Christos Efstathiou's professional experience in the restaurant industry spans over more than 25 years. His passion for this business started right from childhood as he grew up in a family restaurant environment. Christos has owned, operated, managed and sold restaurants and commercial properties in Massachusetts from mom and pop to full service restaurants.

As a recurrent business buyer and seller himself, Christos has a deep understanding of the restaurant brokerage business. Christos has an extensive network of professional contacts which he developed while working as a marketing consultant for one of the largest American food service companies.

Carol has more than 30 years’ experience in the field of business. She has worked on both sides of the negotiating table, sales development, project coordination, management, inventory reconciliation and also as an account executive. In her career as a buyer for the third largest catalog group in the country she negotiated deals with major camera and electronic companies such as Olympus, Canon, Polaroid and others. Carol also has extensive experience in the publishing arena, having worked as an outside advertising executive, classified manager and joint-owner of a weekly newspaper in Massachusetts. At the newspaper, Carol was instrumental in increasing sales some 300% in 18-months, which culminated in Media News Group, the 7th largest newspaper chain in the world, acquiring it in September 2004.

Business Intermediary and Managing Partner of Sunbelt Business Brokers of Boston/Southeastern Massachusetts, John is a former business owner and has many years of experience working with business owners in multiple capacities like investment, planning and sales and acquisition strategy. A graduate of Northeastern University with a degree in Medical Technology as well as advanced studies in Business Administration, he has worked for many years in the biomedical industry and has extensive experience in quality assurance, control and protocols. He has been Series 7, 63 and 65 licensed and brings the requisite analytical and discipline skills necessary to direct and co-ordinate the business transfer process in a confidential, value added and user friendly fashion. He also specializes in business valuation and looks forward to the opportunity of assisting with the direction of the sale and transfer of your business.

Prior to joining SunbeltNE, Melahat was a Medical Research Coordinator at Massachusetts General Hospital. Melahat has worked with many pharmaceutical companies, overseeing a variety of scientific research studies in the area of Pulmonary Diseases. In addition to her significant medical research background, Melahat has also founded and operated several successful retail operations. Melahat has a keen sense of business and a tenacious work ethic. She was the youngest freshman to attend Springfield Community College at the age of sixteen. Melahat holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from New Hampshire College and a Bachelor of Science degree in biomedical studies.

Ron Ekstrom has more than 25 years of business experience working within large corporations in management, financing and M&A at executive level positions and has also acted as an independent consultant to a wide range of businesses. He has started, acquired and sold a range of his own businesses in sectors that include retail, marketing and media. Ron’s skills were sharpened through select corporate training programs within such media giants as the Tribune Co., Gannett and News Media Group and through direct involvement in their acquisitions and divestitures activity.

Satish is the Founder, CEO and President of Sunbelt Business Sales and Acquisitions, New England (www.sunbeltne.com). SunbeltNE is a franchise of Sunbelt Network, the world’s largest business brokerage network with over 300 offices throughout the world. Satish owns the franchise rights for the states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and Maine.

Satish’s career spans over two decades, during which he built, acquired and sold several successful businesses in the high technology and retail sectors. He started as a CPA, conducting audits for small and mid-sized firms, advising business owners on financial and accounting issues, buying and selling decisions as well as business valuations. He was later certified as a Financial Planner and joined a software start-up as its Chief Financial Officer. The company soon expanded its operations to 4 other countries and grew to $10 million in sales, prior to being acquired by a publicly traded company.

Satish setup SunbeltNE in 2003; the company has brokered over 400 business transactions till date. SunbeltNE also holds the credit of closing an over $50 million deal, the largest ever by any Sunbelt franchise worldwide till date.

Satish owns and co-owns several other businesses in the New England area, including Blackbridge Partners LLC (www.blackbridgepartners.com), an investment banking boutique.

He has a degree in International Management from M.S. University, at Baroda, India and a degree in Accounting from California State University at Fullerton, USA. He is a member of International Business Brokerage Association (www.ibba.org) and a charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs Boston chapter (www.tie-boston.org). He actively contributes to community development through his participation in non-profit organizations like for Gurjar (www.gurjar.org) and Fogana (www.fogana.org).