Succession on Purpose: How we changed hands without selling out

News & Press — 7/15/26

Most agency founders put off the succession question until it's forced on them. Our founder, Julia Beardwood, answered it early. Years before she stepped back, she set up a compensation plan that gave our team a real stake in the agency. She built it to keep good people. The same plan that grew the business became the way she left it.

A health scare in 2015 moved the question from someday to now. She weighed the usual routes, an ESOP sale and a strategic buyer, and passed on both. The people who would take over were already here.

In 2024, on our twentieth anniversary, Julia made Sarah Williams and Ryan Lynch co-CEOs and co-owners, and moved into the Chief Growth Officer role. Sarah came aboard in 2006. Ryan followed in 2009. "Our eye is toward future-proofing the agency for the next 20 years," Julia said.

Women own a small share of branding agencies, and most handovers run through a sale that hollows out the culture that made the place worth buying. We did neither. We stayed independent, and ownership passed to a partnership that includes the woman who joined us first.