Joel Bersh

Joel L. Bersh has worked in the distressed-asset, machinery, and industrial-equipment industry since 1987. He built his early career with major Chicago-area machinery dealers and a national auction company before rising to senior leadership in private-equity-style asset management. He is a Certified Equipment/Machinery Appraiser (CEA), an AMEA-certified appraiser (member since 1991), and holds auctioneer licenses across multiple states including Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. He is an active member of the MDNA (Machinery Dealers National Association) and the IAA, and a former member of EAANA.

At PPL Group, LLC — a Northbrook, Illinois firm founded by David Muslin in 2007 that provides "creative and agile liquidity solutions" to companies in distress through financing, equity investments, and equipment auctions — Bersh served as Partner and Executive Vice President. In that capacity he was a frequent public voice for the firm's largest industrial transactions, quoted in press releases on auctions and asset dispositions for companies such as The Manitowoc Company, Peavey Electronics, an iron-ore processing mill, and surplus nuclear-grade equipment from Savannah River Nuclear Solutions' cancelled MOX project.

More recently, Bersh moved on to lead Aaron Industrial Solutions (affiliated with Aaron Equipment Company) as CEO / Managing Partner, where he continues to specialize in machinery and equipment appraisals and auctions. He is described within the industry as a recognized leader who has delivered keynote addresses at the ASA, MDNA, and AMEA national conferences. Outside of business, he has served as a charity auctioneer for the LUNGevity Foundation and the Deerfield High School Chest.

Note: Bersh's inclusion as an "Angel Investors / Seed Round" contact appears to derive from an investor-outreach database rather than a documented record of startup angel investing. His verifiable investment activity is tied to PPL Group's model of taking equity positions in — and liquidating assets of — distressed industrial and manufacturing companies, rather than venture-style seed rounds.

• Invests through PPL Group's playbook: taking equity positions in small and middle-market distressed manufacturing companies, often businesses "in transition."
• Focus is heavily industrial / manufacturing: metalworking, plastics, woodworking, construction, printing and bindery equipment — reflecting decades of machinery-appraisal expertise.
• Value creation centers on hard-asset knowledge: PPL provides financing, buys equipment and whole production lines, and offers "enhanced recovery" and asset-disposition solutions, meaning deals are underwritten on tangible collateral and equipment value.
• The publicly documented pattern favors special situations, distress, and asset-backed opportunities over conventional early-stage software/tech angel deals; there is no public record of a startup-focused seed portfolio.