Andrew N. Karlen, ESQ

For over 30- years, I have been advising family-owned and other closely held firms, their owners and stakeholders. I help business owners make important decisions and navigate key transitions in their business and personal lifecycles, often working collaboratively with advisors from other professional disciplines.

I have chosen to focus the senior portion of my career on Exit Planning, helping business owners leave their business on their own terms, because that is where I can have the greatest impact.

Owners know that they will leave their business someday. They also know that their exit will be the largest and most significant transition – and transaction – of their life, financially, emotionally, personally, and in terms of impact on the ones they care about. Exit Planning involves preparing the company and the owner financially and personally for transition, thus touching all aspects of the owner’s life. It affects every aspect of the owner’s life.

When an exit planning engagement involves the inter-generational transfer of a family business, special challenges arise. The work will involve more than planning the current owner’s departure. Financial logistics and family dynamics and legacy will be entwined. For example, conflict among children may erupt over “fair vs equal” whether assets should be divided equally among business active and non-active children or distributed fairly based on contributions to the company’s success.

One aspect of Exit Planning that I particularly value and enjoy is working with professional advisors from other disciplines. No single advisor has all the skills needed to address the needs of a family-owned or other closely held firm. Owners of those businesses are best served by attorneys who can collaborate with professional advisors from other disciplines.

I also handle a wide variety of business transactions that are related to exit planning, including the formation, structuring and governance of business entities; purchases and sales of businesses; buy-sell agreements, LLC operating agreements, employment, non-compete, and confidentiality agreements. From 2018 to 2020 I served as president of Attorneys for Family Held Enterprises, a national organization of attorneys and other professional advisors, who provide multi-disciplinary legal counsel and advice to privately held enterprises, their owner-managers, and family members.

I hold the Family Firm Institute (FFI)’s Certificate in Family Business Advising with Fellow Status.

I am a member of the Business Enterprise Institute, a pioneer in Exit Planning, and hold its CExP Designation. I am also an Exit Planning Institute Certified Exit Planner (CEPA). BEI and EPI each offer robust exit planning processes.

In addition, I use “ExitMap® Express”™ (“Express”)1 to offer business owners a coaching-oriented approach to Exit Planning. Express is a step-by-step 5-Meeting process that helps owners test their assumptions and model their options for transition. Through a series of exercises owners gain understanding Financial Readiness, Business Readiness and Personal Readiness for transition. Express is driven by standardized tools and technology, with specific focus on better defining the business owner’s goals and life after the business.