Martha L. Sullivan

Martha is a consultant with The Family Business Consulting Group, specializing in transitioning ownership through business improvement, value creation and leadership development. Her experience includes helping family enterprises with exit readiness assessments, mergers and acquisitions, due diligence, strategic planning and execution, governance, and business improvement engagements. She has a blend of industry and advisory experience, having “sat on both sides of the desk.”

Martha’s work with family businesses started decades ago, serving as the Controller in a large family-owned, business-to-business manufacturing, distribution, and catalog company in the Midwest. She was later recruited into another family-owned catalog and wholesale enterprise as their CFO, charged with engineering a successful turnaround. 

Prior to joining FBCG, Martha served as a Succession Planning Leader for an accounting and business consulting firm where she co-led the organization’s Business Transition Strategies and Decision Support Services. As the firm’s top thought leader, Martha’s expertise on business strategy and exit-planning has been featured in many webinars, podcasts and industry publications. During this time, she also co-founded the Wisconsin Chapter of the Exit Planning Institute and served as its President from 2017–2020.

Martha has an in-depth understanding of team building and management, accounting and financial analysis, turn-around management, and cross-functional problem-solving skills across numerous internal and external constituencies. Having served in many financial and leadership roles as a CPA, Controller, CFO, COO and owner, Martha delivers a unique perspective on maximizing the value and transferability of private companies to her clients.