Meet the Team
Our Team
Ron D. Gardner MBA | BSB | MRT | CPhT | RPhT
Ron Gardner founded Gardner Acquisitions & Closings to acquire and build exceptional lower middle market businesses across essential industries. As an entrepreneur and acquisition executive, he leads the firm's investment strategy, transaction execution, capital relationships, and long-term growth initiatives. Drawing on experience across healthcare, business operations, SaaS, consumer brands, and mergers & acquisitions, Ron combines an operator's mindset with a disciplined investment approach to identify high-quality businesses with durable cash flow and long-term value creation potential. Under his leadership, the firm focuses on partnering with business owners, executing thoughtful acquisitions, and building enduring companies that create lasting value for investors, employees, customers, and the communities they serve.
Chief Executive Officer
Bruce Mcdonald CPA | CMA | BSB
Bruce brings over eight years of progressive financial leadership across multi-state legal operations, defense technology, and building materials distribution. As a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Management Accountant, Bruce has held controller and accounting leadership roles at growth-stage companies, with experience in GAAP compliance, financial reporting, general ledger operations, budgeting, and cross-functional accounting processes. Bruce and Ron, have known each other since their freshman year of college, giving the firm a long-standing foundation of trust, alignment, and shared business vision.
Chief Financial Officer
Jhacie serves as Executive Administrator at Gardner Acquisitions & Closings, providing comprehensive executive support and helping oversee the day-to-day operations of the firm. Working directly with the CEO, she manages executive scheduling, administrative operations, internal communications, and organizational coordination to ensure the company operates efficiently. She plays a key role in supporting acquisition activities, coordinating with internal teams, and keeping priorities on track across multiple active transactions. Her organization, adaptability, and attention to detail make her an integral part of the firm's continued growth and execution.
Executive Administrator Jhacie Divina
Reet Sapra
Reet Sapra serves as the Head of Financial & Deal Analysis at Gardner Acquisitions & Closings, where she leads the firm's financial underwriting team across active acquisition opportunities. She oversees financial due diligence, valuation analysis, and transaction modeling, ensuring each opportunity is thoroughly evaluated before advancing through the acquisition process. Working closely with leadership, Reet coordinates the firm's financial analysts, helping transform complex financial data into clear, actionable investment decisions. Her analytical approach and commitment to understanding the underlying drivers of business performance play a key role in identifying strong acquisition opportunities and supporting successful transactions.
Head of Financial & Deal Analysis 
Harper Holden
Harper Holden serves as Chief of Staff at Gardner Acquisitions & Closings, overseeing the firm's day-to-day operations and ensuring seamless coordination across every department. He works directly with the executive team to align priorities, manage strategic initiatives, and keep acquisition processes moving efficiently from sourcing through closing. Harper also oversees team operations, supports cross-functional communication, and helps maintain the systems and accountability that allow the firm to execute multiple transactions simultaneously. His leadership ensures that both internal teams and external stakeholders remain aligned as the firm continues to grow and scale.
Chief of Staff
Director of OperationsRuiqi Zheng
Ruiqi serves as Director of Executive Operations at Gardner Acquisitions & Closings, where she helps oversee the firm's internal operations and ensures strategic initiatives are executed efficiently across the organization. Working closely with executive leadership, she coordinates cross-functional projects, streamlines operational processes, and supports communication between departments to keep acquisition activities moving forward. Her role focuses on translating strategy into execution, maintaining organizational efficiency, and ensuring teams remain aligned as the firm continues to expand. Through her attention to detail and strong organizational leadership, Ruiqi plays a key role in supporting the successful execution of the firm's acquisition pipeline.
Principles
Vaibhavi Panchal
Vaibhavi Panchal is an Acquisition Analyst at Gardner Acquisitions & Closings and a Master's in Finance candidate at the Carlson School of Management. She brings a strong foundation in financial analysis, valuation, and financial modeling, with experience supporting financial reporting, account reconciliations, and data-driven decision-making across hundreds of client accounts.
Her expertise includes discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation, comparable company analysis, budgeting, forecasting, and financial statement analysis. With a detail-oriented approach and strong analytical skills, Vaibhavi supports the firm's acquisition process by evaluating investment opportunities, analyzing financial performance, and assisting with due diligence to help identify attractive businesses for acquisition.
Natalie Chieng
Natalie Chieng is an Acquisition Analyst at Gardner Acquisitions & Closings, where she supports the firm's investment sourcing, financial analysis, and due diligence efforts. She specializes in evaluating acquisition opportunities through financial modeling, market research, and business analysis, helping identify companies that align with the firm's investment criteria.
With a strong foundation in private equity acquisitions and corporate finance, Natalie contributes to the firm's disciplined investment process by assessing business performance, identifying value creation opportunities, and supporting transactions from initial review through evaluation.
