Family Business & Succession Planning

John Allen is the founder and CEO of RA Consultants, LLC, a civil engineering firm specialized in water and wastewater systems based in Cincinnati, Ohio. He recently led the company through a major milestone when RA Consultants was acquired by Gonzalez Companies in a transaction facilitated by Truce Capital Advisors.

Ely has 10+ years of selling businesses with less than $250 million in annual revenue or helping businesses of that size grow through acquisitions. As the Founder and Managing Director of Truce Capital Advisors, he directly relates to the mindset of business owners. Ely is happily married with a 4 year old daughter here in Cincinnati.

Tim Rettig is a second-generation ESOP entrepreneur. Tim founded Intrust IT in 1992 while in college and in 2019 began transitioning his company to be employee owned via an ESOP, just like his father Jay Rettig did with his company Software Solutions in 2004. Tim's vision of having Intrust IT be 100% employee owned was realized in 2025 when Intrust IT joined 3LS, an ESOP holding company. Tim is now a champion for employee ownership; speaking, writing, and advocating for it so that more business owners are aware of the benefits, and so that government agencies can make it an easier path to follow.