• February 22, 2010
  Citadel Advisory Group, a Colorado-based boutique investment banking firm, is proud to announce that Susan Schell has been promoted to President. “Sue is the perfect person to help guide Citadel through our current and future growth,” said Founder, Chris Frevert. read more
• January 11, 2010
  Citadel Advisory Group is proud to announce that Michael Mazanec has joined the company as Vice President. Chris Frevert, Citadel’s Founder and Managing Director, said, “Mike’s experience spans several industries and this, coupled with his dedication to provide solutions for business owners and investors alike, will be a great benefit to our community of buyers, sellers, and investors.” read more
• August 13, 2009
  Citadel Advisory Group is proud to announce that Managing Director, Susan Schell, is the recipient of the 2009 Northern Colorado Women of Influence Award in the Business category. She was among 70 nominees which included the most influential women in Northern Colorado. read more
• May 21, 2009
  Citadel Advisory Group ranked number one among the top 100 fastest growing privately-held companies in Northern Colorado. The Mercury 100 list ranks the top 100 companies showing revenue growth over the previous 4 years and is compiled annually by the Northern Colorado Business Report. Citadel posted revenue growth of 1,217%, up over last year’s 159% growth. Chris Frevert, the firm’s founder, said, “Clients know and appreciate the top talent at Citadel, and consistently recommend our services to others. Because we deliver quality results for our clients, we continue to grow and be a part of Northern Colorado’s vibrant business community.”
• May 11, 2009
  Citadel Advisory Group is proud to announce that Brad Hubbell of Hubbell Exit Partners has joined the company as a Managing Director. Recognized as one of the Rocky Mountain region’s most highly respected firms specializing in the energy service sector, Hubbell Exit Partners, under Brad’s direction, has completed 25 transactions, ranging from $5 million to $75 million in enterprise value, and has advised on numerous other transactions for both public and private companies. read more
• May 23, 2008
  Citadel Advisory Group named one of Northern Colorado's fastest growing companies. read more
• May 09, 2008
  Citadel Advisory Group Moves to New Offices read more
• January 01, 2008
  Founder and Managing Director of Citadel Advisory Group, Chris Frevert, was recently installed as the Conference Planning Chair of the M&A Source. He will be in charge of the next two conferences scheduled to be held in Denver, Colorado in June and Louisville, Kentucky in November 2008. read more

Teamwork is the key to our success at Citadel. Many firms in our industry create a "lone wolf" culture within their offices by challenging associates to work against each other rather than as a team. Our philosophy revolves around the age-old adage that "two heads are better than one". That means that two dealmakers are assigned to every client to work on that clients behalf everyday.

Chris C. Frevert, Managing Director

A serial entrepreneur, Chris has owned and operated several businesses throughout the years. This has given him first-hand experience in business development, management, and operations. As an intermediary for more than eleven years, he has honed his skills and knowledge of the exit process.
He received the Merger & Acquisition Master Intermediary (M&AMI) designation awarded by the M&A Source, for proficiency in larger middle-market transactions.
Chris has a Bachelor of Science degree from Colorado State University. He is an active member of the M&A Source and serves as Chair of the Membership Committee. He also sits on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Association of Business Intermediaries (CABI),is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors (AM&AA), and serves on the Editorial Review Board for the Merger & Acquisition Focus, a bi-monthly newsletter distributed nationwide.
Chris currently holds the Series 7, 79, and 66 licenses.
Contact Chris

Brad Hubbell, Managing Director

Brad comes to Citadel from one of the Rocky Mountain region’s most highly respected firms specializing in the energy service sector, Hubbell Exit Partners, which, under Brad’s direction, has completed 25 transactions, ranging from $5 million to $75 million in enterprise value, and has advised on numerous other transactions for both public and private companies. Mr. Hubbell also provides consulting services for Vantage Marketplace, LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.).
Brad began his career in energy services in an operational capacity with the Cooper Cameron Corporation. This opportunity allowed him to work in different basins from the Mexican border to Edmonton, Alberta. His duties encompassed facility management, field installations, servicing of drilling and production equipment, manufacturing, drilling and wellhead sales, project management, and OSHA and environmental compliance. Mr. Hubbell is a licensed member of the Denver and Colorado Bar Associations and is involved with the Association of Energy Service Companies (AESC) and the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States (IPAMS).
Mr. Hubbell’s educational background includes undergraduate studies at Texas A&M and the University of Houston where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in Management. He received an MBA in Finance and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Houston.

Susan Schell, President

Susan Schell is an experienced business executive and community leader. Her professional career began with work experiences in banking, financial planning and accounting. For three years, she owned her own management consulting firm while she also taught business management classes for the local community college. Among the services she provided to businesses were mediation, arbitration, business start up support, and human resources consulting.
Susan then spent 18 years as Vice President of Human Resources and Quality for Advanced Energy Industries, Inc.; a high technology company with offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia. After working with the company through its great expansion and a public offering, Susan retired to enjoy a four year career in retail. She opened her own store in Fort Collins in 1999. Her newly acquired retail background is instrumental in helping customer oriented businesses.
As an award winning Human Resources executive, Susan understands how a merger or acquisition can be facilitated by working closely with people. She has been a frequent public speaker. Over 100 of her management articles have been published in Fort Collins BusinessWorld Magazine. She has an MBA from Denver University and is currently on the adjunct faculty of the business college at Colorado State University.
In addition to her business focus, she has served on 20 advisory boards and is a member of the prestigious International Women’s Forum.
Susan currently holds the Series 7, 79, and 66.

