Your Private CFO. For the Family.
Families who have built significant wealth through a business face a different set of challenges than any corporation. Generational transitions, estate complexity, advisor coordination, and the question of what comes next — these require a trusted financial leader who understands both the numbers and the people behind them.
The complexity of family wealth is personal. So is the advisory.
Most financial advisors manage assets. A Private CFO manages the full picture — the operating business, the estate, the family dynamics, the advisors, and the transition plan. Shawn McMillan brings 20+ years of CFO-level operating experience to families navigating the moments that matter most: a business sale, a generational handoff, or simply the question of how to protect and grow what has been built.
Services for Families of Significant Wealth
Generational Transition Planning
Working alongside multiple generations of a family to plan and execute leadership transitions — from the founder stepping back to the next generation stepping forward. This includes coaching and mentoring the incoming leadership through the financial and operational realities of running the business, not just handing over the keys.
Family Business Sale & M&A
When a family decides to sell, the stakes are personal as well as financial. Shawn has led and supported M&A transactions across industrial, construction, and services sectors — managing the financial workstreams, coordinating advisors, and ensuring the family's interests are protected through due diligence, negotiation, and close.
Estate & Wealth Transfer Coordination
Coordinating the legal, tax, and financial planning required to transfer wealth across generations with minimal erosion. This includes working alongside estate lawyers, tax advisors, and investment managers to ensure the plan is coherent, current, and aligned with the family's goals — not just technically compliant.
Tax Minimization & Asset Structuring
Structuring business and personal assets to minimize tax exposure across the family — from corporate reorganizations and holding company structures to the timing of distributions and the treatment of proceeds from a sale. First-generation wealth creators often leave significant value on the table without a coordinated tax strategy.
Advisor Oversight & Coordination
Families working with multiple advisors — lawyers, accountants, investment managers, insurance brokers — often find that no one is coordinating the whole picture. A Private CFO sits above the advisor layer, ensuring alignment, eliminating gaps, holding advisors accountable, and translating complex advice into clear decisions for the family.
Philanthropic Strategy & Foundation Governance
For families who want their wealth to reflect their values, Shawn provides guidance on philanthropic strategy — from establishing and governing a private foundation to structuring charitable giving in a tax-efficient way. This includes helping families define their giving priorities and build governance structures that will endure beyond the founding generation.
Ongoing Family Financial Oversight
For families who want a trusted financial leader on an ongoing basis — reviewing investment performance, monitoring the operating business, preparing family financial reports, and serving as a sounding board for major decisions. A Private CFO provides the same rigour and accountability that a public company board expects, applied to the family's financial affairs.
Next-Generation Financial Education
Preparing the next generation to steward significant wealth requires more than a trust document. Shawn works directly with emerging family leaders to build financial literacy, business judgment, and the discipline to make sound decisions — before they are in the chair.
What This Looks Like in Practice
The following are representative of Shawn's private family advisory work. Details have been generalized to protect client confidentiality.
First-Generation Wealth Transfer
A first-generation construction company founder with significant personal and corporate assets engaged Shawn to coordinate the full estate and tax planning process. The engagement involved working alongside legal and tax advisors to restructure the corporate holding structure, minimize the family's tax exposure on a future transition, and establish a clear asset management framework. The result was a coherent plan — not a collection of disconnected advisor opinions — with the founder confident in both the strategy and the people executing it.
- Corporate restructuring to optimize estate and tax position
- Coordinated legal, tax, and investment advisors under a unified plan
- Established holding company and family trust structure
- Clear succession roadmap aligned with the founder's timeline
Second-Generation Leadership Transition
A family business owner preparing to step back engaged Shawn to manage the transition of operational and financial leadership to the second generation. The engagement included assessing the readiness of the incoming leadership, coaching the next-generation CEO through the financial realities of running the business, establishing reporting and governance structures appropriate for family ownership, and managing the interpersonal dynamics that inevitably arise when a founder lets go. The transition was completed over 18 months with both generations aligned and the business performing.
- Structured transition plan with clear milestones and accountability
- Direct coaching and mentoring of the incoming generation
- Established financial reporting and governance for family ownership
- Managed founder transition without operational disruption
Private CFO services are designed for families navigating complexity.
The Founder Approaching an Exit
You have built something significant and are beginning to think about what a sale, transition, or wind-down looks like. You need someone who understands both the transaction and the personal implications — and who can coordinate the advisors required to execute it well.
The Family Post-Liquidity Event
The business has been sold. Now the question is how to manage, protect, and transfer the wealth that resulted. You need a trusted financial leader to oversee the advisors, coordinate the planning, and ensure the family's interests remain central.
The Multi-Generational Family Business
The business is still operating, but the next generation is beginning to take on more responsibility. You need someone who can manage the financial complexity of the transition, coach the incoming leadership, and help the family navigate the interpersonal dynamics that come with it.
The Family Without a CFO
Your family has significant financial complexity — multiple entities, real estate, investments, advisors — but no one is coordinating the full picture. A Private CFO provides the oversight and accountability that ensures nothing falls through the cracks.
A CFO who has sat at the table — and understands what is at stake.
Shawn McMillan, CPA.CF, CA.CF, ICD.D, brings more than 20 years of CFO-level operating experience across industrial, manufacturing, construction, and M&A environments. He has worked alongside families navigating generational transitions, business sales, and the complex financial planning that follows significant wealth creation.
What distinguishes Shawn's approach to private family advisory is that he brings genuine operating experience — not just financial planning theory. He has led transactions, managed lender relationships, built finance teams, and reported to boards. That depth of experience translates directly into the quality of judgment he brings to a family's most consequential financial decisions.
The right time to have a Private CFO is before you need one.
Whether you are planning a transition, navigating a sale, or simply want a trusted financial leader overseeing the family's affairs — a confidential conversation costs nothing and often clarifies everything.
Shawn responds within one business day. All enquiries are treated with complete confidentiality.