2026 SPEAKER LINEUP
The 2026 Exit Planning Summit features a variety of industry experts and exit planning thought leaders for introductory to advanced exit planning sessions.
Courtenay Shipley
You're right to be concerned with the deal mechanics, price, and negotiation. But, the biggest mistake an owner can make in selling isn’t losing a negotiation—it's having tunnel vision on the deal and ignoring the planning that determines your...
ABOUT COURTENAY
You're right to be concerned with the deal mechanics, price, and negotiation. But, the biggest mistake an owner can make in selling isn’t losing a negotiation—it's having tunnel vision on the deal and ignoring the planning that determines your life's freedom.
As a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) with 25 years of experience working with companies as well as M&A transactions, I am the partner who reverses that focus. I ensure the business you built is fully prepared, defended, and ultimately sold in a way that truly funds your life.
My company, Retirement Planology, is an independent consulting firm focused on helping organizations design, manage, and govern their employee retirement plans with clarity, discipline, and a high standard of fiduciary care. And that includes an exit plan for the owners that maximizes life plans after leadership.
✅ We Go Beyond the Spreadsheet: While other advisors only see financials, my work with $3M to $50M businesses through Retirement Planology gives me a unique, boots-on-the-ground pulse on company culture, employee pain points, and true management investment. This cultural insight allows us to proactively fix human capital risks before the buyer ever sees them.
✅ We Chase the RIGHT Number: We use a baseline valuation to assess the company today, illustrating your company’s theoretical maximum. We’ll then leverage my 10+ years in business coaching to create a focused, high-ROI improvement plan, prioritized by Financial Impact vs. Level of Effort to maximize your value.
✅ We Future-Proof Your Life: We mandate defining your personal wealth target first. Satisfaction doesn't come from getting the highest price; it comes from knowing you got exactly what you needed to fund your life, family, and craft a plan that allows you to confidently reward key employees or managers who helped you build your company. You will transition with certainty, maximum value, and the absolute confidence that this was the right decision, made at the right time.
Let's stop focusing on the chaos of potential deal mechanics and partner to build the certainty that guarantees you will walk away with maximum value and zero regrets.
