Meet the Team
Our team is comprised of industry leaders with extensive experience in auto retail, investment banking, private equity, commercial banking, accounting, and real estate. No other firm has the breadth of skills or client support services to work successfully with dealers as they grow or sell their business.
Our Team
Our team is comprised of industry leaders with extensive experience in auto retail, investment banking, private equity, commercial banking, accounting, and real estate. No other firm has the breadth of skills or client support services to work successfully with dealers as they grow or sell their business.
Erin Kerrigan
Founder & Managing Director
Erin Kerrigan is Managing Director of Kerrigan Advisors, which she founded in 2014. Kerrigan Advisors is the leading sell-side advisor and thought partner to auto dealers in the US. Since its founding, the firm has sold over 175 dealerships, including more of the Top 150 Dealership Groups than any other firm, representing over $3 billion in client sales proceeds. In addition to sell-side advisory services, Kerrigan Advisors raises capital for its clients who are seeking a financial partner and provides consulting services to dealers looking to increase the value of their business.
Prior to founding Kerrigan Advisors, Erin headed Presidio Automotive. Prior to Presidio, she was a Senior Vice President at AutoStar, a subsidiary of iStar Financial (NYSE: SFI), where she led transaction origination. Early in her career, she was dealer operator of her family’s dealership, which she sold in 2006. She began her post-graduate career as an investment banker for Piper Jaffray.
Erin is a recognized industry expert on dealership buy/sells, valuation, real estate and private equity, and is a frequent speaker at leading auto retail events and conferences held by JD Power, NADA (#1 speaker in 2012), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), National Association of Dealer Counsel (NADC), Canadian Auto Dealers Association, and DrivingSales’ President’s Club. She has also been a key note speaker for events hosted by American Honda Motor Company, Audi of America, Bank of America, the New Car Dealers of Utah, US Trust, Pennsylvania Auto Dealers Association, Texas Automobile Dealer Association, Ohio Automobile Dealer Association, Colorado Automobile Dealer Association, and SunTrust Bank and has also led webinars for NADA and Automotive News. Erin is the author of The Blue Sky Report®, the industry’s leading buy/sell report.
Erin earned her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University and her MBA from The UCLA Anderson School of Management. She resides in Incline Village, Nevada with her husband and partner, Ryan Kerrigan, and their three children. Erin is a member of the Young Presidents Organization and serves on the University of Notre Dame’s Cabinet for Good, Northwestern University’s Council of 100 and the board of the League to Save Lake Tahoe.
Ryan Kerrigan is Managing Director of Kerrigan Advisors, where he oversees strategic consulting, capital raising and private equity/family office investor relations in addition to US buy/sell transaction work. He leads the firm’s capital advisory business, working with dealers to maximize value when they raise capital for their businesses. His business experience includes transaction work, executive leadership, private equity investing and management consulting. Prior to joining Kerrigan Advisors, he served in CEO roles in the construction, engineering and environmental sectors through Kerrigan Industries, his family’s private equity company. Ryan also served as Managing Director at Serent Capital, a $250M private equity fund investing in middle market companies. Prior, he served as General Manager of the family’s auto dealership. Ryan began his career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he advised Fortune 500 companies on growth strategies, organizational issues, pricing and business valuation.
In addition to transaction work, Ryan is frequently called upon to speak at multiple leading auto retail conferences and events, including AIADA, NADA, NAMAD, Automotive Leadership Roundtable, American Financial Services Association, Wells Fargo Dealer Services, AutoCPA, and numerous auto dealer association meetings. He also writes a monthly column on the auto retail buy/sell market, which is featured in Dealer Magazine.
Ryan has an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and a Masters degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with a BBA in Finance, where he serves on the Advisory Board of Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs. Ryan lives in Incline Village, Nevada with his wife and business partner, Erin Kerrigan, and their three children. He is active in Young President’s Organization and recently served as Chairman of the global YPO Automotive Network.
Ryan Kerrigan
Managing Director
Phillip D. Brady serves as a Senior Advisor at Kerrigan Advisors, supporting the firm and our clients with his deep industry experience and expertise. Phil was President of National Auto Dealers Association (NADA) from 2001 to 2012 during which time he successfully led auto retail’s largest association through the many challenges presented by the credit crisis. Before leading NADA, Phil served as Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary in the White House from 1991 to 1993 under President George H.W. Bush, as well as General Counsel to the US Department of Transportation. He retired as Senior Vice President for Government Affairs at Phillips 66 in 2015 and is now an adjunct professor at Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. With his deep experience and relationships in auto retail, Phil provides counsel to the Kerrigan Advisors team and its clients on industry relationships, as well as generational and corporate planning.
Phil Brady is a cum laude graduate of both the University of Notre Dame and Loyola University School of Law. He resides in Northern Virginia and Orange County with his wife, Katie Brady.
Mercedes Hendricks is Senior Vice President of Consulting Services at Kerrigan Advisors. She joined the firm in 2017 as a Vice President. Mercedes brings fifteen years of public accounting experience to the firm. At Kerrigan Advisors, Mercedes advises the firm’s sell-side clients as they prepare for the sale. In this capacity, she applies her accounting expertise to accurately adjust client financials to better reflect business’ earnings and identify opportunities for profit improvement. In addition to her sell-side client work, Mercedes spearheads Kerrigan Advisors’ Consulting Services, which include open point applications, transactional due diligence, litigation support and pre/post-closing transaction accounting.
