Simplify business reorganizations, location closures, or strategic wind-downs

Navigating Strategic Business Transitions with Confidence

Whether navigating a reorganization, closing a location, or exiting a business, we bring decades of experience, precision execution, and a human-centered approach to help you move forward with confidence. We deliver high-touch, customized solutions that integrate financial, operational, workforce, and organizational goals.

We provide a trusted, end-to-end approach that ensures a seamless transition, mitigating risks and protecting assets while reducing runway and limiting fees for legal services to only when needed, eliminating unnecessary costs.

Our Structured Approach - A Proven Process

Assessment & Planning

  • Establish guiding vision, governance, and key priorities

  • Clear analyses to inform decision-making & align with strategic objectives

  • Identify stakeholders, risks, and legal considerations

  • Assess financial, operational, workforce and contractual obligations

  • Risk mitigation strategies for financial stability and reputation preservation

Documented Plan of Record

  • Comprehensive roadmap tailored to your business context

  • Development of stakeholder engagement, change readiness, and communications plans

  • Established structured processes for data security, asset disposition, regulatory compliance, and more

  • Retention strategies to protect critical talent and institutional knowledge

Execution & Transition Management

  • Manage employee transitions, severance and benefits coordination

  • Stakeholder communications, notifications, and approvals

  • Manage contracts, leases and other critical terminations

  • Oversee asset liquidation, facility closure, and lease exit

Legal & Regulatory Compliance

  • Compliant tax filings, investor redistributions, and legal dissolution

  • Coordinate with legal counsel and regulatory bodies to ensure adherence

  • Coordination of required filings, compliance documents, and disclosures

  • Records retention

While each reorganization, closure, or wind down project is unique, we reduce the complexity of these customary core tasks:

  • Provide trusted owner’s representation to relieve administrative burdens

  • Board or shareholder approvals

  • Complete plans of record for reorganization, closure, or dissolution

  • Communications to investors, employees, vendors, creditors, customers and other stakeholders to foster trust and transparency

  • Strategic consolidation of departments, business units, or locations

  • Managing cash flow during wind-down process

  • Minimizing investor risk for additional capital calls

  • Salvaging, to the extent possible, investor return

  • Staff reductions/separations

  • Employee severance and benefits management

  • Employee outplacement and transition assistance

  • Regulatory compliance consulting  

  • Monitoring insurance arrangements and risk management opportunities      

  • Assisting with post merger integrations, consolidations or divestitures

  • Succession planning and successor readiness assessments

  • Change management to support business continuity during transitions

  • Managing contracts, liabilities and monitoring management opportunities

  • Vendor agreements and service commitment negotiations

  • Manage facility closure logistics, lease terminations, and asset disposition

  • Liquidation of non-cash assets (IP, domains, FFE)

  • Protecting, auctioning, or assigning IP value

  • Coordination of existing sales or service commitments

  • Analyzing and mitigating risk exposure for other components of owner’s business, and avoiding unnecessary fees and fines

  • Qualified withdrawals, franchise, tax, and dissolution filings

  • Final capital redistribution

Proven Results

Succession and Strategic Realignment for Design Agency

The owner and CEO of a nationally recognized design agency sought support with his succession planning and ownership transition after forty years of leadership and further complicated by a rare period of revenue decline and client losses. There were no clear single successor and the senior management team was divided on the business strategy. Helped CEO to clarify strategic priorities, restructure the management team, and establish a clear succession plan. Facilitated alignment around core values, vision, and business strategy, galvanizing the new management team and ensuring operational alignment. The CEO restored profitability and successfully transitioned ownership to three senior leadership, leaving the firm positioned for long-term success.

