CEO's Message: Giving a Voice to Our Boards—Second Quarter 2026

NACVA's Chief Executive Officer

Two years ago, NACVA established its first ‘commission’ to put a keen eye on the rapid expansion and encroachment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into our work and our daily lives. It is the AI and Machine Learning Commission (AIMLC). Soon into their mission to support the members of our Association and take a leading role in the profession, the AIMLC determined they needed to put out an advisory to the membership providing guidance on how they should approach and deal with AI in their practice and execution of business valuation services. The question was, what form does this communication take? Previously, and for 33-years running (we are now celebrating 35 years), all directives coming from the Association took the form of standards updates, standards FAQs, or articles published in the Association News, weekly QuickRead, or The Value Examiner. So, after much discussion and collaboration with all of our boards we decided to create a new platform for putting out advisories to members which is titled “Advisory Brief (AB)” and defined it accordingly, that can be found here. It is to be distinguished from being a practice aid (PA) as an ABs main goal is to help the member decide what to consider or how to think about an issue, whereas a PA is to help the member perform or document work.

Forthcoming, NACVA will publish another document defining and drawing a distinction between an AB and a PA. Though we have yet to publish a PA, it is contemplated that someday we will want to begin publishing PAs, in large part because there are many issues confronting the profession and being the industry’s thought leader, many feel this is our duty to the membership and the profession. Furthermore, it is envisioned that our ABs will ultimately warrant more elaboration and clearer guidance, thus becoming a PA. What we quickly realized after the release of our AI Advisory Brief: The Use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning was ABs are a great tool for all of our boards and commissions (and thereby our members), to have a voice within the Association and industry and put forth their thoughts and counsel to the membership. As such, this was communicated to all our boards and commissions encouraging them to view their role/mission a bit differently from the past and look for ways they can be more supportive to the membership.

I am pleased to say all have taken their new role to heart and most boards are currently working on ABs. The Leadership Initiative Board (LIB) is leading the way on this and have two new ABs that were just approved by NACVA’s Executive Advisory Board. Note, the inspiration to establish the AIMLC was the LIB’s, which put NACVA at the head of the table in our profession with everything AI (check it out here). The two newly published ABs can be found on our website under https://www.nacva.com/advisorybrief, and are also linked below:

• NACVA Advisory Brief: Retainer Agreements
• NACVA Advisory Brief: Cryptocurrency

I have never been prouder of the entire team we have assembled at NACVA and our member-run board and commission leadership teams who take their responsibilities to heart and work so hard for the betterment of NACVA, our membership, and the profession at large. With deep gratitude, I thank everyone for your support.