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Our team is composed of leading experts in business strategy, organizational design, communication and negotiations, and development of the next generation.

Senior Partner

Henry Foley

Henry has worked with family business enterprises in North America, Latin America, the EU, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia for more than 30 years.

Henry has worked with family business enterprises in North America, Latin America, the EU, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia for more than 30 years. He has helped numerous client families to clarify their mission and vision statements and to more clearly define family, ownership, and business strategies. In addition, he has assisted client companies in designing and implementing highly effective leadership succession and transition processes.

He has extensive consulting experience with major family-owned and -controlled domestic and international service and industrial companies. He has assisted clients with corporate, shareholder, family governance, leadership, ownership, succession and transition issues, as well as business strategy development and implementation. He has deep expertise in conflict resolution and works closely with families to optimize their personal and work relationships.

Before Co-Founding Generation Transition Advisors, Henry was a founding partner of BanyanGlobal family business advisors. He currently serves as Partner Emeritus and special advisor to Banyan. Henry was President and CEO of Gray Judson Howard, a business strategy consulting firm, for 21 years. He has also taught at Harvard and at MIT. More recently, he has been the Lead Family Facilitator in Harvard Business School’s Families in Business: From Generation to Generation executive education program, which examines pivotal issues facing family businesses.

Henry’s first article, “Organizational Passages: The Seven Predictable Management Crises of Growing Companies—and How Successful Companies Solve Them,” was published in 1984. He also was a contributor to Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s book, The Change Masters. In 2012, Harvard Business Review published his article, “Avoid The Traps That Can Destroy Family Businesses,” co-authored with Generation Transition Advisors Senior Partner George Stalk.

Henry earned a BA cum laude and a Masters in Administration.

Partner

Samuel Bruehl

The focus of his work is on family, owner and corporate governance, development of family and owner policies, and next generation development.

Sam Bruehl counsels client families in North America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Sam has significant experience working in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. He has spent the past six years advising several large family businesses in the Philippines and Saudi Arabia. Over the course of his work with this family, Sam has developed and run these families next generation education programs. He has also supported these families in establishing family and shareholder governance structures and processes and in overseeing the implementation of the Family Council and Shareholder Council’s work.

The focus of his work is on family, owner and corporate governance, development of family and owner policies, and next generation development. Sam also has experience working with family businesses to create family entrepreneur programs and with coaching members of the next generation to support their career development inside and outside the family business.

Sam has been a facilitator for the Harvard Families in Business Program. Sam also teaches regularly on family business topics for the Harvard Family Business Club, MIT Sloan Family Business Club, and Babson College Family Business Club. This past year, Sam co-authored a chapter on Sustaining Entrepreneurship in Family Businesses, which will be included in a book published by Babson College Press in the Spring of 2021. He has also co-authored several articles in Harvard Business Review and Tharwat Magazine.

Sam’s first experience in family business came during high school when he worked in the U.S. office of his uncle’s German-based automotive parts manufacturing business in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The challenges and tensions between his cousin and uncle as they struggled to define their roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities as co-leaders in the family business generated Sam’s interest in organizational design and family businesses.

Prior to co-Founding Generation Transition Advisors, Sam was a Principal at BanyanGlobal family business advisors where he worked with family businesses around the world. Sam remains a Senior Expert Affiliate with BanyanGlobal. In this capacity, he currently works on several projects advising family business clients globally.

He holds a BA in Government International Relations from Clark University, graduating cum laude. He later earned an MBA with Honors from Clark University’s Graduate School of Management, where he concentrated in Organizational Behavior and Management.

Partner

Melinda Rogers-Hixon

Melinda Rogers-Hixon is a GTA Partner. Melinda understands the unique characteristics of family businesses inside-out, and outside-in. Over the years, she has advised other business families on succession and transition issues as well as on enterprise governance and family office design.

Melinda is a seasoned business entrepreneur who has stewarded emerging and early-stage enterprises through various touchpoints of the growth cycle. As a second-generation stakeholder in Rogers Communications Inc., the business co-founded by her father, Ted Rogers and his wife Loretta, Melinda also has invaluable and real-time insight into the complex nature of leading founder-led organizations through the transition to CEO led businesses.

Melinda joined Rogers in 2000 and is currently the Deputy Chair of the Board of the public company and Vice-Chair of the family’s private control trust. In 2011, she founded Rogers Venture Partners and went on to Chair the Board of Texture by Next Issue Media which was acquired by Apple in 2018.

