Our Team
Seasoned Owners. Proven Closers. Every Deal Imaginable.
We’ve bought, built, and sold our own businesses. We’ve closed on Main Street storefronts and multi-million-dollar middle-market platforms. Manufacturing, distribution, services, construction, technology, childcare, long-term care, hospitality—you name it, we’ve done it, valued it, and sold it.
In this business, experience isn’t just a résumé line. It’s the difference between leaving money on the table and walking away with every dollar your company is worth.
Meet the team that’s already been in your chair—and knows exactly how to get you the exit you deserve.
Christopher R. George
President & CEO
Founder of George & Company, Chris George brings over four decades of ownership and transaction experience, delivering rigorous valuations, disciplined deal execution, and consistently maximizing value for business owners.
Philip Dotten
COO & Senior M&A Advisor and Business Broker
Philip Dotten combines meticulous valuation expertise with decades of real-world ownership and executive experience, structuring disciplined, creative deals that deliver premium outcomes for buyers and sellers.
Jeffrey M. Lefebvre
Vice President & Senior M&A Advisor and Business Broker
A Certified Business Intermediary with nearly four decades at George & Company, Jeff Lefebvre has guided hundreds of transactions across diverse industries with steady leadership and deep sector insight.
Catherine M. Phillips
Director of Marketing & Business Development
A former business owner with nearly 30 years of experience, Cathy Phillips leads marketing and business development, sharing George & Company’s success stories and guiding entrepreneurs to exit.
R.W. “Chip” Emerson
Senior M&A Advisor and Business Broker
Chip Emerson brings decades of executive leadership and ownership experience, helping clients increase value, optimize operations, and navigate complex transactions with an owner-first mindset.
Douglas Pendleton
Managing Director & Senior M&A Advisor and Business Broker
After building and selling his own company, Doug Pendleton helps business owners maximize value through strategic planning, confidential valuations, and hands-on M&A execution.
Ronald Ekstrom
Managing Director & Senior M&A Advisor and Business Broker
Ron Ekstrom blends ownership experience with decades of dealmaking, guiding sellers and buyers through complex transactions with clarity, confidence, and a focus on results.
Bob Donaldson
Managing Director & Senior M&A Advisor and Business Broker
With over 30 years of hands-on operating and engineering experience, Bob Donaldson uncovers hidden value in technical and operational businesses through deep listening and disciplined execution.
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No pressure. No obligation. Just an honest discussion with experienced advisors who understand ownership, risk, and what’s at stake.
Christopher R. George
President & CEO
Chris founded George & Company in the early 80’s after a career of buying, building, and selling his own businesses convinced him that most owners were being poorly served by the brokerage industry. Having personally owned 16 companies, he set out to create a firm that would treat every deal with the same rigor, transparency, and urgency he demanded when his own money and legacy were on the line.
A Certified Business Opportunity Appraiser and former President of the Association of New England Business Brokers, Chris has completed thousands of valuations and closed hundreds of transactions—from local Main Street businesses to lower-middle-market M&A deals around the world, including a high-stakes multi-billion dollar deal for a publicly traded global company.
What began in the late 1970s as an almost accidental brokerage helping small businesses in Worcester, Massachusetts, evolved into the most respected M&A and business brokerage firm in New England. Over four decades, Chris has seen every market cycle, every type of owner, and every deal structure imaginable. That hard-earned perspective is why sellers trust him to push for the last dollar and why buyers count on him to spot hidden value and avoid costly mistakes.
Under Chris’s leadership, George & Company has earned its reputation the old-fashioned way: bigger exits, cleaner closings, and zero surprises—deal after deal, for more than 40 years.
Why I started George and Company:
“In 1979 I started helping a few friends in Worcester sell their businesses the way I wished someone had helped me – confidentially, aggressively, and always pushing for the last dollar. Word spread. One deal turned into ten, ten turned into hundreds, and somewhere along the way what began as a side favor became George & Company.
I built this firm for one simple reason: business owners deserve a broker who has sat in their exact chair, lost sleep over payroll, signed personal guarantees, and ultimately stared at a purchase agreement wondering if this is really the best they’ll ever get for a lifetime of work. I’ve been that owner. I know how it feels.”
Philip Dotten
COO and Senior M&A Advisor and Business Broker
Philip Dotten is the COO and Senior M&A Advisor and Business Broker at George & Company, Membership in IBBA and M&A Source since 2019, Philip brings more than 20 years of transaction experience to the table.
As a leader guiding the firm’s intermediaries on valuations and consulting, Philip is known for his meticulous valuation work, disciplined process management, and ability to structure creative deals that satisfy both buyers and sellers—consistently delivering premium outcomes for clients throughout New England and beyond.
Before joining George and Company, Phil owned his own multi-store retail business for 24 years. Prior to that, he had a long career in executive management. Phil has a broad knowledge in all aspects of running businesses including top-level general management, sales management, marketing, personnel management, administrative and financial functions. His areas of expertise include retailing, wholesale distribution, manufacturing, trucking/fleet management and agriculture. Over his career he has been involved directly with the sale, purchase or start-up of 15 businesses ranging from $350,000 to over $20 million.
