Transaction Advisory
Transaction Advisory
The McLean Group leverages its combined valuation and M&A expertise to provide niche transaction advisory services. On behalf of buy-side clients, our team performs valuation due diligence to assess the value of acquisition targets and formulate the valuation terms in letters of intent. In addition, we utilize our technical expertise and experience to develop tailored business and forecasting models for our clients..
Team Leaders
Ryan Berry
Ryan Berry is a Managing Director at The McLean Group and heads up the firm’s Valuation Advisory practice. Ryan has over 20 years of financial and accounting experience and has performed and overseen thousands of valuation engagements. During the course of his career, he has advised clients on valuations leading up to their IPO, provided fairness and solvency opinions for M&A transactions and recapitalizations, and worked with clients and their auditors on valuations for financial reporting purposes such as purchase price allocations, impairment testing, and complex security valuations. Ryan has also written and contributed to numerous articles on valuation topics and spoken at various conferences and webinars.
Ryan started his career as a financial analyst at Booz Allen Hamilton. While at Booz, Ryan maintained a TS/SCI clearance and worked in both the DoD and Intelligence Agency divisions where he provided financial and operational support to program managers overseeing several mission critical contracts.
Ryan earned a BA in Economics with a minor in Technology, Management, and Policy from the University of Virginia. He also received an MBA from Johns Hopkins University’s Carey School of Business. He’s a CPA accredited in business valuation through the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Professional Credentials
- Certified Public Accountant (Virginia)
- Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) through the AICPA
Ryan Berry
Managing Director
Valuation Advisory
Scott Sievers
Mr. Sievers is a Managing Director with The McLean Group’s Valuation Services Group. As a Managing Director within the firm’s business valuation practice, he ensures the completion of business valuations for public and private companies for transaction, financial reporting, equity incentive plan, tax, and other purposes.
Since joining the firm, Mr. Sievers has completed over 1000 valuation engagements, which include business valuations, fairness opinions, solvency opinions, portfolio valuations, purchase price allocations, goodwill impairment tests, long-lived intangible asset tests, and equity incentive plan analyses.
Mr. Sievers is one of the leaders of the firm’s ESOP Practice. In addition to attending several ESOP training seminars and conferences, he has completed the full spectrum of ESOP-related valuation engagements ranging from transaction advisory, fairness opinions, feasibility analyses, annual valuations, and solvency opinions. Moreover, Mr. Sievers has the relevant experience dealing with complex ESOP-specific topics, such as transaction structuring, Fair Market Value of debt, repurchase obligations, follow-on transactions, and minority interest discounts.
He is also one of the leaders of the firm’s valuation analytics team, which specializes in valuing complex derivatives typically through applying option-pricing models, binomial lattice models, or Monte Carlo simulations to comply with IRC 409A, ASC 718, ASC 805, and ASC 815 reporting purposes.
Professional Credentials
- CPA (Virginia)
- Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) through the AICPA
- Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) through NACVA
Scott Sievers
Managing Director
Valuation Advisory
Selected Transactions
Related News
The McLean Group Advises Highlight Technologies on Its Announced Acquisition by Empower AI
The McLean Group served as exclusive financial advisor to Highlight Technologies, a Fairfax, Virginia-based, employee-owned federal IT services firm, on its acquisition by Empower AI, a KKR portfolio company. The combination expands Empower AI’s ability to deliver AI-driven, cloud-enabled mission solutions across the federal government, strengthening capabilities in DevSecOps, artificial intelligence, data management, and cloud modernization while broadening support for high-priority modernization initiatives at the Departments of State and Homeland Security. The transaction, effective July 6, 2026, brings together Empower AI’s accelerator-based model for scalable AI delivery with Highlight’s mission-focused execution and its proprietary AIDE (AI Data Integration & Orchestration Engine) platform. […]
Goodwill Impairment Testing Under ASC 350: What PE-Backed Companies Need to Know
Goodwill impairment testing under ASC 350 is an annual obligation with real financial consequences, and rising discount rates have made a poorly documented analysis more costly than ever. In this article, The McLean Group’s Valuation Advisory team examines how the quantitative test works, what triggers interim testing outside the annual cycle, and what a defensible file actually contains. For PE-backed companies approaching an exit, the difference between a well-supported charge and a reactive one can meaningfully affect both timeline and price. […]
Monthly Middle Market M&A Insider Report (May 2026)
The McLean Group’s May 2026 M&A Insider Report tracks deal activity across Defense & Government, Physical & Cyber Security, Critical Infrastructure, and Maritime. This month’s edition highlights notable transactions including Parker Hannifin’s announced $2.55B acquisition of CIRCOR’s Commercial and Defense Aerospace business from KKR, VSE Corporation’s $2.15B closing of Precision Aviation Group to build a 61-location aviation aftermarket platform, and Rocket Lab’s $60M acquisition of Motiv Space Systems, adding Mars-proven robotics to its portfolio. The report also includes public company trading comps and EBITDA valuation multiples across all four sectors. Public market multiples are provided for reference purposes and reflect traded equity values, which may differ materially from private company transaction pricing. […]







