Grant Walsh
Director, KPMG Enterprise: Centre for Family Business | KPMG
ottawa, ON, CANADA
An international expert on family business succession planning. A pioneer in this field, Grant never fails to captivate his audience.
Biography
Grant Walsh is the founder and Director of the KPMG Enterprise: Centre for Family Business. For the past 15 years he has dedicated his professional services solely to assisting family businesses. Grant has given presentations on various topics related to Family Business across Canada, New Zealand, South America and throughout the Caribbean and West Indies.
Grant’s unique approache to managing the all important family component has resulted in numerous family businesses taking concrete actions to deal with their succession challenges. Grant has also facilitated the establishment of family business academic programs within a number of Universities.
A selection of specific areas of experience includes: assessing the “readiness” of family businesses for the transition/succession process; helping families prepare for and navigate through the transition/succession process; providing options for both management and ownership succession within family businesses; facilitating family meetings (active family members) and Family Councils (broader family); developing family business “Codes of Conduct” or “Family Rules” to help prevent potential conflict among family members; assisting in the development of effective shareholder agreements that meet the needs of both the family business and the family (i.e., decision making, exit strategies, distribution policies, executive compensation); coaching individual family members as the family business evolves; analyzing current trends in family business.
Industry Expertise (10)
Funeral Services
Wholesale
Food Distribution
Retail
Automotive
Real Estate Dev/Ops
Construction - Commercial
Manufacturing
Agriculture and Farming
Import and Export
Areas of Expertise (9)
The Roles of A Family Business Practitioner
The Evolution of A Family Business
How to Manage Family
Grooming Family Business Successors
Developing Family Business Rules
How to Facilitate Family Business and Council Meetings
Family Business Strategies
How to Ensure A Successful Intergenerational Transition
Developing A Family Business Governance Structure Along With A Family Governance Structure
Accomplishments (2)
Director, KPMG Enterprise: Centre for Family Business (professional)
Assisted numerous family businesses to successfully transition from the founding generation to the 2nd generation and into the more complex and challenging 3rd generation while safeguarding family harmony.
Director, KPMG Enterprise: Centre for Family Business (professional)
Authored the following books: Family Business Succession: Managing the All Important Family Component and Managing the Multi-generational Family Farm. Co-authored The Family Business Book. Authored numerous articles published in local, national and international multi-media venues.
Education (2)
University of Ottawa: Master in Health Administration 1993
University of Ottawa: B. Com, Finance & Accounting 1976
Affiliations (2)
- CAFE (Canadian Association of Family Enterprise
- Family Firm Institute
Testimonials (1)
Mark Kippenberger, National Managing Partner, Business Advisory, KPMG, New Zealand | “Sustaining and growing New Zealand family business”, June 2010
We invited Grant to New Zealand to present at the inaugural Family Business Forum. The forum was a one-day conference hosted jointly by KPMG, the University of Auckland Business School, and the ANZ Bank. Approximately 100 people registered for the one-day event. There were four keynote speakers across the day and Grant Walsh was first speaker on the subject of “What makes family businesses grow and prosper: An international perspective”. Through his passion, skill and obvious experience gained over the last 15 years, Grant had the room engrossed. I believe that Grant was the most popular speaker as he brought both practitioner knowledge and solutions to the audience. He was exceptionally well received.
Event Appearances (6)
Family Business Matters
KPMG Family Business Seminar St. Maarten, Caribbean
2012-02-28
The Business of Family Business
TEC (The Executive Committee) Ottawa Chapter Ottawa, Canada
2011-11-23
Family Business Succession: Managing the All Important Family Component
KPMG Family Business Seminar Bahamas, West Indies
2011-09-13
Family Business Succession: Managing the All Important Family Component
KPMG Family Business Symposiums Barbados, Trinidad, Guyana, Grenada (Caribbean and West Indies)
2011-07-20
Who Says the Family Business Won’t Make it to the Next Generation?
CAFE Victoria (Canadian Association for Family Enterprise) Victoria, Canada
2011-05-31
A New Approach in Family Business Succession
2nd Annual Capital G Private Wealth Conference Bermuda
2011-05-04
Style
Availability
- Keynote
- Moderator
- Panelist
- Workshop Leader
- Author Appearance
Social