Officer Profiles

Michael A. Wildeveld

Michael Wildeveld holds a B.A. in Economics from Vanderbilt University, and an M.B.A. in Finance, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Mr. Wildeveld officially began his professional career when he founded Value Line Maintenance of Southern Nevada at the age of 18. Within two years Value Line became Nevada's largest maintenance company – it employed 35 maintenance professional who serviced 53 commercial accounts (including the Vons Grocery Store chain and AM/PM convenience store chain). Michael went on to work in Finance for American Airlines, Internal Audit for ARCO Oil and Gas, Business Development and Strategic Planning for Virgin Entertainment, and "Buy Side" Mergers and Acquisitions consulting for G.E. Capital and Universal Pictures International in Amsterdam, London and Tokyo. Mr. Wildeveld has consulted for such prestigious clients as Queen Noor of Jordan, the Governments of Jordan and El Salvador, The Landmine Survivor’s Network (a Nobel Peace Prize winning Non-Profit Organization), and Fred Alger Management (a leading Investment Bank / Asset Management firm). Mr. Wildeveld has lived in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Japan, carried out projects in 19 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America, and traveled to 114 countries worldwide.

While first licensed in Real Estate in Nevada in 1990 while working in commercial leasing for The Ribeiro Corporation, Mr. Wildeveld has spent his professional career in a number of real estate related roles. Since being instrumental in bringing The Veld Group to California as a Consulting and Valuation firm in 1996, Mr. Wildeveld has played a vital role in expanding The Veld Group’s suite of professional services to include business brokerage and mergers and acquisitions. In fact, since the company’s expansion in 2003 The Veld Group has become Southern California’s most successful business brokerage. With over $25 million in per annum transactions consistently completed, in just 7 years The Veld Group has become Southern California’s premier business brokerage and boutique Mergers and Acquisitions firm. In his limited role as a broker and a consultant at The Veld Group, Mr. Wildeveld has sold over 230 businesses representing over $50 million in sales transactions. Impressive as this may be by any business brokerage standard (this represents more sales than many 30 year old brokerages), Mr. Wildeveld does not even claim the title as The Veld Group’s top producer! Since entering the main street business brokerage market in 2003, The Veld Group has sold nearly 1,000 companies, or over 140 per annum.

Despite his relentless schedule, Michael Wildeveld remains a devout entrepreneur and still finds the time to start new businesses or purchase existing ones. While the list of prior investments is lengthy and diverse, recent companies that Mr. Wildeveld has owned (or currently owns) include a commercial print shop, several indoor tanning salons, and a five story, 45,000 square foot bar, restaurant and nightclub. In addition to his professional and academic achievements, including being a former high school valedictorian and later being offered a teaching role at The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, Mr. Wildeveld is an accomplished athlete, sportsman and philanthropist.

Ryan J. Clark

Ryan Clark, an entrepreneur, former world-class athlete, and likely California’s top business broker, is the Director of Sales for The Veld Group. Mr. Clark attended The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Finance as well as being elected president of his fraternal organization. Always extremely driven and focused, Mr. Clark honed his sales skills while still in high school, and went on to perfect them while in college when he launched of his own firm – R.C. Enterprises, a national direct sales company. After achieving substantial success and building a vast personal and business network, Mr. Clark merged his finance and sales background and joined Citigroup as a Senior Financial Planner for high net worth individuals. At Citigroup, Mr. Clark’s services included corporate retirement planning, investment management, insurance and estate planning.

In the mid 1990’s Mr. Clark accepted a long-term consulting engagement and relocated from Las Vegas to Southern California to establish the U.S. sales force for a multi-national sales organization. In this role Ryan implemented the business plan he authored and hired, trained and rolled out his sales strategy in the firm’s five Southern California locations. In 1999, Mr. Clark rejoined his childhood friends and family and accepted a position as a Senior Vice President at Veld Consulting. In this role, Mr. Clark helped develop the firm’s California sales strategy, hired and trained its sales staff, and transitioned its retainer based consulting pricing model to the needs of the California market. In 2003, Mr. Clark was then instrumental in launching The Veld Group’s full-service Valuation and Business Brokerage division.

Within 3 short years of heading The Veld Group’s Business Valuation, Business Brokerage, and Mergers and Acquisitions sales departments, Ryan Clark established himself as California’s leading business broker. Regularly selling over 100 businesses per annum, Mr. Clark has managed to not only single-handedly outpace entire competing brokerage offices, but he has also managed to surpass the ‘done-deals’ transaction benchmarks set by California’s most seasoned brokers who boast 30 plus years of industry experience.

