About Focus Advisors
Led by David Roberts, one of the original founders of Caliber Collision, Focus Advisors specializes in advising clients about growth and sale options, then represents them in M&A or capital formation transactions. The Focus Advisors team helps prepare the business, identifies and engages potential bidders, structures the deal to meet owners’ needs, and anticipates the surprises to execute as smoothly and successfully as possible.
The Focus Advisors team created a data-driven process based on identifying and gathering key information on every single US collision repair shop – more than 32,000 shops! For the last six years, Focus Advisors has built its robust database into a powerful tool to help entrepreneurs, sellers and potential investors appreciate not just the national scope of the collision repair industry but to dive deeply into individual markets and regions.
This data-driven process gives Focus Advisors unique insight into collision industry market values, sales trends, and acquisition opportunities, which is why MSOs turn to us for sales, strategic growth, capital formation and mergers and acquisition advice.
The Focus Advisors' Story
In 1993, there were 52,000 collision repair shops in the US and hardly a single MSO. Insurance companies, insureds and repairers universally hated the confrontational repair process. David Roberts and his partner, Matthew Ohrnstein, decided the industry was too big and too important to be satisfied with the status quo. With David’s background in healthcare and Matt’s in software, they envisioned an enhanced and collaborative process that would improve everyone’s experience, costs, and performance.
Together they started Caliber Collision Centers to rationalize and consolidate what was then a $25 billion industry. Raising more than $125 million over four years, they began buying, consolidating, systematizing and marketing, not just the idea, but the reality of a consolidated performance based MSO. When they sold Caliber in 2008, their team of investors, executives and managers had built the biggest MSO in the business. And it was but a fraction of what Caliber has since become. Sadly, Matt passed away in 2013 but David and his team of professionals have since advised, capitalized and sold more collision repair shops and paint distributors than any other advisor in the industry.
Our Team
David Roberts
Managing Director
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
Director of Research
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.
Chris Lane
Principal
Raul Salinas
Associate
Gail Taff
Research Manager
Gail joined Focus Advisors in 2016, following 14 years of behavioral science research. Her specialties are improving business efficiency by finding new uses for existing data and ensuring data quality in large databases. As Research Manager, she keeps Focus Advisor’s proprietary market intelligence database the most complete, accurate, and up-to-date in the automotive industry, enabling the business to understand local markets and spot new trends quickly. She has worked on developing mathematical models of behavior and co-authored a book on finding and using existing data to analyze community problems. She has a Public Health Master’s degree with a specialization in Behavioral Sciences from UC Berkeley.
MADELEINE ROBERTS
Associate
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.
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!
