Transition Consulting Group

Specialties

With decades of hands-​on experience in our own family businesses, we’ve personally lived the breadth and depth of issues family businesses face every day. We focus on helping clients address challenges ranging from communication and conflict resolution to strategic planning & positioning and governance. In traveling the globe, presenting to family business audiences and engaging with clients, we’ve heard stories from hundreds of family and closely-​held businesses. The range of concerns is vast — from entry to exit, through leadership development and strategies for leadership succession as well as acquisitions & divestitures and estate planning. There’s very little we haven’t seen in terms of challenging business and family situations.

Drawing on our life experiences and professional training, TCG brings a unique dual-​generational perspective to the business-​owning families we serve.

History

Established in 1990.

The success of Transition Consulting Group, like any enduring family business, is a result of a commitment to the highest standards and the talents of its people. Led by the father-​son team of and Paul and David Karofsky, TCG is especially prepared to deal with the challenges unique to family and closely held businesses. Paul’s lifelong experience in his own family enterprise led him to help launch Northeastern University’s Center for Family Business and for twenty years he has been consulting to business families. For the past 15 years, David has worked in companies ranging from start-​ups to a Fortune 500s, focused on helping executives develop superior management and communication skills to become more effective leaders. Our personal business experience, combined with a focus on teaching and counseling, enables TCG to assist family businesses to be proactive while also addressing difficult transitions.

Meet the Business Owner

Paul K.

Business Owner

Paul Karofsky is a graduate of Bowdoin College and Harvard Business School’s OPM Program. After 22 years, mostly as third generation CEO in his family’s distribution business, he sold the company and earned his Ed.M. from Harvard University focused on the psychosocial lives of families and intergenerational relationships. He is Executive Director Emeritus of Northeastern University’s Center for Family Business where he facilitates the Center’s Leadership Development Forum. Paul is a member of the Board of Directors of the Family Firm Institute and holds a Certificate in Family Business Advising with Fellow Status. He is a recipient of the Institute’s Hollander Award and a member of the faculty of FFI’s Certificate Program. Also trained as a mediator, Paul was a peer reviewer for Harvard University Press, a monthly columnist for BusinessWeek Online and Case Study Editor of Nation’s Business and Families in Business.