Tina Zhang
Tina Zhang is an Acquisition Analyst at Gardner Acquisitions & Closings, where she supports the evaluation of acquisition opportunities through financial analysis, investment research, and business valuation. She specializes in analyzing financial statements, interpreting company performance, and developing financial projections to assess the long-term potential of prospective investments.
With a strong analytical approach and a passion for financial markets, Tina contributes to the firm's due diligence process by identifying key value drivers, evaluating market trends, and helping ensure investment decisions are supported by thorough financial and strategic analysis
Acquisition Analysts
Joseph Ha
Joseph works directly with business owners and intermediaries to evaluate acquisition opportunities. He supports the firm's investment process by leading broker meetings, reviewing financial information, conducting due diligence, and assessing businesses for strategic fit and long-term value creation.
With a strong foundation in finance and business analytics, Joseph brings a disciplined, data-driven approach to evaluating businesses across a variety of industries. His analytical mindset and attention to detail help the firm identify high-quality acquisition opportunities while supporting informed investment decisions throughout the transaction process.
Saanvii Dak
Saanvii works directly with business owners and intermediaries to evaluate acquisition opportunities, supporting the firm's investment process from initial broker meetings through financial review and due diligence. She helps assess businesses for strategic fit, operational quality, and long-term value creation across a diverse range of industries.
With a strong foundation in finance, business strategy, and emerging technologies, Saanvii brings a thoughtful and analytical perspective to every transaction. Her attention to detail and ability to evaluate both financial and operational factors help support disciplined investment decisions and successful acquisitions.
Joseph Kalata
Joseph works directly with business owners and intermediaries to evaluate acquisition opportunities, supporting the firm's investment process through broker meetings, financial analysis, and due diligence. He helps assess businesses for strategic fit, operational performance, and long-term value creation across a wide range of industries.
With a strong foundation in finance and a commitment to rigorous investment analysis as a CFA Level I candidate, Joseph brings a disciplined and detail-oriented approach to evaluating businesses. His analytical mindset and focus on financial fundamentals support informed investment decisions throughout every stage of the acquisition process.
Bharat Sai
Bharat works directly with business owners and intermediaries to evaluate acquisition opportunities, supporting the firm's investment process through broker meetings, financial analysis, and due diligence. He helps assess businesses for strategic fit, financial performance, and long-term value creation across a broad range of industries.
With a strong background in finance and business analytics, Bharat brings a data-driven approach to evaluating investment opportunities and identifying key business drivers. His analytical mindset and attention to detail support disciplined investment decisions while helping the firm identify businesses with durable cash flow and long-term growth potential.
Mia Wang
Mia works directly with business owners and intermediaries to evaluate acquisition opportunities, supporting the firm's investment process through broker meetings, financial analysis, and due diligence. She helps assess businesses for strategic fit, financial performance, and long-term value creation across a broad range of industries.
With a strong background in finance and accounting, Mia brings a disciplined approach to evaluating business performance and financial fundamentals. Her expertise in financial analysis and attention to detail help support comprehensive due diligence and informed investment decisions throughout the acquisition process.
Advait Kulkarni
Advait works directly with business owners and intermediaries to evaluate acquisition opportunities, supporting the firm's investment process through broker meetings, financial analysis, and due diligence. He helps assess businesses for strategic fit, operational performance, and long-term value creation across a diverse range of industries.
With a strong background in economics and data science, Advait brings an analytical approach to financial modeling, business valuation, and investment analysis. His ability to translate complex financial and operational data into actionable insights supports disciplined investment decisions and helps identify businesses with strong long-term growth potential.
Varsha Garibella
Varsha is a member of the Financial & Deal Analysis team at Gardner Acquisitions & Closings. She assists with evaluating acquisition opportunities through financial statement analysis, CIM review, valuation support, and due diligence. Working closely with the firm's leadership and analyst team, she helps ensure each transaction is thoroughly analyzed before moving forward.
Financial & Deal Analysis
Sawyer King
Sawyer is a member of the Financial & Deal Analysis team at Gardner Acquisitions & Closings. He supports the firm's underwriting and due diligence efforts by analyzing financial statements, reviewing acquisition materials, and assessing the overall financial strength of prospective investments. He works alongside the analyst team to help ensure every acquisition is supported by sound financial analysis.
Financial & Deal Analysis
Financial & Deal AnalysisSelina Yang
Selina supports Gardner Acquisitions & Closings' deal sourcing efforts by researching industries, identifying acquisition opportunities, and helping build the firm's proprietary pipeline. She works closely with the acquisitions team to evaluate markets, prioritize opportunities, and ensure the firm is consistently reviewing businesses that align with its investment criteria.