Todd Kerr, Managing Director

Todd brings over 20 years of experience in the private sector and has founded several companies in the consulting, retail healthcare, and technology sectors. Todd joined Citadel Advisory Group after his most recent startup, Reflections Medspa in Fort Collins, CO. Previous to Reflections Medspa, Todd was the founder of a management consulting firm that assists growing businesses in building market leadership positions through strategic vision and business planning. Todd spent 5 years as the President and CEO of Managed Business Solutions Inc., a two-time Inc. 500 I.T. outsourcing company where he lead the company through 20 consecutive quarters of profitability.
Prior to leading MBS, Todd spent 13 years as a Marketing Manager, I.T. Manager and Internet Strategist with Hewlett Packard, Andersen Consulting, and others. While at HP, Todd developed and implemented one of HP’s first retail e-commerce sites. As an I.T. Manager, he was responsible for delivering development, support, and infrastructure services for businesses located in the United States, Europe, Mexico, and Singapore.
Todd is a graduate of Colorado State University with a B.S. in Computer Information Systems and holds an MBA in International Business from The University of Denver. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Northern Colorado Sports Commission.
Todd currently holds the Series 7, 79, and 66.

Michael Mazanec, Vice President

Mr. Mazanec brings 20 years of experience with a unique blend of skills in business, technology and new venture management. Prior to Investment Banking, he served in executive management, product development, and entrepreneurial roles across many diverse technologies and industries, including; Energy, Industrial Automation & Controls, Capital Equipment, Semiconductors and Electronics. In the mid-90’s he founded an industrial robotics corporation before setting off into the semiconductor and electronics fields.
Mr. Mazanec holds an MBA, with honors, from Keller Graduate School of Management where he received the Kagen-Rollhaus Award and holds a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Davis.
Mr. Mazanec currently holds the Series 7, 79 and 63 licenses.

David K. Smith, Financial and Accounting Relations Director

David joins Citadel as liaison with our client’s accounting and taxation advisors in the areas of valuation and transaction structure. Mr. Smith brings over 20 years of business experience crossing a wide range of accounting and financial activities. His career began as a Certified Public Accountant with the international accounting firm of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell and Co. (now KPMG) where he specialized in auditing various manufacturing concerns. In addition, Mr. Smith provided business consulting services and corporate income tax preparation. His most recent position was that of Vice President and Corporate Controller for Advanced Energy Industries, Inc., a high-technology manufacturer of instruments used in thin film plasma-based processes. Mr. Smith’s duties included responsibility for accounting systems, cash management, risk management, taxation and government compliance. Mr. Smith played a significant role in the formation of foreign subsidiaries in Japan, Germany, England, Korea, Taiwan, and China. He was also involved in the acquisition of domestic subsidiaries in Colorado, New Jersey, California, Minnesota and Washington. During his 13 year career at Advanced Energy, Mr. Smith was a key participant in the company’s initial public offering, two secondary offerings and three major business enterprise software implementations. Mr. Smith graduated with honors from Colorado State University with a BS degree in Business Administration.
Dave currently holds the Series 7 and 79 licenses.

Rick Snow, Legal Relations Director

Mr. Snow currently serves as Executive-in-Residence at Colorado State University’s School of Business. He brings to Citadel 33 years of experience as a corporate legal executive in the high technology industry.
For more than 14 years Rick served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of J.D. Edwards & Company. Mr. Snow joined J.D. Edwards in 1990 where he started and ultimately grew the legal department to a team of 45 associates, was responsible for the contract administration function, property, casualty and liability insurance acquisition, and served as Secretary to the Board of Directors. After negotiating the acquisition of J.D. Edwards with PeopleSoft and assisting with the merger of the two companies, Mr. Snow retired. Prior to joining J.D. Edwards, Mr. Snow served in various high ranking counsel positions with Hathaway Corporation, Global-Ultimaac Systems, Storage Technology Corporation, Tymshare and Memorex.
The Colorado Mountain College system awarded its first Colorado Circle of Excellence Award in 2002 to Mr. Snow as Colorado High Technology Executive of the Year. Since ‘retiring’, Rick has been a member of Colorado State University’s College of Business Global Leadership Council, Chairman of the Student Mentoring Committee, College of Business Executive-in-Residence and taught Corporate Law and Ethics in the MBA program. In spring 2006 he spoke in the Great Entrepreneur Speaker Series program sponsored by the CSU Center for Entrepreneurship.
Mr. Snow received a Juris Doctorate degree from California Western University in 1970 and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley in 1967.
Rick currently holds the Series 7 and 79 licenses.

Claudia Davis, Associate

Claudia brings a strong background in client relations and brand marketing to the team and applies this knowledge to the M&A world. Having experience as an Account Executive with a San Francisco advertising agency early in her career, she excels in handling client needs with extreme confidence, care, and attention to detail. In South Florida, Claudia spent over 10 years defining product for and marketing the Delta Air Lines leisure vacation brand while working with one of the nation’s largest travel wholesalers, Certified Vacations. Claudia’s most recent experience as Director of Marketing Communications for the Delta Air Lines brand utilized her expertise in brand marketing, contract negotiations, and product development.
Claudia holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Indiana University, Bloomington, with a major in Marketing and a Business Minor.
Claudia currently holds the Series 7 and 79 licenses.