Shelley M. Taylor

Executive Director | Cofounder

Shelley Taylor is a Family Business Advisor who works with business-owning families on governance, structure, role clarity, generational transitions, development of the rising generation, 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.

From 2000 to 2025, Shelley held various roles at the at the Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence (IEE) at the University of Pittsburgh. During her tenure she served as Education Program Director, Membership Director, and Peer Forum Director. Her final role at the IEE was as Family Business Consultant to the IEE Community.

Additionally, from 2023 through 2025, she supported the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University during the conception, 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.