Paul Karofsky

Paul Karofsky received his A.B. from Bowdoin College and attended graduate school at Connecticut College in the Department of Philosophy. He joined his family's wholesale distribution business, serving most of his career as president and chief executive. After completing two successful acquisitions, Paul achieved certification in the OPM Program at Harvard Business School, strengthening his interest in organizational behavior, management development, and strategic planning. He was trained in Kepner-Tregoe Decision Analysis and by Ichak Adizes. He has served as president of his industry's regional and international trade associations, and was a trustee of the National Association of Wholesale Distributors, prompting his biography in several editions of Who's Who.

Having sold his business in 1988, Paul returned to graduate school and received his Ed.M. from Harvard University in 1990, concentrating his studies on communication and interpersonal relationships - with special interest in the psychosocial life of families and intergenerational communication. In 1995, he was one of only a few non-lawyers to be trained at Harvard Law School's Program of Instruction for Lawyers Mediation Workshop.

Paul served on the Governor's Entrepreneurial Advisory Committee and the partnership sub-committee for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Education. He is a trustee for life of HebrewSeniorLife and a member of the Board of Advisors of the Psychoanalytic Couple and Family Institute of New England. Paul is a member of YPO where he was named an outstanding faculty resource. He is a Founding Fellow of the Business Families Foundation of Montreal. Paul is also a former member of the Board of Directors of the Family Firm Institute, where he holds a certificate in Family Business Advising with Fellow Status and is a member of the Global Education Network faculty. In 1998, he received the Institute's Barbara Hollander Award for outstanding contributions to the field of family business practice. In 2007 and 2008, he was recognized by Northeastern University and the New England Chapter of the Family Firm Institute when a Family Business of the Year award was presented in his honor.

Married for fifty years, the father of two, and grandfather of four, Paul is Executive Director Emeritus of Northeastern University's Center for Family Business, which he was instrumental in launching. He facilitated its Leadership Development Forum which was endowed and named in his honor. He is a past columnist for Family Office Review and BusinessWeek Online and former case study editor of Nation's Business and Families in Business. He has been interview editor of Family Business Review, and a peer reviewer for Harvard University Press. Paul is co-author with his son and partner, David, of So You're in the Family Business: A Guide to Sustainability.