Bruce literally grew up in business and has been heavily involved with the health care industry for his whole career. Bruce started working in the family business at 9 years old and has been in and around health care since he was a child. For 25 years his mother was the Director of Nursing at a nursing home in Ludington, Michigan where he often accompanied her to work. When she moved into Home Health Care and Hospice, she and her business partner often consulted with him after he started practicing law, giving him a unique foundation and perspective.
That has continued since Bruce moved to Florida, where he works with a number of Home Care, Home Health, Hospice, and other health professionals, both as an attorney and as an M&A advisor. Bruce has also been an advisor to the FGCU Small Business Development Center, the Entrepreneurship Institute, and the Southwest Florida Health Management Association/MGMA chapter.
He began his legal career with Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett, which was then the premier and largest law firm in West Michigan and has represented, advised, and assisted businesses and health care practices since 1992. He has represented over 100 clients in negotiations and completed transactions or has functioned as the closing agent in closing the deal. Bruce has been integrally involved with businesses, agencies, and practices at every stage from formation, through operations and employment matters, to marketing and closing a sale, merger, or equity investment.
He understands transitions well, having exited his Michigan practice and started a new business in Florida in 2010. In 2018 he also joined Mertz Taggart, a premier investment bank-type health care mergers and acquisitions firm. In that role Bruce has successfully represented a number of agency owners navigate the marketplace at the highest value through a transaction, and even beyond.
Bruce holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and is an honors graduate of the University of Detroit School of Law. He lives in Fort Myers, FL with his wife and daughter, and has been part of a winning crew in the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, the Queen’s Cup, and completed the Boston Marathon, which may be the best training of all for helping agency owners prepare for and successfully maneuver through the M&A process.