Prior to Kerrigan Advisors, Mercedes provided public accounting expertise in the areas of assurance and consulting for more than 150 dealerships across the country. She spent nine years with Crowe LLP (formerly Crowe Horwath LLP) in their Dealership Services group. At Crowe LLP, she managed large projects ranging from traditional audit and review engagements to non-traditional consulting engagements, such as due diligence services in mergers and acquisitions, consolidations, reviews of internal controls and tests of compliance. She was a mentor and supervisor for teams and individuals from across the nation and is considered a key thought leader in the automotive accounting services space.
Mercedes Hendricks is a California Certified Public Accountant, and an active member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She is an honors graduate of the University of Massachusetts – Dartmouth with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. She resides in Orange County with her husband, Andy Hendricks.
MERCEDES HENDRICKS
Senior Vice President, Consulting Services
GABE ROBLETO
Vice President, Sell-Side Services
Gabriel Robleto is a Vice President at Kerrigan Advisors with a particular focus on dealership real estate sales. Gabe’s expertise encompasses all facets of automotive retail real estate, including due diligence, financing, transactions, lease terms and real estate purchase agreements. Gabe joined the firm in 2018, opening Kerrigan Advisors’ East Coast office in Northern Virginia. Prior to joining Kerrigan Advisors, he was Vice President of Acquisitions at Capital Automotive REIT (CARS), where he spent over 10 years. Capital Automotive is a leading real estate finance company focused exclusively on the automotive retail industry with over $5 billion of dealership real estate assets under management. At Capital Automotive, Gabe underwrote and financed over $300 million of auto dealership real estate in the form of sale leasebacks as part of buy/sell transactions and dealer estate planning. Additionally, Gabe was responsible for a portfolio of over $1 billion of Capital Automotive’s real estate investments across 18 states, which included leases to both public and privately held dealer groups.
Gabe Robleto is a graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia with a degree in Commerce and concentrations in Finance and International Business. He is a frequent guest lecturer within McIntire’s real estate track. Gabe lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Melissa, and their two children.
Marie Brashears is a Vice President at Kerrigan Advisors. She joined the firm as an Associate in February 2016 and is a key member of the firm’s Sell-Side Advisory team. She is responsible for preparing client sales presentations, managing client data collection, tracking the sale process and organizing transactional due diligence. Marie also plays a key role in transaction closings. In addition, Marie is an integral participant in the analysis and production of The Blue Sky Report® and The Kerrigan Index™. Prior to joining Kerrigan Advisors, Marie oversaw financial analysis, operations, and marketing for Renovate Property Services, a construction management company owned by Kerrigan Industries.
Marie is licensed as a California real estate salesperson. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of California Irvine’s Merage School of Business, where she was a NCAA Division 1 Student Athlete in Track & Field, holding Dean’s List and Big West Conference academic and scholar athlete honors.
MARIE BRASHEARS
Vice President, Sell-Side Services
PIERRE DEMPSEY
Senior Associate
Pierre Dempsey is a Senior Associate at Kerrigan Advisors. With his strong financial background, Pierre adds depth to the firm’s growing consulting practice by performing detailed financial analysis for the firm’s clients. Prior to joining Kerrigan Advisors, Pierre worked as an Investment Professional for J.P. Morgan Private Bank. He assisted in all aspects of modeling, forecasting, investment selection, and portfolio management for high-net-worth clients. His team oversaw client assets in excess of $1.5 billion.
Pierre is a CFA charter holder, and an active member of the CFA Society of Orange County. He graduated cum laude from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor of Science in Finance.
Max Clark joined Kerrigan Advisors as a Senior Analyst in October 2022. With Big-Four public accounting experience, Max supports the firm’s sell-side and consulting clients in financial modeling, operational analytics, adjusted earnings analyses and other financial activities. Prior to joining the firm, Max was a Senior Audit Associate at KPMG where he managed public and private, domestic and international client audits from planning through fieldwork and delivery of the final reports.
Max is a California Certified Public Accountant and a Deans Honor List graduate of the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California Irvine with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and an emphasis in accounting. While in college, Max served on the board for the UCI Accounting Association. Max is a California native and enjoys surfing and fishing in his spare time.
JUAN LACOUTURE
Senior Analyst
Juan Lacouture joined Kerrigan Advisors as an Analyst in May 2021. Juan’s experience with dealership blue sky valuations, financial modeling and credit underwriting further augments Kerrigan Advisors’ service offerings to our dealer clients. Juan started his career at Truist (formerly SunTrust Bank), as a coverage analyst on the Dealer Commercial Services team. There, he helped facilitate transaction financing for Truist’s dealer clients, including blue sky acquisition loans, commercial real estate mortgages and floor plan lines of credit, as well as a wide range of advisory services to dealership groups nationwide.
Juan holds a BA in Economics from the University of Florida and is fluent in Spanish.
Ellen Kulla joined Kerrigan Advisors as the Marketing Coordinator in 2018. She oversees industry and prospect outreach, event and conference planning, database management, as well as provides administrative support to the firm. Before joining the Kerrigan Advisors team, Ellen gained various international experiences working at a multinational industrial firm in Nanjing, China, and was also selected as a Taiwan United States Sister Relations Alliance Fellowship recipient. Ellen is proficient in Mandarin.
Ellen Kulla graduated cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California Irvine with Bachelors degrees in both International Studies and Chinese Language and Literature.
ELLEN KULLA
Marketing Coordinator