As a partner of GTA, Melinda assists companies as they navigate innovation, inclusion, and culture in the transition of leadership from one generation to the next. She speaks to audiences regularly on developing pathways to intergenerational success while focusing on governance and oversight.

Melinda also serves as a Director of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Bombardier, Rogers Bank, Huron University College, and is Chair of The Jays Care Foundation. She holds a BA from The University of Western Ontario, and an MBA from The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and lives with her husband and four children in Toronto, Canada.

Partner

Andreas Schneider

Andreas is a Partner with Generation Transition Advisors. He has over ten years of experience advising client families.

Andreas is a Partner with Generation Transition Advisors. He has over ten years of experience advising client families. Andreas started his career as an advisor with Cambridge Advisors to Family Enterprise where he worked with client families in the Philippines, Brazil, the Middle East, Canada, and the United States, on issues related to generational transition, family and corporate governance, business strategy, and cultivating entrepreneurial talent in the next generation.

Andreas is also a successful entrepreneur. While completing his MBA at George Washington University, he and a classmate entered an entrepreneurship competition as part of their second-year capstone. They took second place in the competition and were awarded a grant to seed their start-up. Resulting from this competition, Andreas co-founded Buchi Kombucha. Over 10 years, he and his team grew the business to become the leading provider of private label functional and fermented beverages in North America.

Andreas is passionate about coaching and developing next generation in business owning families. His focus is on entrepreneurial training to provide the next generation with knowledge and tools to develop their own professional passions inside and outside the family enterprise.

Andreas holds a BA in Journalism from Ithaca College, graduating suma cum laude. He later earned an MBA with Honors from George Washington University.

Partner

Hilla Talati

Hilla Talati is a seasoned professional bringing 20+ years of experience in the family governance and talent arenas.

Hilla Talati is a seasoned professional bringing 20+ years of experience in the family governance and talent arenas.

Hilla started her career at McKinsey & Company, working across the US and Middle East Offices. As a member of McKinsey’s Family Business Practice, Hilla advised groups across the GCC on portfolio strategy as well as corporate and family governance matters.

Subsequently, Hilla worked in-house with a leading Middle Eastern family-owned group over a six-year period, working closely with 1st and 2nd generation family members to shape and drive execution of their agenda as owners. During this period she also did a stint leading the people function for the group as the CHRO, with a focus on talent and leadership.

Hilla continues to work with families in the Middle East on governance and talent-related matters as a Senior Advisor with GTA. In her work, Hilla is passionate about working with families: establishing structures and processes for effective debate and decision making, building alignment, and ensuring a strong focus on execution.

Hilla holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Mathematics from Dartmouth College and an MBA and an MPA from Harvard University. She lives in Dubai with her husband, two sons and dog.

Senior Advisor

Hanoof Abokhodair

Hanoof has been active in the field of family businesses since 2016. As one of very few Saudi specialists in this area, Hanoof has been engaging with some of Saudi’s most prominent families where she supports in navigating the challenges they face across the business and the family sides.

Hanoof has been active in the field of family businesses since 2016. As one of very few Saudi specialists in this area, Hanoof has been engaging with some of Saudi’s most prominent families where she supports in navigating the challenges they face across the business and the family sides. Hanoof’s work with business families focusses on co-creating their owners’ strategy and family protocols which help them build on their strengths and mitigate the risks they face to achieve their long-term objectives for the family and the business. Hanoof’s work also includes supporting the process of generational transition which involves tackling critical family, ownership and business decisions as well as developing strong teams of family owners for the future.

Hanoof is actively engaged in researching family businesses in Saudi. She has co-authored research on identifying the size of the family businesses field in the Kingdom and its contribution to the economy for the National Center for Family Businesses. She has also co-authored research studies in collaboration with KPMG and the National Center for Family Businesses on the important topics of succession planning and conflict management.

Hanoof’s interest in family businesses started during the training year in the PhD program at the University of Warwick, UK, where she wrote an assignment about family businesses. Reflecting on what she learned about family businesses from her readings, Hanoof, became fascinated with business families, their values, their humanistic approach to doing business, and the unique challenges they face as families-in-business. She found their values to be very close to her own convictions and she realized the great value they bring to the economies within which they operate. Thus, she found her career purpose in helping business families sustain for the greater good they bring to their economies and communities.

