Ownership and Generational Transitions
Transitions in leadership, ownership, and wealth change how family members relate to the enterprise and to one another. Jennifer Strom helps families prepare for these changes, clarify expectations, and coordinate the conversations that support continuity.
Her work addresses the family and governance dimensions of transition alongside the technical work of the family’s legal, financial, and business advisors.
Define the direction of shared ownership
Family members may have different hopes for the enterprise, different financial needs, or different levels of involvement. Jennifer helps owners explore their goals and consider what continued shared ownership asks of them. These discussions can inform the options developed with the family’s advisors.
Prepare for changes in leadership and authority
As responsibilities move between generations, families need clarity about who will decide what, how readiness will be assessed, and how the current generation’s role will evolve. Jennifer facilitates conversations about these expectations and the governance needed to support them.
Navigate a liquidity event or a change in shared assets
A sale or other major change can reshape a family’s shared purpose as well as its financial position. Jennifer helps families consider how they want to participate together afterward, what structures they need, and how decisions about wealth and philanthropy should be made.
Address the meaning of wealth transfer
Questions about inheritance, distributions, and participation can carry different meanings for parents, adult children, siblings, and spouses. Jennifer helps families discuss the values and expectations behind these decisions so that advisors can work from a clearer understanding of family intent.
Questions the work can address
- What do we want to own together, and why?
- How should ownership responsibilities differ from employment or leadership roles?
- What does each generation need to understand before authority changes?
- How can we discuss fairness when interests and contributions differ?
- Is our intention for our enterprise to remain multi-generational?
- What will connect us if we continue to own together or after a major transition or sale?
What an engagement may produce
Deliverables may include shared owner goals, a summary of family priorities for transition, role and responsibility expectations, a communication plan, and a roadmap coordinating family decisions with advisor-led work.
Prepare before decisions become urgent
Early conversations give families time to consider options, build understanding, and prepare for new responsibilities. Jennifer helps sequence this work around the family’s readiness and the practical timing of the transition.