Ross Dove – Managing Partner
Ross Dove began his career over thirty years ago, joining his father and grandfather at a small proud family auction house in San Francisco. During his tenure, he pioneered countless advances and industry firsts, as the firm he joined eventually climbed to become the world’s largest and most respected industrial asset and commercial property auction company. His success has been widely chronicled in major publications, including Fortune, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and the Economist, among many others. He is a frequent lecturer, who has spoken at many business schools including Stanford and UC Berkeley, as well as industry events globally.
Mr. Dove served for decades as Chairman and CEO of DoveBid*, Dove Brothers, Koll-Dove, and Ross-Dove Company. Under his direction, the firm piloted the concept of Theatre-style auctions, organizing an audience to sit and bid via catalog and video, versus past walk around facility sales. This ground breaking achievement was the first step in migrating auction events onto the Internet.
His landmark signing of Osborne Computer Corp., the first ever manufacturer of personal computers, attracted thousands of bidders and drew international acclaim as the auction sale of the decade.
Under Mr. Dove’s leadership, the firm was the first auction house to break the corporate barrier of conducting sales for successful, Fortune 500 companies, including AT&T, Bondwell, Cray Computer, Digital Equipment Corp., Everex, General Dynamics, LSI Logic, Maxtor, Northern Telecom, Priam, Qume, Rodime, SCI, Tandon, U.S. Sprint, VLSI, and 3Com among countless others.
He was a past director of Critical Path (Nasdaq listed) and has served on boards of several venture funded companies. He has been a long standing member of the National Auctioneers Association and a founding member of the International Auctioneers Association. Together with his partner, Kirk Dove, over five thousand auctions and ten thousand valuations have been completed.
Kirk Dove, ASA – Managing Partner
Kirk Dove is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Heritage Global Partners. Mr. Dove brings over 25 years of experience to the position, having served as President of GoIndustry-DoveBid*, President of DoveBid*, President of DoveBrothers, President of Koll-Dove and President of Ross-Dove Company.
During his career, he has pioneered the industry, changing the way auction events are signed, marketed and conducted. Mr. Dove’s innovations included introducing corporations to sign forward flow multi-event contracts, changing the industry compensation structure from client fee, seller-based to a buyer’s premium platform; introducing webcast style auctions, merging voice and video, and broadcasting to worldwide audiences over the internet; the origination of featured online sales; the creation of vertical sector sale events; and migrating to a paperless world of electronic marketing and notification for all events. With these innovations, the marketplace over time indeed followed suit.
Mr. Dove has represented many of the following companies in multiple auction sales, personally contracting and conducting major events with Apple, Applied Magnetics, AST Research, Bank of America, Businessland, Compaq, Computerland, Davong, ElectroRent, FDIC, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Hughes, IBM, Janus Disc, Kollmorgan, Lockheed Martin, Martin Marrietta, NCR, Oread, Packard Bell, Quantum, Raytheon, Storage Tek, Tektronix, Vision Tech, Wang, Xerox, Zenith and many more. These sales have generated over 3 billion in worldwide sales of industrial equipment.
In addition to sales of capital assets, Mr. Dove was the lead auctioneer in scores of commercial real estate and non-performing loan portfolio sales for the nation’s largest money center banks, the RTC, and the FDIC. These landmark sales generated over 1 billion dollars, garnered worldwide recognition, and took their place in the ranks of the highest grossing auctions in U.S. history.
Prior to Ross-Dove Company, Mr. Dove was employed at Merrill Lynch for several years as a Senior Account Executive, where he directed a client base of over 600 individuals and businesses. He holds a Bachelors of Sciences degree in Business from Northern Illinois University, and is a Senior ASA Member of the American Society of Appraisers. In addition, he is a longstanding member of the National Auctioneers Association.
Stephen J. Gross, Chief Financial Officer
Steve Gross has spent the past 30 years in financial and business management companies, notably numerous Internet start-ups, IPO’s, and mature businesses. He has provided financial guidance to company providers of market research, food distributorships, DNS services and more. In addition, he brings over eleven years of experience in the Asset Advisory and Auction Services industry, having served as the Chief Financial Officer of Ross-Dove Company.
During his tenure at RDC, Steve helped design and implement auction accounting systems in order to enable the company to provide the reporting and accounting necessary to serve the growing segment of small and large corporate accounts.
Mr. Gross managed the auction operations for all FDIC and RTC sale events held by RDC, in which the company sold over 1 billion dollars in real estate and debt portfolio instruments.
He has personally supervised many large consumer auctions, including Apple, AST, Compaq, IBM and Packard Bell, handling the flow from thousands of purchasers, including sales tax and VAT collection.
Mr. Gross holds a Bachelors of Sciences Degree from Cal State University, Northridge. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant.
J. Bruce Costello, Vice President of Operations
Before joining Heritage Global Partners, Bruce Costello provided consulting and advisory services to the semiconductor industry through his company J. B. Costello & Associates. The company specialized in the marketing and sale of used semiconductor and related high technology equipment through online auctions and negotiated sales.
Prior to that, Mr. Costello served as Senior Vice President of Global Operations for DoveBid LLC, where he managed the Operations division for the world’s largest industrial auctioneer and asset appraisal firm. His responsibilities included directing a complete range of capital asset auctions, valuations, redeployments, consulting and management services. Mr. Costello also designed and managed a diverse portfolio of asset disposition solutions, including onsite, webcast and online auctions, sealed bid and private treaty sales. As a professional auctioneer, Mr. Costello has called bids in 10 countries and 30 states. He has conducted more than 500 major capital asset auctions which have generated auction revenues in excess of $600 million.
