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About Us  
Every business owner will eventually leave the business. The mission of Exit Planning Advisors is to help owners of small and medium sized businesses create successful exit strategies, enabling the owners to leave their company when they want, to whom they want and with the cash they want.

Exit Planning Advisors guides business owners through the exit process. Whether selling to an outsider or transferring ownership to a key employee or family member, we can help you accomplish your objectives.

Kjell Andreassen and Michael Johnston founded Exit Planning Advisors to help business owners set realistic exit objectives and create an Exit Plan that will:

• Create and preserve transferable value within their businesses.
• Transfer ownership and value as profitably as possible no matter who they sell to.
• Integrate personal, financial and estate planning goals with the goals of their business to maximize profit and minimize tax liability.

Kjell C Andreassen, MBA, AInstIB, CExP is a Managing Partner of acceler8 llc and Exit Planning Advisors LLC. He has extensive experience as an entrepreneur and advisor to a number of emerging and start-up ventures and has held senior executive positions with a number of public and private companies. He is an experienced instructor, teaching college and executive training courses in finance, international marketing and small business management. Kjell is a Certified Exit Planner (CExP) with extensive experience in providing exit planning and succession planning services to business owners. He is an Assistant Professor at Western International University and an Accredited Executive Associate of the Institute for Independent Business (AInstIB). Kjell has an MBA from Arizona State University, a Master of Business and Marketing from Oslo Business School and a Postgraduate Degree in Business Education. He has served on a number of corporate Board of Directors and he has completed the Global Leadership Certificate Program at Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Business. Kjell is a member of the Ambassadors Committee of the Tempe Chamber of Commerce and serves as a Mentor for the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and the Greater Phoenix SCORE.

Mike Johnston, Certified Public Accountant, MBA, CVA is a Managing Partner of acceler8 llc and the Exit Planning Advisors LLC. He has over 20 years of experience in public and private industries. Most recently, he was founder and Managing Partner of Michael A. Johnston, CPA PC, a full service accounting firm which combined its business with acceler8 in 2010 to offer expanded accounting, tax and business advisory services to its clients. He has been in the accounting field since 1982. He attained his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration – Accountancy from Northern Arizona University and a Masters in Business Administration from Arizona State University. Mike has worked in both the public arena as a CPA and in the private sector as a controller for a local law firm. Mike has extensive background in corporate and individual tax preparation and business valuation. His corporate client base consists of construction companies as well as professional service, manufacturing and distribution companies. Mike is a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) providing a full range of business valuation services, and a member of the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts (NACVA).


Don Orton is CEO of Tucson Business Advisors.  He is a serial entrepreneur, having held senior executive positions with several successful startup ventures as well as a number of publicly held corporations.  He currently advises a number of small business and healthcare clients. Mr. Orton has earned an MBA from the University Of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management and a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. He is an Accredited Executive Associate of the Institute for Independent Business and a Certified Diagnostics Coach with CMT Mentors. His industry experience spans a wide variety of manufacturing, service and healthcare related industries.

Client Testimonials