Hanoof earned her PhD in Management from King’s College London. Her PhD research focused on family businesses in Saudi. Her research engaged in conversations with owners of 15 well known Saudi family businesses across KSA’s 3 main regions which gave her an in depth understanding of Saudi’s family business realities. Hanoof also holds an MBA from Aston University, UK.

Senior Advisor

Matt R. Allen

Matt Allen is a Senior Advisor with Generation Transition Advisors and an Associate Professor in the Entrepreneurship Division and Faculty Director of the Family Entrepreneurship Amplifier Program at Babson College.

Matt Allen is a Senior Advisor with Generation Transition Advisors and an Associate Professor in the Entrepreneurship Division and Faculty Director of the Family Entrepreneurship Amplifier Program at Babson College. His expertise is in the area of family learning, family entrepreneurship and the development of the next generation. Professor Allen teaches entrepreneurship and family entrepreneurship courses at the undergraduate, graduate and executive levels. His teaching approach has earned him numerous awards and invitations including the Poets and Quants Best Undergraduate Business Professors for 2020. At the executive level, Professor Allen has worked with audiences across the globe with a special interest in Middle Eastern, Asian and Latin American markets. Fluent in Spanish, Professor Allen is comfortable teaching in both English and Spanish.

As a youth and young adult after college, Professor Allen worked for his own family's business so the issues family businesses face are personal and relevant to him. His research addresses how families learn, how to prepare the next generation for their individual roles in the family business, and how family members can be more entrepreneurial individually and as a family. This research is creating a fundamental shift in our understanding of how families learn and how business families are taught in university and executive programs. Professor Allen is a leader in the field of family entrepreneurship and his research has been published in top academic and practitioner outlets including the Harvard Business Review, Personnel Psychology and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice. In addition, he has played a significant role both at Babson and in the broader academic family business community. He was the founding Faculty Director of the Institute for Family Entrepreneurship at Babson College and the Academic Director of the Global STEP Project for four years.

Professor Allen is active as a consultant to family businesses around the world and in addition to his independent consulting work has done work in partnership with various global family business consultancies. In addition to the experience gained working for his family's business, he worked as a financial analyst at both IBM and Hewlett Packard before entering academia. Professor Allen earned his B.A. in accounting from the University of Utah, M.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and Ph.D. from Cornell University.

Senior Advisor

Dalal Alrubaishi

Dalal is an associate professor in the College of Business Administration in Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU).

Dalal is an associate professor in the College of Business Administration in Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University (PNU). She is teaching entrepreneurship and strategic management courses to undergraduate and postgraduate levels as well as co-supervising MSc students’ graduation project. Before joining PNU, Dalal worked in several universities in Saudi Arabia lecturing in courses at all undergraduate levels in diverse areas of business administration.

Coming from a family business herself, Dalal’s PhD research focuses on the entrepreneurial behavior and succession planning of Saudi family businesses. Her research interest includes; family business, entrepreneurship, succession, the noneconomic aspects of family businesses, and family businesse innovation.

Dalal published several research articles and book chapters in scientific outlets on the topic of family business. She is the STEP project representative in Saudi Arabia, STEP project is a global platform of researchers and institutions investigating enterprising families and family business around the world. Dalal participated in many regional and international conferences on the area of entrepreneurship and family business such as the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference and the International Family Enterprise Research Academy IFERA.

Director of Coaching and Development

Sharon Dorsett

Sharon Dorsett is a Senior Advisor with GTA. Sharon is an Organizational Psychologist with over 15 years of experience as a consultant and professor in the areas of leadership and organization development.

Sharon Dorsett is a Senior Advisor with GTA. Sharon is an Organizational Psychologist with over 15 years of experience as a consultant and professor in the areas of leadership and organization development. The focus of her work includes executive coaching, team and group development, and organization-wide assessment and problem solving with corporate, non-profit, and family-owned businesses.

Using a systems approach Sharon works within the organizational layers, challenging individuals to identify barriers and increase leadership capabilities. She facilitates group problem solving and commitment to higher performance, and applies research expertise to help leaders identify and evaluate systemic issues in order to implement change.