Mr. Costello is an asset valuation and liquidation professional with more than 18 years of experience in a broad range of asset classes. He has provided capital asset valuations, inventory services, as well as liquidation and profitability analysis to Fortune 500 companies, venture capital groups, and asset-based lending institutions.
Lyn Bishop, Vice President of Marketing
With more than 10 years of experience in the auction arena, Lyn Bishop is a demonstrated expert and respected authority in the industry. Ms. Bishop’s primary responsibilities include marketing budget creation and oversight of all marketing functions for the firm.
Ms. Bishop previously served for ten years as Marketing Manager for GoIndustry Dovebid, where her projects generated more than 100 million in revenue Ms. Bishop has a keen ability to maintain strong, long-term relationships with key vendors, an invaluable asset in her field.
Ms. Bishop attended Wayne State University in Michigan where she majored in Psychology. Focused and disciplined, she shares this passion by openly expressing her sense of humor and encouraging creative thinking with others.
Michael B. Goldstein, Managing Director
Mike Goldstein, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Heritage Global Valuations, has nearly 20 years of appraisal and liquidation experience. Prior to joining Heritage Global Valuations in 2011, Mr. Goldstein was most recently employed by GoIndustry DoveBid* initially responsible for the management of the inventory appraisal group and subsequently responsible for new business development in the Eastern portion of the United States. He began his career with a prominent Northeastern appraisal and disposition firm where he was responsible for the management of the inventory appraisal department. In that role, Mr. Goldstein spearheaded the utilization of statistical modeling in inventory appraisals.
Mr. Goldstein has performed appraisal and liquidation work for many of the prominent financial institutions throughout North America and Europe. He has experience in a wide variety of industries including but not limited to: apparel, appliances, automotive, building products, carpet, catalog companies, chemicals, cigarettes, commodities, compost, computers, electronics, fasteners, floor coverings, food and beverage, footwear, furniture, HVAC, hardware, jewelry, leather, liquor, lighting, lumber, machine tools, medical devices, metals, paper, pharmaceuticals, plastics, plumbing, precious metals, refrigerants, retail inventories, semiconductors, sporting equipment, telecommunications, textiles, tobacco, vending machines, and wire & cable.
He holds an MBA from Hofstra University and a Bachelors of Arts degree from Pennsylvania State University. Mr. Goldstein is a member of the Turnaround Management Association and is involved with the Association for Corporate Growth and Commercial Finance Association.
Charles Seeley, ASA, Managing Director
Charles Seeley, ASA is one of Heritage Global Valuations founding partners. Mr. Seeley is a 22 year veteran of the appraisal & liquidation industry with a strong background in the valuation of machinery & equipment and inventory. He has previously worked for leading asset based lender, Fleet Capital (now Bank of America) as part of an in-house appraisal team as well as with nationally recognized valuation firms Daley-Hodkin, DoveBid Valuation Services and AccuVal Associates.
In his 22 year appraisal career Mr. Seeley has appraised capital assets and inventory at companies in the plastics, metalworking, transportation, high-tech, printing, woodworking, chemical processing and food & beverage industries as well as many others. His appraisals have been relied on by leading lenders, companies, attorneys, turnaround professionals and private equity groups.
Mr. Seeley graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Dowling College and holds an Accredited Senior Appraiser Designation (ASA) in Machinery and Technical Specialties with the American Society of Appraisers. He is a member of the Turnaround Management Association and (TMA), Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) and also currently sits on the board of the Atlanta Chapter of the Commercial Finance Association (CFA).
Thomas J Laster, Executive Vice President
Tom Laster is an accomplished sales professional bringing 20+ years of corporate sales experience to Heritage Global Partners. Before joining HGP, Tom Laster was Vice President of Sales for GoIndustry Dovebid, A Liquidity Services Marketplace. Over his ten years with Go Dove, Mr. Laster was consistently the top sales performer and responsible for signing several of their largest accounts to global strategic agreements. Mr. Laster’s accounts generated over $100 Million in sales during his tenure with the company and provided significant brand leverage in a variety of key vertical markets.
Prior to that, Mr. Laster served as Director of OEM sales for Netscape Communications, an Internet pioneer, where he was responsible for signing and managing large and complex strategic OEM partner agreements in North America.
Mr. Laster also worked for Baxter Scientific Products (now VWR) and Becton Dickinson as a senior sales representative responsible for selling scientific and laboratory equipment in Southern and Northern California.
Mr. Laster holds a Masters of Business Administration from Pepperdine University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Irvine.
Nicholas Jimenez, Executive Vice President
Mr. Jimenez has been providing advisory services to corporate clients and financial institutions for over 15. Prior to joining Heritage Global Partners (HGP), Mr. Jimenez was Vice President, Sales for GoIndustry Dovebid, A Liquidity Services Marketplace. In the 12+ years with GoIndustry DoveBid, Mr. Jimenez, developed and implemented programs and solutions that enabled hundreds of clients to maximize the resale value for their surplus equipment.
Mr. Jimenez was responsible for helping hundreds of clients, including AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celestica, Continental Automotive, Corning, Covidien, Ingersoll Rand, Merck, TE Connectivity, Thermo Fisher, United Technologies, and VWR to recover over $100 Million in sales proceeds for their idle non-earning assets.
Prior to joining GoIndustry DoveBid, Mr. Jimenez worked for GE Capital and held a variety of leadership and customer facing roles including Key Accounts Manager, National Accounts Manager, and Business Development Manager. Mr. Jimenez’s responsibilities included finding, developing, and managing client and service provider relationships.
Mr. Jimenez graduated from Western Connecticut University with a Bachelor of Business Administration.
*Heritage Global Partners is not affiliated with DoveBid, Inc. or GoIndustry DoveBid PLC. DOVEBID is a registered trademark of DoveBid, Inc.