About Our Authors

Bonnie Brown Hartley, Ph.D

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Bonnie Brown Hartley, Ph.D., is President of Transition Dynamics Inc, and specializes in leveraging change in enterprise. She is a Fellow in the Family Firm Institute and holds their certificate in family wealth advising. She is an emeritus board member of  the Family Firm Institute and Attorneys for Family-Held Enterprise. She speaks internationally on leveraging change, governance systems and leadership development in enterprise families. Her books Sudden Death and Unexpected Wealth were published in 2006. She co-authored with John Gibson The Dynamics of Aging Families and Health Care Issues of Aging Families, also published in 2006. Bloomberg Press published her book, Family Wealth Transition Planning, co-authored with Gwendolyn Griffith, in 2009.  In 2010 she and co-author Michael T. Hartley released the two-CD series, Think Ahead.

Michael T. Hartley, CFP®

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Mike is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dale K. Ehrhart, Inc. He frequently works as part of collegial teams providing sophisticated estate, tax, and investment planning, as well as family office services.

In addition to his executive duties, Mike is involved on a day to day basis with the use of covered call writing, protective put strategies, collars and other forms of sophisticated investment planning. Prior to joining Dale K. Ehrhart, Inc. in 1985, Mike worked as a corporate comptroller and director of finance.

Mike is actively involved in many civic and charitable organizations in the Venice area, and was the recipient of the Outstanding Leadership Award from the National YMCA Southern Region. A member of Family Firm Institute, Financial Planning Association, and National Committee on Planned Giving, Mike chairs the finance committee of The Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice. He co-authored Master Plan; Integrating Your Financial Planning, Legal and Estate Planning and Life Planning in 2006. He is a founding member of the Institute of Philanthropy and works with the Sudden Money Institute. He is listed in National Register’s Who’s Who in Executives and Professionals(2001-2002).

Education: Undergraduate degree work Indiana University School of Business; College for Financial Planning; New York Institute on Family Wealth.

Personal: Married to Dr. Bonnie Brown Hartley. One son, Michael. Interests include composing and performing sacred and popular music on guitar, piano, and synthesizer, collecting oriental art and artifacts, and collecting musical instruments and musical artifacts.