As an executive coach, Sharon’s goal is to collaborate as a trusted advisor with the key players in the family enterprise to advance learning and growth. She respects the intelligence of the employee and believes that if open to receiving feedback, an individual has the ability to find direction and answers. Sharon is skilled at helping clients depersonalize difficult feedback and process what they hear (and don’t hear) so they may find the most productive way to plan future development in alignment with company strategy.

Sharon’s client work spans a broad range of companies such as Habitat for Humanity, Legg Mason, Maine Women’s Fund, Comcast, Stored Values Solution, MetLife, BroadReach Healthcare, Highlights, Guideposts and in the UK: Brent Government, East Sussex Education Counsel, and St. Barnabas House.

Sharon earned her masters and doctorate in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University and her B.A. from Kenyon College. She is a certified Executive Coach through the Tavistock Consultancy at the renowned Tavistock Centre in London where she also trained in Process Consultation.

Sharon is a Board Certified Coach through the Center for Credentialing and Education. She is certified in the Myers-Briggs as well as in Retirement Coaching through Retirement Options. She is involved with the Institute for Family-Owned Business in Maine, and presented at their Family Business Exit Strategy Conference on the topic of “The Emotional Side of Letting Go of the Family Business.” Sharon was the recipient of the Business and Families Foundation scholarship in support of Women in Family Business and holds a certificate in Family Business Advising from the Family Firm Institute in Boston.

Senior Advisor

George Stalk, Jr.

George’s practice is focused on creating unassailable competitive advantage in family enterprises. For many years, Mr. Stalk was a Senior Partner at The Boston Consulting Group, where he advised family and non-family enterprises on developing business strategies.

George’s practice is focused on creating unassailable competitive advantage in family enterprises. For many years, Mr. Stalk was a Senior Partner at The Boston Consulting Group, where he advised family and non-family enterprises on developing business strategies. He has consulted to a variety of leading manufacturing, technology, and consumer products companies throughout North and South America, Europe, and throughout Asia. Mr. Stalk is considered one of the world’s top strategy consultants.

Several of Mr. Stalk’s books and articles are required reading in many business schools. Mr. Stalk co-authored the best-selling books on time-based competition Competing Against Time and Kaisha: The Japanese Corporation. Articles by Mr. Stalk have been published by several business publications, including Harvard Business Review, where one of his articles won the ‘McKinsey award’ for being the best of its year. Mr. Stalk also speaks regularly before business and industry associations on time-based competition and other strategy topics. Business Week identified George Stalk as one among a new generation of leading management gurus. He was also listed as one of the top 10 consultants by Consulting Magazine.

A somewhat controversial book, Hardball: Are You Playing to Play or Playing to Win? was published in October of 2004. Using extensive and deep examples, Mr. Stalk argues that companies are obligated to compete, to win, and to create losers. His recent Harvard Business Review article on this topic has been rated by readers as one of the magazine’s five best articles on strategy in the last ten years. Mr. Stalk’s latest book: Memos to the CEO: Strategies in Our Future was published in the first quarter of 2008 by Harvard Business School Publishing.

Mr. Stalk holds a BS in engineering mechanics from the University of Michigan, an MS in aeronautics and astronautics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School. In 2008, Mr. Stalk was inducted as a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society.

Advisor

Maunil Vora

Maunil Vora holds an MBA degree from Babson College, Boston with a concentration in Entrepreneurship. Maunil is passionate about family businesses and completed several courses on family business management during his graduate studies.

Maunil Vora holds an MBA degree from Babson College, Boston with a concentration in Entrepreneurship. Maunil is passionate about family businesses and completed several courses on family business management during his graduate studies. In addition, he was the President of the 180 members strong Family Business Club at Babson and led the initiatives to prepare the students to work with their families after graduation.

As President of the Babson Family Business Club, Maunil hosted "Secret Society Lunches" which were closed-door meetings with 6 members and 1 faculty to discuss 1 person's family business issue in detail.

Maunil is currently based in Mumbai where he is a part of his 3rd Generation family business. He was introduced to the business very early in his school days by his grandfather who took him to work and gave him small tasks. He is currently working in a partner company to his family business rotating in different departments to prepare for a leadership role in his family business.
He has represented India in Squash tournaments and won Gold medal at Inter University Tournament. He is a member of Squash committee at his club, helping young upcoming players. He strongly feels that given the right guidance and resources; a person can excel beyond expectation. He is currently helping 5 teams of college students to compete in an Entrepreneurship competition.

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