Who We Are

Danielle Walsh, CPA
Danielle Walsh
Danielle is the founder and President of Walsh Family Business Advisory Services, a consulting firm that specializes in assisting family owned and operated businesses navigate the rough waters of management and ownership succession.
Danielle is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), Chartered Accountant (CA) and a member of the Family Firm Institute (FFI), an international association of family business professionals providing in depth information on family businesses from around the world as well as ongoing education and training in the field of family business consulting. Danielle has obtained the FFI Certificate in Family Business Advising and the FFI Certificate in Family Wealth Advising. In addition, she is an accredited trainer in association with the Personality Insights Institute (personality assessments and analysis), which can help members of family businesses develop methods to improve communication in a business setting while maintaining family harmony. She is currently the president of the Family Enterprise Xchange Ottawa Chapter, formerly know as the Canadian Association of Family Enterprise. She is also teaching the only family business course (Managing the Family Enterprise) offered at the undergraduate level in Ottawa at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University.
She developed her philosophy and desire to help family businesses based on the workings of her father, Grant Walsh, the Chair of her company’s Board of Advisors whom has over 20 years of experience as the former Director and Founder of the KPMG Enterprise: Centre for Family Business (Canada).
It is Ms. Walsh’s personal goal to carry forth her father’s mission, which continues to be the desire to significantly alter or better yet to reverse the negative family business succession statistics that continue to plague family business owners.
“While the majority of family business owners would like to see their business transferred to the next generation, it is estimated that 70% will not survive into the second generation and 90% will not make it to the 3rd generation.” (Family Firm Institute, www.ffi.org, 2011).
Given the body of knowledge that now exists in the field of family business, there is no reason why the majority of family business owners who choose to transition their family business to the next generation should not do so successfully.
Danielle has been called upon to give presentations on the business of family business with a focus on succession planning to local, national, and international associations. She has also expanded her university family business course to universities in other countries.

Grant Walsh, Senior Consultant
Grant Walsh
Grant is the former Director and founder of the KPMG Enterprise: Centre for Family Business in Ottawa, Canada and for the past twenty years, his professional services have been dedicated solely to assisting family businesses in working through their management and ownership issues with a focus on the transition/succession process.
Grant is a senior consultant for Walsh Family Business Advisory Services. He is working alongside his daughter to offer family business succession planning services to companies in Canada, the United States and abroad.
Mr. Walsh is an active member of the Family Enterprise Xchange (formerly the Canadian Association of Family Enterprise) and serves on both the National Board and the Board of the Ottawa chapter. He frequently writes articles on family business and has authored several publications; one on behalf of Agriculture Canada entitled “Managing the Multi-Generational Family Farm” with his most recent publication entitled “Family Business Succession: Managing the All Important Family Component”.
Grant is often called upon to make presentations locally, nationally and internationally as well as providing advice to local business groups and the local media on family business issues.
Grant is also a long-standing member of FFI (Family Firm Institute). Mr. Walsh’s career background includes; corporate finance, sales and marketing within a large multinational pharmaceutical company; public administration in a large teaching hospital; owner/manager of a local residential construction firm and associate professor of graduate studies (Finance and Strategic Planning) at the University of Ottawa.
Specific Areas of Expertise
- 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 "Constitutions" or ‘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
- Development and implementation of family wealth planning programs
- Analyzing current trends in family business
Their new book (A Practical Guide To Family Business Succession Planning) is now available on Amazon.