Education

University of Pennsylvania, B.A., cum laude, 1990

Villanova University School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 1993

• Managing Editor, Symposium, Villanova Law Review
• The Order of the Coif

NYU School of Law, LLM Candidate (Taxation), 2010

Government Service

After graduating from law school, I had the privilege to serve as a judicial law clerk to The Honorable Herbert J. Hutton at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Large Law Firm Experience

I have worked as an Associate at two of the largest law firms in Philadelphia, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP and Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP.  While I was in private practice, I worked for clients on a wide array of business issues including mergers and acquisitions, tax, labor and employment law, environmental law and commercial litigation.

Entrepreneurial Experience

U.S. Fleet Services, Inc.

In 1996, I completed a leveraged buyout of two home heating oil distribution companies, ABCO Oil and K.E. David, Ltd., and I immediately diversified the company's operations into mobile on-site refueling.  Nine months later, we acquired Integrity Fuel Co.  All the while, we were growing our core heating oil business, and explosively growing the mobile refueling business.  Increasingly, our customers sought regional or national service, and there were no national mobile refuelers.  Coupled with the lack of a national competitor was the fact that increasingly stringent environmental regulations caused leading transportation, distribution and logistics companies to re-evaluate their fueling alternatives.  

I did a web search for mobile refueling.  Actually, the query that I used was "wet hosing," another term to describe mobile refueling.  The internet was young and not nearly as well indexed as it is today; you can only imagine some of the results to the search query...... Eventually, I was able to locate and contact the owners of Garron Fleet Fuel Service in Orlando, FL and Fleet Fueling, Inc. in Atlanta, GA, companies devoted exclusively to mobile refueling.  Within several weeks, I had both of those companies under letter of intent.  The only question was how to pay for the acquisitions.  We retained Legg Mason as our financial advisors and set out to raise debt sufficient to enable me to complete the acquisitions.  I didn't want to relinquish any equity for what I saw as the greatest idea since bread; not sliced bread, but even farther back in time than that.  

For months, we met with prospective lenders and underwent due diligence.  Cash was extremely tight as we were growing rapidly and financing corporate overhead needed to support future growth. Eventually, I reluctantly (at first) agreed to meet with private equity sponsors as a debt raise would have enabled us to complete the acquisitions, but we soon would have been out seeking capital again, a highly distracting task, instead of focusing on growing the business.

From the day I met with GTCR to the day we closed on a $30 million equity commitment was approximately three weeks.  I served as President & CEO of U.S. Fleet Services for another five years as we completed five more acquisitions, drafted legislation to amend Virginia's tax laws to legalize mobile refueling, successfully challenged a Ft. Worth ordinance that improperly regulated mobile refueling, and grew the business into a $200 million, approximately 400 employee company with branches in more than 30 states.  In 2002, I sold my remaining interest in the business to GTCR and founded Direct Propane, Inc.

Direct Propane, Inc.

In 2002, I acquired out of bankruptcy the assets of small propane distribution company located in Delaware.  By negotiating a unique management agreement with the seller-debtor under which my company, Direct Propane, operated the business for the seller-debtor while the bankruptcy court considered our proposal to acquire the assets, I was able to position my company, Direct Propane, to acquire the assets at a very favorable price.  Specifically, Direct Propane was able to acquire the assets, including valuable fixed assets, on an entirely "retained gallons", that is, an earn out basis.

I recruited and hired a management time from a large, regional, publicly traded competitor.  We immediately changed the business model, which had been focused on small residential consumers, and instead focused on high volume commercial contractors who used propane as a fuel source to provide heat at large construction projects.  Among other notable projects, Direct Propane, provided propane for temporary heat during the construction of Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.  In addition, I persuaded leading area developers to permit us to install community wide, propane pipeline distribution systems in residential communities, which provided our company with annuity-like, contractually protected recurring revenue. 

In 2004, I sold the assets of Direct Propane to Inergy, LP (NASDAQ:  "NRGY"), one of the largest propane MLPs in the United States.  Inergy bought the business as a platform for their Philadelphia operations, and they continue to lease from me the propane terminal and office building that housed Direct Propane's operations.

Direct Security

After extensive research, I identified the electronic security industry as ideally suited for investment.  I identified and completed a platform acquisition, upgraded job costing and financial accounting software systems and processes, rebranded the company, invented Zarvision (a leased digital video surveillance solution for small businesses) and doubled the recurring revenue, before selling the company to ASG Security, Inc., one of the largest electronic security companies in the United States.

Monsterfuel

I re-entered the petroleum distribution business in 2006 by acquiring through Monsterfuel, LLC the assets of two businesses:  Trevose Oil Company and Keystone Fuel Oil, Inc.  We also serviced many accounts formerly serviced by Excel Fuel Service, a mobile refueling business.  In September 2007, after growing the business substantially I sold Monsterfuel to Griffith Energy Services, Inc., a division of publicly traded Central Hudson Gas & Electric, and I moved on.

AmeriGrease

I saw the used cooking oil collection and recycling industry as an industry in need of radical change.  After speaking with operators of restaurants and other commercial establishments, we learned that they were profoundly dissatisfied with existing solutions.  Our response was to form AmeriGrease and to develop new and innovative ways to store, collect and recycle used cooking oil, also known as “yellow grease” in an environmentally responsible way.   It was not uncommon for us to pick up 30 or 40 new accounts per week.   After several months in operation, we were able to acquire substantially all of the assets of one of our large competitors on favorable terms.  We sold the business to Valley Proteins, Inc., one of the largest grease collection companies in the United States in a transaction that closed within 30 days following the execution of a letter of intent, a testament to our systems and processes, our responsiveness to due diligence requests and our positioning of the company, from inception, for eventual sale.

Counseling Other Entrepreneurs - Gosin Law, LLC

After more than a decade founding, operating, building, evaluating and selling large and small businesses, I want to help other entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams.  I think that unlike many attorneys, who have never run businesses, I am well positioned to assist entrepreneurs as I have been in your shoes.  I have felt the same emotions, and I have experienced the same joys and disappointments that you face.  I believe that it is important for entrepreneurs to structure their businesses properly from inception and to operate using best practices.  You never know when you will need to prove regulatory compliance or you will seek to raise capital or sell your company, or you want to avail yourself of favorable tax treatment.  Gosin Law, with its innovative, affordable, flat rate fee structure, puts small and mid-sized entrepreneur backed companies on the same legal playing field as much larger companies.