Speaker Profiles
Dr. Michael Klein
Michael is the founder of MK Insights, LLC. He holds a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Rutgers, and is a member of the American Psychological Association (www.apa.org) and Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology (www.siop.org).
With 14+ years of experience in multiple industries (including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and entertainment), Michael brings both academic rigor and business experience to every client interaction.
Michael lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with his wife and two young sons.
Susan M. Esterley-Casson
Susan has been with Dermody, Burke & Brown for 2 years and is the Director of Human Resources. Sue leads the firm’s Human Resources practices and objectives that provide an employee-oriented, high performance culture which emphasizes empowerment, quality, productivity and standards, goal attainment, and the recruitment and ongoing development of a superior workforce. Sue has a diversified background in recruitment as the former owner of CPA’s Recruitment Company where she recruited public accountants for the Big 4 public accounting firms in the Northeast Region. Sue has a Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin and a Masters of Business Administration from Syracuse University.
Meg O'Connell
Margaret “Meg” O'Connell is Executive Director of the Allyn Foundation, a private family foundation located in Skaneateles , New York . She served as Executive Director from 1994-1998 and then returned to the position in 2001. The Allyn Foundation, with assets of $26m, was founded in 1954 by William G. Allyn and his father, William N. Allyn, founder of Welch Allyn, Inc. Welch Allyn, Inc. is a privately-held family company which manufactures medical diagnostic equipment. Board members of the Allyn Foundation are comprised of 3 rd and 4 th generation members of the Allyn family as well as non-family directors.
Prior to joining the Allyn Foundation in 1994, Meg worked for 5 years at Planned Parenthood of Syracuse as Development Director, where she planned and implemented a $1.9m capital campaign. From 1998-2000, Meg lived in England . Upon her return in 2000, she coordinated the $9m capital campaign for the construction of the Skaneateles Community Center . In the past 9 years, Meg has consulted on numerous capital campaigns.
In addition to her work with the Allyn Foundation, Meg has served on numerous not-for-profit boards including Planned Parenthood of Rochester/Syracuse, WCNY, Skaneateles Library Association, Wells College Board of Trustees and Onondaga Community College Board of Trustees. She volunteers on the Program Committee of Grantmakers Forum of New York .
A graduate of Dartmouth College, Meg lives in Skaneateles , NY with her husband, Eric Allyn, and their three teenage daughters.
Dr. Stephanie Brun de Pontet
Stephanie Brun de Pontet, PhD an associate with the Family Business Consulting Group, Inc.,
specializes in advising family enterprises facing important transitions. Stephanie has extensive experience working with sibling teams and
developing training programs to educate the next generation about stewardship and other family business best practices. A recognized expert on the topic of succession, Stephanie frequently collaborates with clients on key aspects of this process, such as establishing succession plans, drafting needed policies and building a framework for next-generation collaborations.
Stephanie brings a unique combination of knowledge and
experience from the fields of management, entrepreneurship and psychology to her work with family business clients. Prior to coming into the field of family business, Stephanie worked for a number of years as an entrepreneur and an advisor to closely held businesses.