John D. Laslavic joined ACT Capital Advisors as a managing director in the firm’s new Pittsburgh office. Laslavic will focus on helping business owners in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia achieve an optimal outcome when they decide to sell their company.

Laslavic is the president of ThistleSea Business Development, a coaching, strategy development, training and business services company. For the past 30 years, he has dedicated his professional career to mentoring business owners.

“I am excited to build ACT’s M&A practice in this area,” Laslavic said. “I often help my clients position themselves for an exit. Now, as part of ACT, I can guide them through the entire M&A process. ACT has an excellent team of financial professionals that will support me from the headquarters in Seattle. I can now offer full-service investment banking to my clients.”

Bob Hild, ACT Capital Advisors chairman and managing director, said, “We are delighted to have John Laslavic on our team. He’s already a trusted coach to thousands of business owners. Our plan is to have highly skilled M&A advisors in every major market of the U.S.”

ACT Capital Advisors is an M&A and corporate finance firm that represents lower-middle-market companies ($5 million to $50 million in annual revenues) across a variety of sectors and industries.