About Luis V. Gato, CVA | MBA
Luis V. Gato is a valuations-focused executive and management consultant who helps owners, investors, and boards make better decisions by combining rigorous financial analysis with pragmatic operating experience. As founder of Gato Consulting, he advises closely held and middle-market businesses on valuation, strategy, M&A, and financial management.
Professional focus - Business Valuations
Luis leads complex business valuation engagements for estate and gift tax, ESOP and 409A, M&A, marital dissolution, and charitable contributions. He also serves as an affiliated consultant to Towne Advisory Services Corporation since 2024 for Business Valuations.
He combines formal valuation training and professional standards with hands-on operating experience. This dual perspective allows him to approach valuations not only from a technical standpoint, but also with a practical understanding of how businesses actually perform, compete, and create value over time.
See Business Valuation Experience – a list and details of dozens of valuations done recently.
Executive and Operating Experience
Prior to his consulting work, Luis held senior finance and executive roles across multiple industries, from early career experience at L’Oréal to leadership positions at Sovena USA and later roles including Director of FP&A and Chief Executive Officer. In these capacities, he led financial planning, operational improvements, strategic initiatives, and M&A-related activities. This background informs both his valuation work and advisory engagements, particularly in situations requiring practical judgment in addition to analytical rigor.
Advisory Work and Strategy4Action
Through Gato Consulting, Luis supports small and mid-sized companies with strategic planning, market analysis, and execution, drawing on more than two decades of cross-functional leadership in finance, operations, sales, and marketing. He created the Strategy4Action trilogy of proprietary strategic frameworks, which use more than twenty tools to scan markets, structure choices, and translate strategy into detailed action plans that engage the client’s best internal talent.
His M&A experience began in the 1990s and continues to this day; it spans several industries (manufacturing, technology, and services) and transactions ranging from a few million dollars to nearly $1 billion.
He also acts as a fractional CFO and FP&A partner to CPG, technology, and non-profit organizations, building investor presentations, three-statement models, and reporting frameworks that clarify financial outcomes and support funding and strategic decisions.
Corporate and M&A background
Before focusing on consulting and valuation, Luis held executive roles including Director of Financial Planning & Analysis at PAR Technology, where he built the global FP&A function, supported a spin-off and multiple acquisitions up to approximately 500 million dollars, and contributed to capital raises to fund SaaS and technology growth. Earlier, he served as CEO and Vice President of Sovena USA, helping transform a 100-million-dollar family-owned business into a professionally managed 200-million-dollar operation, leading major capex projects, brand launches into national retailers, and numerous M&A and integration initiatives.
See Advisory Experience – in Strategy, M&A, and Finance.
Education and credentials
Luis holds an MBA from the Catholic University of Portugal, recognized in the Financial Times European rankings, as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Business Administration and Management from ISCTE – IUL. He is a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) and has completed executive programs at institutions including Wharton, Harvard Business School, and Kellogg, with additional training in private equity, company valuation, project management, and performance measurement. Specific to Business Valuations, Luis V. Gato completed NACVA’s Business Valuation Certification and Training Center Course and maintains an active credential by completing regular Continuing Professional Education (CPE).