Meet The Team

Jim Baer is the President of CMBG Advisors, Inc. as well a founding partner of Baer, Negrin & Troff, LLP where he continues to work closely with its attorneys in restructuring transactions for CMBG.

Lisa serves as the executive day-to day contact for CMBG clients, providing them with the resources and information necessary to proceed through their legal or business matters.

Neil Massa joined CMBG Advisors in August 2018. Since then, he has participated in over 15 projects relating to maximizing recovery for lenders, creditors, and investors for ABC proceedings.

Sherry serves as Outside General Counsel for CMBG Advisors, Inc. In this capacity, Sherry oversees and manages CMBG's legal matters. These matters include, but are not limited to, negotiations, drafting, and closing of asset sales of insolvent assignor companies, as well as the negotiations and settlements of lawsuits and claims against the estate of assignor companies and/or assignees. She also handles the analysis of potential legal and regulatory issues in connection with each estate, and agreements with landlords and other interested parties. Sherry received her law degree from Loyola Law School, where she graduated in the top 10% of her class and Order of the Coif. During her law school career, Sherry served as a judicial extern and law clerk, working in various areas of law. Prior to law school, Sherry received her master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. Known for her integrity and poise under pressure, Sherry is able to close asset sales and strategically handle complex legal issues for a wide variety of clients. Her savvy business mentality makes her a skilled negotiator who attains successful results for her clients. As a result of her diverse background and experience in the mental health field, Sherry has honed her interpersonal and listening skills, which she now utilizes in negotiating and mediating complex issues and disputes.

Steve serves as a finance and accounting consultant for CMBG Advisors, Inc. In this capacity, Steve analyzes financial records, financial statements and a company’s assets and debt structure to make recommendations on the future plans of CMBG clients for client shareholders and lenders. These services include budgeting and forecasting, determining the collectability of accounts receivable, assessing fixed asset values, analyzing debt, cash flow forecasting as well as providing bookkeeping services. Steve is a strategic executive that provides CFO services to startups, high-growth and venture-backed companies. He has over 30 years of progressive experience with specializations in technology, including software, online marketing, nanotech and robotics, as well as manufacturing, distribution and construction. He has significant experience in mergers and acquisitions, operations, strategic planning, modeling, fund raising, financial reporting and software implementations. Steve graduated from UCLA in 1989 and is a certified public accountant.

Scott serves as a key strategist across all areas of CMBG Advisors including client engagements, corporate strategy, process and systems development, and more.

For over 25 years Dennis has been at the forefront of IT Consulting for small business and large campuses all over Southern California and the Midwest. Over those years, he has established the unique distinction of being the rare consultant who is both an expert in Mac and Microsoft environments owing to decades of focused work in both ecosystems. He has installed and configured countless networks and the equipment required to secure them. Beyond that, Dennis has handled almost every technical environment from small offices to municipal facilities and hospitals along with everything in between. It is with this expansive knowledge and experience, combined with the ability to adapt to the ever-changing technical environments we live in today, that we are confident in Dennis as our Technology Officer. He is responsible for securing our networks, data, and communications as well as those of the companies we assist in restructuring. His ability to explain complex systems in plain English is always welcome in a sea of confusing technology terms and acronyms. When Dennis is not buried in computers, he is happiest spending time with his large, blended family in Valencia. He and his fiancé are avid music fans, and enjoy sampling local shows, concerts, and large music festivals of all kinds.

Garrett serves as Senior Content Strategist for CMBG Advisors, and handles all major communications for the company including press releases and interview requests.

CMBG’s jack-of-all-trades, Trey Porteous has done just about everything over the course of his 20-plus year career in the equipment, transportation, and repair industries. From management to maintenance, retail to billing, Trey knows how to get the job done.

In her capacity as a restructuring officer at CMBG Advisors, Inc., Tanya has direct contact with both vendors and creditors of insolvent companies. Tanya works with Lisa and Neil to secure and assist in asset liquidation, including collecting outstanding accounts receivable, closing out accounts and disconnecting utilities.  She is also involved in drafting, distributing, organizing and documenting creditor claims.    Tanya spent over 20 years in various positions in the ground transportation industry. She has a strong background in customer service, accounting, logistics and event management. Her experience in this industry introduced her to the various individuals and personalities in corporate, entertainment and private travel.  As we say at CMBG, every business is unique, and our team members have the skills to meet any challenge. For instance, Fortino ran the exotic animal department at Petco. He also oversaw a large amount of inventory at My Pet Naturally and coordinated deliveries since the beginning of COVID-19 as small businesses transitioned to more remote operations. Be it client facing, or inventory based, Fortino has the experience.