Ever so humble for his accomplishments, Mr. Clark attributes his tremendous success to his strong support network which includes his wife and children, family, friends and support staff, his early entrepreneurial experiences, and to the discipline he developed as a former world-class track athlete, (while he would never boasts of it, Mr. Clark is a former Division 1 collegiate sprinter who once held records in the 100 meter and 200 meter events). This discipline, coupled with the internal balance that he has developed from his daily yoga practice, has propelled him to the top of the business brokerage industry, where he suggests that “grace complements achievement”.

Robert A. Rodriguez

Mr. Robert A. Rodriguez is a Certified Public Accountant (C.P.A.), as well as a licensed California Real Estate Broker with 14 years of experience selling, acquiring, merging and consulting businesses. Mr. Rodriguez received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting from the University of San Diego (U.S.D.), where he was a key contributor to his fraternal organization’s community outreach program. Mr. Rodriguez’s career began as a mortgage loan officer at Wells Fargo Bank, where he implemented and managed their Spanish Loan Hotline, one of the first of its kind. Mr. Rodriguez left Wells Fargo to join Howard Publications, where he began his accounting career.

At Howard Publications, Mr. Rodriguez was regularly promoted until he became the firm’s Assistant Controller. In this role Robert managed the financial reporting for 18 newspapers, 4 domestic natural gas trading divisions, and the Eastern European natural gas exploration division. During this time he also coordinated the acquisition of a $25 million publishing subsidiary in Washington, led the forensic investigation of a $1.2 billion natural gas trading operation (and, prior to the Enron scandal, discovered similarly fraudulent accounting practices), and consulted on various natural gas trading, transportation and exploration engagements in the U.S., Canada, Ukraine and Azerbaijan. Upon Howard Publications sale (for $400 ml.), Mr. Rodriguez joined National Retail Partners where he managed a $400 million commercial property portfolio for California Public Employment Retirement System – the largest public pension fund in the U.S. (CalPERS).

In 1997 Robert launched Integrity Valuations and Business Consulting (“Integrity”) in San Diego, California. Integrity Valuations and Consulting specialized in providing small and mid-size businesses with accounting, tax, valuation and consulting studies related to growth strategies, tax planning, and the implementation of cost management and efficiency programs. Within months of implementation, Integrity managed the investment and financial divisions for some of San Diego’s most successful restaurants and nightclubs including the Side Bar, Stingaree and Confidential Restaurant and Loft. Mr. Rodriguez was also responsible for the creation and management of a variety of syndicated investment groups, all of which raised capital for the acquisition of commercial and private investments. The accounting systems that Mr. Rodriguez created and implemented are still used by the Gaslamp’s top restaurants and nightclubs.

In 2002, Robert Rodriguez merged Integrity Valuation with The Veld Group’s Valuation and Consulting division, which provided business appraisals for divorce, income tax, estate and buy and sell agreements, and helped business owners prepare for the sale of their companies. Upon taking the division over, Mr. Rodriguez developed the department and expanded its service offering to include expert testimony services in the court system to help defend business and property owners in eminent domain, or similar business litigation matters. Since merging Integrity Valuations, Mr. Rodriguez has led over 500 business appraisal and valuation projects.

Mr. Rodriguez’s most recent accolades include becoming one of The Veld Group’s most successful business brokers, where he has been responsible for over 100 business sale transactions to date. Mr. Rodriguez’s attributes his highly successful career to his extensive experience, professional approach, and diligent work ethic. Mr. Rodriguez spends his leisure time pursuing his hobbies and passions, which include international travel, golf, running and boxing. Robert also volunteers with a local organization that tutors elementary students in math and science. Robert Rodriguez is fluent in Spanish, and likely closes more California business sale transactions in Spanish than any other broker.

Kristina Wilderveld Coneh

Veld Law was founded in 2003 by Kristina Wildeveld Coneh. Ms. Wildeveld Coneh, was admitted to the Nevada Bar in 1995, and the California Bar in 2003.

Ms. Wildeveld Coneh, whose Nevada and California based law practice includes Criminal Defense and Family Law, has gained nationwide attention for the introduction of several state bills to eliminate capital punishment in Nevada, and for her successful defense of several high profile capital crimes cases including Conen Pope and Ted Binion, of Binion’s Horseshoe Casino.

Kristina Wildeveld Coneh is Jacob Wildeveld’s Granddaughter, and Michael Wildeveld’s Sister.