About us

Plan with clarity and confidence

SuccessionWise helps family businesses bring strategy, succession, estate preparedness, risk and asset assessment and ESG into one practical, structured approach.

For most families, the business is both a livelihood and a legacy. Decisions affect not just performance, but people, relationships and long-term continuity.

Our focus is simple: turn complexity into clear, informed action.

Why choose us

What you can expect

60 years of combined experience

Our team brings over 60 years of combined experience in agriculture, business and impact.

Custom solutions for your business & legacy

We provide custom solutions to help you plan, protect and grow your business.

We deliver integrated succession planning

For family businesses, advisers and lenders.

Our people

Systems thinking, grounded in practice

We bring a mix of systems thinking, research expertise and hands-on experience working with small to medium-sized businesses, governments and not-for-profit organisations, and with rural and regional businesses across primary industries, including agriculture, horticulture, viticulture, fisheries, minerals and energy.

We are experts in succession readiness, governance, sustainability, impact pathways, maturity modelling and asset assessment, and we specialise in translating complex issues into practical tools and conversations that people can actually use.

Everything we develop is shaped through co-design, professional collaboration and real-world insight, so our work is both credible and relevant.

Our collective expertise underpins SuccessionWise and our proprietary pipeline platform SuccessionPRO, a systems-based approach that helps family businesses navigate succession, continuity and long-term sustainability.

Team

Meet the team

Dr Anne-Maree Dowd

Director & Co-Founder

Anne-Maree is a social scientist specialising in transformational adaptation, complex decision-making and impact management. She brings to SuccessionWise deep expertise in strategic consulting, governance, evaluation design and the translation of complex challenges into practical pathways for change.

Her career spans the research, government and not-for-profit sectors, with particular strength in helping organisations and families navigate transition, uncertainty and intergenerational change. This expertise underpins her work with farm families and SMEs, where she helps clients clarify strategic direction, strengthen decision-making, and build the systems and evidence base needed to sustain impact across generations.

Co-author of Cornerstones of Impact Management (2025), Anne-Maree brings a structured, evidence-led approach to SuccessionWise, ensuring succession is not only planned, but measured, adaptive, and grounded in what matters most to clients and their long-term enterprise continuity.

Dr Karen Cosgrove

Director & Co-Founder

Karen is a social scientist with extensive consulting experience across industry, local government, research organisations and community stakeholders engaged in sustainable development, organisational impact and community resilience. She has worked across the primary industries sector, including agriculture, minerals and energy, fisheries and managed pastoralism systems.

Her work includes organisational and social impact assessment, strategic planning, stakeholder engagement, SROI assessments and applied research methodologies, including supporting organisations in measuring and assessing social, economic, environmental and organisational resource capitals through evidence-based assessment models.

Karen brings an evidence-informed, systems-based perspective to SuccessionWise, ensuring succession is more than a plan. It's measured, adaptable, and grounded in what truly matters to clients and in the enduring continuity of their enterprises.

Dr Thomas Keenan

Chief Operating Officer

Tom is Chief Operating Officer and shareholder of SuccessionWise, responsible for operational execution, delivery systems and scaling the organisation's impact across farm and SME succession planning. He ensures strategy is translated into practical, repeatable processes that strengthen governance, resilience and long-term sustainability for clients.

Previously, Tom consulted with the corporate-level Impact Team at CSIRO, where he developed and implemented impact measurement systems, monitoring frameworks and evidence-based evaluation processes across research and enterprise programs. He brings this operational and systems expertise to SuccessionWise to support the delivery of structured, scalable solutions for farm families and small businesses navigating succession, governance and strategic transition.

Ready to plan your succession?

Talk to us about your situation, or see how SuccessionPRO can support your planning.