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Doug Baumoel is the Founder of Continuity Family Business Consulting, LLC and offers an extensive background in family business operations and executive management in his work with clients. He served as a second-generation executive in his own family’s business and has held key executive positions in other family and non-family businesses.

Doug started and ran businesses in both the U.S. and Europe, and lived overseas for six years while establishing and managing the European offices of his family’s business. He has applied more than 20 years of business experience to the development of a process for analyzing key variables affecting family business conflict. Early on in his career, prior to joining his family’s business, Doug served as an internal consultant in strategic planning for Sperry Corporation (Unisys) and as an engineer at Polaroid.

Doug is the co-author, with Continuity Managing Partner Blair Trippe, of Deconstructing Conflict: Understanding Family Business, Shared Wealth and Power. This work is the ultimate guide to Continuity’s unique developmental approach to conflict management in family enterprises. A highly-regarded thought leader on conflict management, leadership and governance in family enterprise, Doug has authored or co-authored articles and chapters for numerous professional publications and journals – including Family Business and Massachusetts Family Business magazine; the Thomson West Alternative Dispute Resolution Practice Guide; Private Company Director magazine; and Negotiation Journal of the Harvard/MIT/Tufts Program on Negotiation.

His extensive speaking and facilitation engagements include the Campden “America’s Families in Business” conference; FFI’s annual international conference; Transitions East; and the Smith Family Business Initiative at Cornell University along with Suffolk University Law School; Northeastern University Business School; Babson University; the Massachusetts Bar Association; American Bar Association; Massachusetts Probate Council; Boston Private Bank; several regional estate planning councils and various national industrial conferences in multiple industries.

Doug earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University. A dual certificate holder in both Family Business Advising and Family Wealth Advising from the Family Firm Institute, he has been awarded the additional distinction of FFI Fellow. Among Doug’s numerous professional achievements, he holds a certificate in Civil Mediation from MCLE and is a graduate of the Director Professionalism program of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), which recognized him with Fellow status. Doug also served as President of the New England chapter of the Family Firm Institute.

Blair Trippe is a managing partner at Continuity Family Business Consulting, LLC in Boston. Blair’s expertise as a negotiator, mediator, and family business consultant is grounded in the study of strategic management and conflict resolution methodologies. She brings a highly specialized approach to the understanding of family systems and the relationship challenges encountered when families work and own together.

In addition to her experience with Continuity clients, Blair was a Marketing Specialist at Prudential Bache Securities, Marketing Associate for Boston Catalyst Group – where she served in a dual role of managing the HR function and marketing software products to the higher education sector, as well as Director of Product Development and Industry Affairs on the start up team of The Straumann Company, a U.S.-based Swiss medical device company.

Blair is the co-author, with Continuity Founding Partner Doug Baumoel, of Deconstructing Conflict: Understanding Family Business, Shared Wealth and Power. This recently published work is the ultimate guide to Continuity’s unique developmental approach to conflict management in family enterprises. She also co-authored the book, Mom Always Liked You Best – A Guide to Resolving Family Feuds, Inheritance Battles and Eldercare Crises. The practical guidebook helps family members become better decision-makers, mindful negotiators, and more effective communicators.

Her leadership in the mediation field helped create a new specialty through the development of “Elder Decisions” – a division of Agreement Resources LLC, a consulting firm she co-founded. Agreement Resources provides conflict resolution, mediation, and training services to families and a variety of organizations. It is also an approved services provider to probate courts in several counties of Massachusetts.

As a workshop facilitator and trainer, Blair has conducted sessions for the Environmental Protection Agency, the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, Judge’s Institute, American Bar Association, Attorneys for Family-Held Enterprises, National Association of Geriatric Care Managers, the Alzheimer’s Association, the Northeastern University Center for Family Business, Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council, Northeast Human Resource Association, Dartmouth Hitchcock Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease, Just a Start House, and the Family Firm Institute, among others.

Blair earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management with a concentration in marketing and finance, and a BA in psychology from Connecticut College.