The right outsiders for the inside room.

01 · Build

Board Formation

for your first board

For families and founders building their first advisory or fiduciary board. This is the highest-stakes governance moment a family company faces, and the decisions that come before any candidate conversation determine everything that follows.

We guide you through

• Advisory board vs. fiduciary board, and what your ownership structure actually calls for
• Board size, composition, and the skills matrix tied to your strategy
• Alignment among family shareholders on what the board is for (and is not for)
• Director compensation benchmarking for private and family companies
• A board prospectus that attracts the caliber of director you deserve

02 · Search

Director Search: three ways to engage

Where you start depends on how clear your board picture already is. Each path is designed to lead naturally into the next, and in every one, we run the search and stand behind the outcome.

1. Start here: Board Readiness & Design

   “Help us figure out what we actually need.”

   Before any search makes sense, the board itself has to be right. We assess where your governance stands, align your ownership group on what the board is for, and design the board your strategy calls for: composition, structure, the advisory-vs-fiduciary decision, and the director profile that follows. Many families begin here, and it flows directly into a search when you’re ready. (The full fee credits toward a search engagement within six months.)

2. Director Search

   “Find us the right director.”

   Our core engagement: a retained search for an independent director, led personally from brief to boardroom. We conduct the full market search, evaluate candidates for fit with both the business and the family, reference them deeply through people who’ve actually served alongside them, and manage the process through offer and appointment. You get a vetted slate and a director who belongs at your table.

3. Search & Steward

   “Find the director, and set them up to succeed.”

   Everything in a Director Search, plus the work that makes a placement last: shareholder alignment and facilitation before the search, structured onboarding of your new director through their first two board cycles, and a 12-month placement assurance. For families adding their first outside voice, or a chair to steady a transition. This is where getting it right matters most. (Board chair, committee chair, and family office mandates are scoped here.)

All engagements are fixed professional fees, quoted in writing before we begin. Never contingency percentages. Every engagement is led by a senior advisor, and when a family’s situation calls for deeper work, we bring in trusted specialists, experienced family business consultants and advisors, to work alongside you. Our methodology and network stay ours to deploy on your behalf.