Chairman of Caliber through 2003 and the initial leader of its Corporate Development team, he wrote the book on how to change, grow and thrive in this intensely competitive industry. Helping raise more than $125 million in capital for Caliber and other providers, he also led the acquisition of 37 individual shops and Multiple Shop Operators at Caliber.
Gail Simpson, PhD, has spent more than 25 years as an entrepreneur, management consultant, and executive skilled in research, strategic planning, product development, marketing, risk management and fraud control.
She serves the Director of Research at Focus Advisors. She created and managed the proprietary industry database of all 32,000 collision repair shops in the US. Prior to joining Focus, she co-founded her own specialized adjusting firm focus on auto insurance, served an executive of the Council for Responsible Public Investment where she advocated new investment approaches to California’s largest public pension funds.
Madeleine joined Focus Advisors in 2022, bringing with her five years of experience in mixed-use, urban-infill real estate development. She previously worked in both development and strategy roles for large real estate investors and developers in both Washington, DC and San Francisco. Madeleine graduated with high distinction from Duke University, where she majored in Public Policy and minored in Economics. She currently pursuing a designation as a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Beth has a PhD in International Education with a focus on art. She did her research in Osogbo, Nigeria, at an art center that Nike Okundaye started 40 years ago for young women to earn a living making art rather than prostituting. Previously, she had lived in Kanazawa, Japan, for seven years teaching English. Upon her return to the US she ran a program in Iowa (Iowa-Japan Cultural Alliance) with ten teachers teaching Japanese in middle and high schools. She came to the Bay Area in 2009 as the ED of the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC). She joined Focus Advisors in 2017, putting her organizational skills to work in a new culture of collision repair.
Robert brings over 40 years of distinguished financial leadership across various industries globally, including manufacturing, distribution, electronics, semiconductors, food, medical devices, and professional/consumer audio. With extensive experience as a CFO in rapidly expanding enterprises, he has orchestrated five successful M&A transactions across the US and Europe. Specializing in strategic planning, profit optimization, and M&A, Robert has facilitated over $300M in equity financing. A licensed CPA and former FINRA Registered Representative, he holds a BA in Accounting from Hofstra University, NY.
Selby joined Focus Advisors in 2024, having spent over 6 years in the financial services industry. Most recently, she worked in acquisition research at Rimkus, a consulting firm specializing in forensic engineering and built environment solutions. Prior to that, she worked in investment banking at Harris Williams and Vista Point Advisors where she worked on technology sell-side transactions. Selby holds a Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Administration with honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Contact Focus Advisors Today to Learn More About Our Services & Benefits
You made your business what it is today but selling or expanding it requires knowledge of the game and experience in the industry. You may only sell a business once in your life, but the buyers and investors do this for a living and know the ins, outs, and how to come out on top. Let Focus Advisors help even the playing field and get the very most out of your business for you!
