Wendy Sage-Hayward

Wendy is a senior consultant at the Family Business Consulting Group, working closely with business leaders, family firms and boards. She brings deep knowledge and perspective to global clients across sectors, facilitating meaningful conversations with multi-generational families on governance, firm continuity, leadership, next generation preparation and conflict resolution. She is especially adept at establishing integrated governance structures for the family, business and ownership, to promote alignment, communication and harmony within and across these constituencies.

She is a partner and board director of a U.S. family firm more than 130 years old, helping to lead approximately 50 cousin partners from the third through sixth generations. Her background and experience with her own family enterprise motivated Wendy to dedicate her career to the needs of family enterprises as a consultant, educator, author and adjudicator.

As an educator, Wendy is an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, where she leads programs for business families and their advisors in the Business Families Centre. Previously, she taught board dynamics in the Director’s Education Program for the Institute of Corporate Directors at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

Wendy is co-author of the book Human Resources in Family Business: Maximizing the Power of Your People, a definitive work on family firm HR strategies and tactics. A sought-after speaker, she has presented on a range of family business topics at North American conferences including the CAFÉ Symposium, Transitions East, Business Transitions Forum, and the Canadian Bar Association of BC. 

Wendy is a member of the Family Enterprise Xchange Foundation’s Leadership Council, which is focused on four key areas: Learning and Development, Family Enterprise Research, Global Family Enterprise Community and Global Advisor Community. She’s also a Lead Instructor and Adjudicator for the Family Enterprise Xchange’s Advisor program, a role that ensures she brings a sense of objectivity and fairness to tricky issues at the intersection of family and business.