Shelley M. Taylor

Executive Director | Cofounder

Shelley Taylor is a Family Business Advisor who works with business-owning families on matters pertaining to governance, structure, role clarity, next generation development, generational transitions, and family councils.

Experience & academic background

Shelley is an astute listener and a strategic thinker who fosters collaboration and promotes understanding and appreciation of the varied perspectives inherent in multi-generational families.

Shelley joined the Aspen Family Business Group in 2018. Until December 2017, she was the Peer Forum Director at the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence (IEE) at the University of Pittsburgh where she has worked since 2000, previously serving as both Education Program Director and Membership Director. Shelley continues her affiliation with the IEE as their Family Business Consultant.

She supported the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University during the development and launch of their Center for Family Business.

Shelley served as Family Council Chair for over 12 years for ABARTA, Inc., a third and fourth generation family business that owns and operates the tenth largest Coca-Cola distribution company in the United States. During her tenure, the family process was focused on educating and developing the fourth generation; leadership of the Family Council has now transitioned to the 4th generation. The owning family of ABARTA began its strategic family process in 1990 prior to the leadership and ownership transition from the second to third generation.

She is an independent director for c3controls, a private family business in Beaver, PA; is a former Chair and currently serves on the board of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre; and is past Chair and a board member of the Adams Foundation, a family philanthropy.

Shelley graduated from Cornell University (’83 Linguistics, with Distinction).

She holds an advanced certificate in family business advising (ACFBA) from the Family Firm Institute and is an FFI Fellow.

She is trained in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment and is an MBTI® Certified Practitioner.