About Us
Our Mission: Protect Your Business Legacy with Succession Ready
You've spent years building your business. Succession Ready exists to help you protect what that work is worth and to support the partners and practitioners who help business owners do exactly that, in communities across the country.
Succession Ready is a free program, developed with Babson College faculty and delivered through partner organizations and expert practitioners nationwide. Participants gain industry-specific curriculum, peer-to-peer networking, direct access to experienced practitioners, technical assistance, and connections to potential buyers and third-party resources. This program is designed to support your personal goals.
All sessions are free, made possible by the partners and providers who bring Succession Ready to their communities.
To date, we've trained over 70 business owners, representing over a dozen industries: from professional service firms, to hospitality, retailers, fitness, construction and tech.
Our Team
Richard Bliss, Academic Director & Babson College Professor
Richard Bliss is a Professor of Finance at Babson College, where he's taught since 1997, and serves as Academic Director for Succession Ready. He also leads the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program nationally - a $500 million initiative that has helped more than 9,000 small businesses access training, mentorship, and capital. His research and teaching center on entrepreneurial finance, valuation, and deal structure, the same fundamentals built into the Succession Ready curriculum. He holds a PhD in Finance from Indiana University.
Havell Rodrigues, CEO & Co-Founder, New Majority Capital
Havell Rodrigues is CEO and Co-Founder of New Majority Capital, where he leads deal structuring, financing, and portfolio management. He brings more than 25 years in finance, including a decade as a portfolio manager and risk manager at Venus Capital overseeing $500 million in assets, and later as CEO of Adjoint, a fintech company he scaled across Boston, London, and Zurich.
Kris Schumacher, Managing Partner & Co-Founder, New Majority Capital
Kris Schumacher is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of New Majority Capital, where he leads deal due diligence. He brings more than 20 years of experience in M&A strategy, contract negotiation and change management, including work on private equity-backed roll-ups and corporate acquisition integrations. Kris is also an ETA entrepreneur himself, he acquired Trellis Structures, a premium garden structures company, and has grown it more than 20% under his ownership.