Leadership and Cultural Integration for Consolidated Technology Entity

The general manager of a TMT business needed to integrate two acquired companies into a new consolidated business unit, aligning leadership, operations, and culture. Engaged as a trusted advisor, supported the development of a cohesive senior leadership team and facilitated a unified strategic direction. Leveraged diagnostic tools (Denison and OCAI), stakeholder interviews, and site-based teams to gain a comprehensive view of organizational strengths and challenges. Facilitated a strategic plan that included investment and divestment decisions, workforce planning, and a tailored change management strategy. Enabled clear alignment across the senior leadership team and key stakeholders, resulting in a more integrated, focused, and future-ready business.

GM Leading SaaS Company Transition

A general manager of an industry-leading SaaS company was tasked with integrating the organization into a new business and operating culture after sale from Google to the new owner. Leading a 12-person cohort, the GM needed to develop a strategic vision for growth within the new enterprise product portfolio while supporting the company through the structural, cultural and operational transition. Provided both team-based facilitation, context-specific leadership development and personal coaching over the course of a year for each member of the leadership team. The result was a successfully executed strategic vision, increased alignment within the team, and a strong foundation for future growth under the new ownership.

Business Wind-Downs

  • Assisted in the management of assisted living facility in the Denver, CO area, stepping in for the ailing owner who was no longer able to manage the operation. During the course of the engagement, Whitney supervised the management of the operation and facility upgrades necessary to enable the sale of the business. Following the sale of the business assets, Whitney directed the wind down of the corporate owner, including managing the rezoning and sale of real estate parcels and other miscellaneous assets.

  • Led the closure and wind up of the regional headquarters of a Nasdaq healthcare IT company in metro Denver. As part of the engagement, Lain negotiated an early leasehold termination, oversaw lease-required restorations prior to turnover, coordinated data network protections, computer inventory return and certified hardware destruction with the corporate IT team, and managed liquidation of company fixtures, furniture and equipment (FFE).

  • Managed the wind down of an underperforming medical technology company in Boston. The engagement required the recruitment of a chief medical officer to guide the wind down process though disengagement from sensitive arrangements with both clinical and pharmaceutical entities. Whitney assisted with personnel reductions and staff eliminations, protected certain intellectual property assets and managed the sale of other assets, including liquidation of a patent portfolio through a public auction, and interfaced with lenders, investors, service providers and others.

  • Lain was an invaluable resource in helping us clarify our thinking around strategy. He worked with great passion and discipline, preparing our executive sessions to the smallest detail to ensure we achieved the outcomes we needed. He was a strategic and collaborative partner throughout our engagement.

    — CMO, Cherwell

  • Lain is a visionary leader with a proven track record of navigating complex integrations, transformations, and transitions with precision and expertise. He masterfully delivered on two complex integrations at Comcast, enabling us to quickly and effectively integrate two acquisitions into our organization. Any organization looking for a trusted partner in managing change will benefit immensely from their guidance.

    — GM and SVP, Comcast Wholesale

  • Lain is highly dedicated to serving individuals and organizations. He is a catalyst for change. Lain is an astute listener and naturally curious. This combination produces keen insights and imaginative thinking that we have used to solve some of our strategic priorities. His integrity and work are impeccable.

    — CHRO, Macerich

  • Lain was an astute guide as I explored options for guiding my practice forward. His insight was very valuable as I began to increase my focus and awareness of how I can positively and negatively impact results. Lain demonstrated both passion and commitment to helping me become a more effective leader.

    — CEO, Vermilion

  • Lain Adams worked with the HealthStream Executive Team on a four-month engagement to lead efforts to decommission our Boulder, CO headquarters. He impressed the HealthStream Executive Team with his communication skills, competence, project management, and ability to expertly work with a multitude of stakeholders—including leaders from Legal, IT, Security, Office Management, and Project Management office. Lain proved himself to be a trusted partner who was able to deliver the project on time and budget and confidently coordinate strategic planning with internal teams, vendors, and our building landlord and their representatives. Should a project emerge that requires a strategic consultant to uniquely possess all these capabilities, Lain would be a preferred option for us.

    EVP, HealthStream