Transition in Motion: Succession, Exit, and What Comes After
Presented By: Calllan Family Office / Spilman Thomas & Battle
Whether you're part of a multi-generational enterprise or a privately held company with outside investors, planning for transition is never simple. This session explores the business and personal dimensions of succession—what it takes to prepare your company for a future beyond you, how to build lasting value, and how to structure your next chapter after an exit. With insights from founders, investors, and M&A advisors, we’ll discuss leadership handoffs, family and partner dynamics, liquidity planning, and navigating the emotional terrain of life after the deal.
Moderator:
Chief Content Officer
Smart Business
Dustin is an award-winning business journalist, bestselling author, and the chief content officer of Smart Business. Over the past 30 years, he has interviewed thousands of business and civic leaders, and helped more than 50 CEOs and entrepreneurs transform their ideas into books. A trained investigative politics reporter and former digital media entrepreneur, Dustin joined Smart Business in 1997 after serving as an editor at several daily newspapers.
Panelists:
Entrepreneur, lecturer, and educator
Mark DeSantis was most recently CEO of Bloomfield (acquired by Kubota Corporation), a company using AI to help specialty crop growers across the United States, Europe, Africa, and South America. He was previously cofounder and CEO of RoadBotics (acquired by Michelin), which used AI to assess roadway infrastructure across seven countries. Prior to Roadbotics, he was cofounder of kWantix (acquired by Moody Aldrich Partners), a quant energy hedge fund, and cofounder and CEO of kWantera, an energy trading company, both of which used deep learning technology. He also previously served as CEO of Think Through Learning (acquired by Imagine Learning), an online tutoring company, and U.S. managing director of ANGLE Technology, PLC, a U.K.-based venture capital firm and consultancy.
Earlier in his career, DeSantis was director of government relations for Texas Instruments and held policy positions as a senior policy analyst in The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Administration of George H. W. Bush. He was also staff assistant to the late U.S. Senator John Heinz and a management consultant with Booz Allen.
Chief Tax Strategist
Callan Family Office
Jeff Getty is Chief Tax Strategist at Callan Family Office, advising ultra-high net worth families, entrepreneurs, and private investors on complex tax, structuring, and transition strategies. A tax attorney and M&A adviser for nearly 30 years, he has led hundreds of successful transactions, designing forward-looking plans that protect and enhance after-tax value from early-stage growth through exit and beyond.
Chair, Securities Law Practice Group | Co-Chair, Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group | Member in Charge of the Pittsburgh Office
Spilman Thomas & Battle
Co-Founder & Principal
Generational Transfer Entrepreneurs
Brenden Van Buren is the President and CEO of Reading, Pennsylvania-based fencing company Pro Max Fence Systems. Prior to acquiring Pro Max Fence Systems, Brenden served as a project manager for two family-owned and operated businesses New Enterprise Lime & Stone and PennStress. Brenden is a co-founder of GT Entrepreneurs, which he started while enrolled in Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business' full-time MBA program.