Marc Schwartz and Mike Hill respectively celebrate 40 years of practice

40 years of dedicated accounting, business valuation, and litigation consulting practice. End Quote

Houston, TX (1888PressRelease) December 10, 2014 - This year HSSK celebrates with two of its founders, Marc Schwartz and Mike Hill, as they each complete their fortieth year of dedicated practice in the business valuation, finance and consulting fields. Over the course of four decades, Marc and Mike have amassed extensive experience and expertise in the valuation, litigation consulting and financial restructuring fields, which they have used as the foundation for the creation and direction of HSSK.

In 1974, Mike founded J. Michael Hill and Associates in Houston as a financial consulting business working with closely-held businesses, providing financial advice and business valuation services. The firm worked with all types of businesses and developed a regional reputation with professional firms in the Health Care space. The firm also developed a litigation consulting practice with most of the cases involving the value of a business that was under dispute. The purpose of the litigation ranged from lost profits, diminution of value, divorce, and shareholder disputes. The business name was changed to Hill Valuation Group, LLC (HVG), a predecessor to HSSK.

In 1989, HVG opened a second office in Dallas with Gerry Keller (later a named partner) becoming the first hire. The Dallas office is celebrating its 25th anniversary of service to the Dallas/North Texas area. Gerry had a varied background in banking and finance serving all types of businesses and was a very good fit for the types of businesses being served at that time. Both offices continued to expand throughout the 80's and 90's with a regional and national reputation. Clients ranged from small businesses to billion dollar corporations with complex valuation and litigation assignments for the firm.
In the late 1970's and early 1980's, Mike became active with the American Society of Appraisers, serving first on the local chapter level and then on the national level. In 1981, he was elected to the Business Valuation Committee of the ASA and served as Chairman of the Committee in 1985. Members of the Firm assisted in developing course material that was used to develop the well-known ASA Business Valuation courses offered around the United States and the rest of the World. Mike later served as a Trustee of The Appraisal Foundation, the standard setting body for appraisal standards in America. He served for 6 years on that Board, becoming Chairman in 2000.

In 1974 Marc started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in their audit practice. In 1977, he was assigned to his first lawsuit when he was hired by the Brazos Valley Electric Cooperative's lawyers in its litigation with Marion Power Shovel Company over the cost of a walking dragline contracted for by Brazos. For the next 5 years, he continued to work with major clients including his oversight of the audits of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, InterFirst Corporation and working on behalf of the plaintiffs in the antitrust litigation between major oil companies and Brown & Root, Inc. and J. Ray McDermott. In 1982, he was admitted to the partnership of the firm. For the next ten years, he continued to serve major clients, including Sterling Chemicals and Gulf Oil Corporation while taking increased responsibility for the Firm's litigation and bankruptcy services practice.

In 1993, Marc Schwartz founded Schwartz & Associates, a CPA firm specializing in financial restructuring, litigation consulting and financial forensics. Marc's company continued to grow, eventually becoming Schwartz Spilker & Company. In 2001 his practice was merged with that of Hill Valuation Group to create Hill Schwartz Spilker Keller LLC (HSSK) providing business valuation, litigation consulting, and financial restructuring services.

Marc has been active in the Houston community throughout his career having been on the board of the Houston Symphony Society, the Marjorie Evans Foundation and serving as President of the Pin Oak Charity Horse Show. Marc is currently the Treasurer and Executive Committee member of the ESCAPE Family Resource Center and is Chairman of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Mission Centers of Houston. He has also been recognized by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners with their Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 2007, HSSK experienced further expansion when Marc and Mike started the computer forensics practice which became HSSK Forensics. In 2009, the forensics practice created REMLOX, a forensic self-collection tool for the acquisition of electronic forensic data. Later that same year, HSSK Forensics incorporated with Marc as its CEO and in 2012 it was sold to Ricoh Americas Corporation. In 2013, HSSK opened a third office in Austin to extend their business valuation and litigation consulting services in Texas.

In early 2014, a third member of the firm, Mike Hill Jr. was named a Fellow of the American Society of Appraisers. With Mike Hill Jr.'s induction to the ASA College of Fellows, HSSK now has 3 Fellows of the ASA: Mike Hill Sr., Carla Glass and Mike Hill Jr. More recently, Marc was recognized by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners with its Lifetime Achievement Award for "twenty five years of service to the anti-fraud profession".

During forty years of service in the industry, Marc Schwartz and Mike Hill have served numerous clients helping them to make strategic acquisitions, improving their business operations, and building for their future. They brought that experience and skill with them at the creation of HSSK and have used it to guide the company's future ever since.

We would like to extend our congratulations and thanks to Marc Schwartz and Mike Hill in their 40th year of practice and to the 13 years they have served with distinction as founders and helmsman of HSSK," Said Mike Hill Junior.

For more information on HSSK's business valuation, litigation consulting, or financial forensics services, visit their website: hssk.com.

About Hill Schwartz Spilker Keller LLC (HSSK)
Hill Schwartz Spilker Keller LLC (HSSK) is a professional services firm devoted to Business Valuation, Litigation Consulting and Financial Restructuring. The principals have been serving the corporate, legal and professional communities for over forty years. HSSK assists clients in quantifying and articulating value for financial reporting, taxation, transaction, and corporate planning purposes. We also work with clients involved in filed and pending litigation and disputes by providing valuation services, financial forensics, financial damage determination, and bankruptcy related services, including serving as financial advisors to parties, as trustees, and as examiners.

© 2014 Hill Schwartz Spilker Keller LLC. All rights reserved. All referenced product names are the trademarks of their respective companies.

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