Susan Block has over 15 years experience as an investment banker specializing in mergers and acquisitions - previously in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Montgomery Securities and as a Vice President at Mercantile Capital Corporation. While a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Montgomery Securities, Ms. Block worked on merger assignments across all industries and was responsible for the sale of Safeway's Liquor Barn operations by Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts. As a principal of Block, Bowman & Associates, LLC, Ms. Block works primarily with software, high tech and healthcare firms.

Ms. Block's background also includes working with firms in turnaround situations or in the start-up or early growth phases of their lifecycle. In this capacity, Ms. Block was the CEO, President and on the Board of Directors for the turnaround of The Balance Bar Company - recently purchased by Kraft Foods for approximately $260 million. Prior work as a "turn-around" consultant involved clients such as Crocker National Bank, Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation, and Merritt-Peralta Medical Center. Ms. Block now works on merger assignments and strategic advisory projects in a wide range of industries including software, information technology, semiconductor manufacturing and capital equipment, and healthcare.

Ms. Block received an MBA in finance and a Bachelors of Science from the University of Wisconsin, and has served as a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin - School of Business Administration and the University of California - Santa Barbara Department of Economics. Susan Block has served as a Board of Directors member for numerous firms; as a coach and on the advisory Board for LARTA; on the Executive Committee and the chair of the Business Plan Review Committee for the Central Coast Venture Forum; and as a member of the Board of Directors for Girls, Inc and the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum.