Our Team
A small, credentialed team built around one rule: the advisor on your first call is the advisor at your closing.
Most M&A firms grow by adding bodies and handing clients off to junior associates after the engagement letter is signed. We are built the other way around. One credentialed lead advisor on every engagement, supported by a small in-house team, with outside specialists brought in only when a specific deal calls for it. This page is who you will actually be working with.
Meet the team
Joel F. Duran
Founder · M&A Advisor
M&AMI · CM&AA · CM&AP · CEPA · CVGA · CVB™ · CAIM · CMSBB
Lead advisor on every engagement, first call to closing. 15+ years of deal-making across our region. IBBA Past Educator. IEPA Board (Membership and Education Committees).
Tamra Roney
Senior Analyst
Financial Recasting · Valuation Modeling · CIM Build
Owns the financial workstream on every engagement. Recasts, valuation models, Confidential Information Memoranda, and the data room. The detail behind every number we put in front of a buyer.
John Sanderford
Real Estate Broker
CM&AA · Louisiana Real Estate Broker
Licensed Louisiana real estate broker for 50+ years. Handles the commercial real estate side of a transaction when real estate is part of the deal. CM&AA-credentialed.
Jeff Traynham
In-House Counsel
JD · LLM (Tax) · Licensed in LA, TX, FL, GA, CA
Tax-efficient deal structure, definitive agreement review, transaction risk. Practicing attorney with an LLM in Taxation. Licensed across five states.
How we work alongside your existing advisors
Your CPA, your attorney, your financial advisor, they stay.
Most professional service advisors create strife with other advisors for fear of losing the client. That is not what we do. The professionals who have served you for years stay in their roles. We work with them, brief them on what we are doing, and coordinate the technical handoffs that a transaction requires.
Where your existing team has gaps, a tax attorney with M&A experience, a deal-side CPA for the quality of earnings review, a financial planner who understands a post-closing portfolio, we fill them. Either with our in-house bench or with vetted outside specialists we know well.
- Your CPA stays your CPA. We coordinate on the recast and the quality of earnings work.
- Your attorney stays your attorney. Jeff coordinates the M&A-specific structuring, your counsel reviews and signs.
- Your financial advisor stays your financial advisor. We brief them on the likely net so they can structure your post-closing plan.
- If a piece is missing, we fill it. No turf wars, no quiet displacement, just the team your transaction actually needs.
The extended network, when a deal needs it
Some engagements need expertise the in-house team does not cover. We bring in vetted partners, long-standing relationships or industry-matched introductions, rather than pretending we do everything ourselves.
M&A counsel (outside the firm)
When a deal needs counsel beyond Jeff's in-house scope, specialized industry regulation or complex multi-jurisdiction work, your attorney or one we introduce.
Quality of earnings CPAs
Deal-side CPA work for QofE reviews and recast verification. Coordinated with your existing CPA, not in place of them.
Personal financial planners
Vetted planner partners for owners who need a planner before the sale, or whose existing planner is outside their depth on a transaction event. Hand-off, not in-house.
Lenders & capital sources
SBA-preferred lenders, conventional commercial banks, mezzanine funds, financial sponsors. For buyer-financing introductions when a transaction calls for it.
Where we are
3900 N. Causeway Blvd, Suite 1200
Metairie, Louisiana 70002
Phone: (504) 321-0196
Email: info@duranadvisors.com
Talk to Joel
The person who answers your first call is the person who will be at your closing. A 30-minute confidential conversation. No obligation.
Start the conversation