For most business owners, the enterprise they've built is their largest asset, their primary source of income, and the center of their professional identity. When it comes time to sell, recapitalize, or transition that business, the financial shift is profound: wealth that was concentrated in a single illiquid asset must be restructured into a diversified portfolio that supports a very different phase of life. The decisions made before, during, and after that transition have lasting consequences for tax liability, liquidity, estate planning, and long-term financial security.
Cantata is built to help business owners navigate this transition in coordination with their legal, tax, and transaction advisory teams. Our focus is on the personal financial side of the equation: helping ensure that the wealth created through years of building a business is preserved, invested thoughtfully, and aligned with the owner's goals for what comes next.
We provide:
As a fee-only Registered Investment Adviser (RIA), we are legally and ethically bound to act in our clients’ best interests. Accordingly, our recommendations are made solely with that fiduciary duty in mind (we do not earn commissions from product sales). When advising a business owner on post-sale portfolio construction or tax-efficient diversification, that advice is shaped entirely by the client's best interests.
Co-founder Kevin Barry, CFA®, CFP® leads Cantata's investment management and brings decades of experience across institutional and individual portfolio oversight. Kevin's career includes leading the U.S. Fixed Income Investment Team for Credit Suisse, managing portfolios as a partner and portfolio manager for Caxton & Associates (a Global Macro Hedge Fund in New York), and serving as the Chief Investment Officer of Captrust, a rapidly growing RIA where he managed $60 billion in assets under management (AUM) and over half a trillion dollars of assets under advisement (AUA). For a business owner moving from concentrated, illiquid wealth to a diversified investment portfolio, Kevin's experience in risk management, asset allocation, and alternative investments is directly relevant.
Co-founder Gregory Cheng, CWS® brings years of experience helping financial advisors build and scale their own practices, giving him a firsthand understanding of the operational, emotional, and financial realities of business ownership. Before co-founding Cantata, Greg was an entrepreneur who owned several companies and has also served in senior leadership roles at Morgan Stanley, Sterne Agee (Stifel), and BNY's Pershing Advisor Solutions. He understands what it means to build something and to think carefully about what comes after.
Co-founder Christina Kramlich, CFP®, CAP® brings deep expertise in holistic financial planning and a particular focus on guiding individuals through major life transitions. Christina holds an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern, and her career spans technology investment banking, early-stage fintech leadership, and independent fee-only financial planning. Christina and her husband also owned a veterinary medicine practice which they sold to private equity, giving her firsthand understanding of what an exit and transition means—both professionally and emotionally—for a business owner along with planning for what comes next. Her Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®) designation serves business owners who want their exit to fund meaningful giving alongside their own financial future.
While our practice is designed to support business owners across industries, we bring particular depth to owner-operated healthcare practices, including veterinary, medical, and dental. These industries share common dynamics: consolidation pressure from private equity, complex deal structures, equity rollover considerations, and owners whose professional identity is deeply tied to the practice they've built. We have a strong personal connection in veterinary medicine, and the planning framework we've developed applies broadly across practice types.
The veterinary industry offers a clear window into the consolidation pressures reshaping owner-operated healthcare. Corporate and private equity-backed groups now own an estimated 25 to 30 percent of general veterinary practices in the United States and roughly 75 percent of specialty and emergency hospitals.* For independent practice owners, this consolidation wave has created both opportunity and complexity. Well-positioned practices can still command strong valuations, particularly those with growing revenue, solid financials, and doctor retention plans. But the landscape is shifting: higher interest rates have made buyers more selective, the pace of acquisitions has slowed from its 2021 peak, and the gap between what sellers expect and what the market will bear has widened for practices that don't fit the premium profile. Similar dynamics are playing out across medical and dental practices, where consolidation by private equity and corporate groups has reshaped the landscape for independent owners.
Where we start. We listen acutely to understand where the owner is in the exit process and what matters most to them beyond the transaction price. Are they planning to stay on post-sale or step away entirely? Is there a family succession component? What does their financial life look like once the practice income stops? A sale also affects personal relationships, the expectations of children and siblings and parents, and the question of what fills your time and your mind when the practice is no longer the center of your life. These are the questions that get least attention amid the deal mechanics—and they're often the ones that matter most. Ideally, this work begins three to five years before a potential sale, though our framework is designed to be helpful in all phases of the journey.
Why Cantata. Most transaction advisors and practice brokers focus on maximizing sale price. That's important, but as Kevin puts it, "...if I'm on a trapeze, I don't let go of one bar until I can see the next one is in position and I'm able to grab it." Our focus is on the full transition: understanding what the sale means to the owner, helping them plan for replacement income, and making sure the personal financial and tax planning is done well in advance (and not as the deal is closing).
Christina brings a personal connection to veterinary medicine. She and her husband (a veterinarian) owned and operated a veterinary emergency practice for over 25 years and Christina has watched from the inside as her husband navigated the demands of the profession: the exhaustion that comes with emergency work, the management of staff through high-stress environments, and the financial and emotional weight of ownership. She knows how demanding and emotional clients can be and how real the toll is on practice owners, particularly on the emergency side.
Kevin's institutional investment background means that when the proceeds arrive, the post-sale portfolio can be built with the same rigor he's applied to managing billions in institutional assets. And because our approach includes close coordination with the owner's legal, tax, and transaction advisors throughout the process, pre-sale planning and post-sale investment strategy can work together rather than in isolation.
Our areas of focus:
Cantata Wealth has offices in Miami, San Francisco, and Raleigh, and is available to clients nationwide. If you're beginning to think about your exit, actively preparing for a sale, or navigating the transition to life after the business, we would welcome the conversation. We are, as always, ready to listen.
Sources
* Brakke Consulting, as cited in Frontiers in Veterinary Science (2025).
Cantata Wealth is a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). This content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a solicitation, or a recommendation to buy or sell any securities. Past performance is not indicative of future results. All investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Please consult with a qualified professional before making any financial decisions.
