Gary is Chair of the firm’s Mergers & Acquisitions practice group and has more than 30 years’ experience in mergers and acquisitions as well as public and private capital formation. This includes billion-dollar public company mergers, national industry consolidation acquisition programs for private equity portfolio companies, and numerous public offerings, including IPOs and private placements of debt or equity. Gary leads the firm’s acquisition process management initiative. He has counseled boards of directors and senior management of listed companies on complex fiduciary duty and governance issues such as going-private transactions, activist shareholder proxy contests and takeover defenses. Gary’s clients have included some of the largest companies in their respective industries.
Specifically, Gary’s experience includes structuring, negotiating and documenting public and private stock purchase, asset purchase and merger transactions, including tender offers and joint ventures; structuring and implementing national acquisition programs; representation of real estate investment trusts in acquisition and capital formation transactions; and counseling issuers in connection with Securities Act and Securities Exchange Act compliance and disclosure matters. He has also represented issuers, private investment funds and accredited investors in early-stage venture capital and pre-IPO capital formation rounds.
Gary’s work with boards of directors includes counseling regarding independent committee, crisis management and corporate governance best practices. He has also counseled boards and management regarding implementation of multiple class equity structures, including tracking stock and non-voting common stock.
Gary leads the Husch Blackwell Lean Six Sigma Pilot Program for Acquisition Transactions, which is developing service methods that deliver faster, more efficient, high quality acquisition services and transaction management under alternative fee arrangements.
A Partner since joining the firm in 1993, Gary has served as Chair of the Mergers & Acquisitions practice group since 2008. He was also Chair of the Recruiting Committee from 1997 to 2000 and Managing Partner of the Omaha office from 1995 to 1997. He was with Shook, Hardy & Bacon from 1985 to 1993.