Why did I join George and Company?
“After building my own companies over 20 years, I decided to list one with another brokerage. Together we valued it in about an hour, listed it the same day, and when the potential buyers approached, he handed them my personal cell number and disappeared. I negotiated the entire deal myself. The broker showed up at closing only to introduce himself to the buyer and collect his check.
That experience showed me how broken the industry can be—and exactly how NOT to represent a seller.”
Jeffrey M. Lefebvre
Vice President and Sr. M&A Advisor and Business Broker
Jeffrey is a veteran of hundreds of successful business sales. Jeff has earned and maintained the distinguished ‘Certified Business Intermediary’ designation issued by the International Business Brokers Association for over 17 years, and was awarded ‘Lifetime – CBI’ status in 2018. He is the Vice President of George and Company and has been associated with the company since 1986. His experience encompasses all business sectors, across manufacturing, distribution, services, and professional practices. Jeff started and operated a renewable energy contracting company from 1979 through 1985. As a stipend Graduate Student at the University of Connecticut he studied socio-economic issues relating to technology and social change. He has a keen interest in working with diverse Entrepreneurs seeking a path forward through recapitalization, divestiture or acquisition.
Catherine M. Phillips
Director of Marketing and Business Development
For nearly 30 years Cathy owned and operated Phillips Precision of Boylston, MA. She ran the company’s day-to-day operations, financial management, and the strategic administrative functions of manufacturing, product engineering, sales and marketing. With a strong background in business leadership and organizational development, Cathy played a key role in ensuring the company’s continued growth, efficiency, and customer satisfaction. With their patented product lines, she positioned Phillips Precision as the world-wide leader in manufacturing work-holding.
Prior to this entrepreneurial endeavor, Cathy spent fifteen years at Digital Equipment Corporation as Operations and Circulation Manager in Corporate Research and Development. In this role, she managed operations for the digital and print production of the company’s technical publications.
Why did I join George and Company?
“I wanted my next chapter to combine my entrepreneurial spirit for building business with a company I believe in.
Joining George & Company – a firm I trusted to sell my own business – lets me do exactly that. Now I get to tell the community about the hundreds of success stories, reach more entrepreneurs (including women owned businesses), and make sure every business owner knows there’s a trusted path to their perfect exit.
George and Company is easy to promote – we are a team that treats every company like the legacy it is”.
R.W. “Chip” Emerson
Senior M&A Advisor and Business Broker
Why did I join George and Company?
“I’ve sat in the owner’s chair more than once. I’ve built businesses from the ground up, scaled them globally, and successfully exited several of my own. I know what it feels like to sign the front and the back of the check, to lie awake wondering if the deal you’re about to sign is truly the best you’ll ever get for a lifetime of work.
That perspective is what I bring to every client at George & Company. Whether I’m valuing a business, optimizing operations for a higher multiple, negotiating the last dollar out of a buyer, or guiding a searcher through their first acquisition, I treat every transaction exactly as I treated my own—like my money and my legacy are on the line.”
Douglas Pendleton
Managing Director, Senior M&A Advisor and Business Broker
An advocate for business ownership, Douglas is driven to help business owners exit their businesses for their maximum value.
Douglas founded and operated a direct marketing company known as Pendleton Printers. With $4 million in revenue and 32 employees, the company served blue-chip clients such as Dunkin’ Donuts, Fidelity Investments, Commerce Insurance, and Fallon Healthcare. When digital disruption threatened the printing industry, he executed five strategic roll-up acquisitions, consolidated the market, and positioned the larger platform for a seven-figure sale to a regional competitor.
As Managing Director at George & Company, Doug delivers confidential business valuations, tailored exit-planning strategies, and hands-on M&A execution that consistently add real equity to his clients’ businesses—whether they are preparing to sell in the next 90 days or the next 10 years.
Why did I join George and Company?
Ronald Ekstrom
Managing Director, Sr. M&A Advisor and Business Broker
Ron Ekstrom brings a rare blend of real-world ownership and high-level deal experience to George & Company.
For more than 13 years he served as Senior Managing Director at Sunbelt M&A in Woburn, closing dozens of Main Street and lower-middle-market transactions with private equity groups, public companies, and strategic acquirers. Before that, Ron built and ran his own businesses and held senior leadership roles at major media companies including The Tribune Company, MediaNews Group, and Gannett – where he served as publisher, general manager, and operator.
Having bought, sold, and operated companies himself, Ron understands both the numbers and the emotions that come with handing over something you’ve built. Sellers trust him to cut through noise and deliver deals that actually close.
Now at George & Company Ron is focused on doing what he’s always done best: turning privately held businesses into life-changing exits and helping acquirers find their next platform or bolt-on.
Why did I join George and Company?
“When the opportunity came to join George & Company, I jumped. This firm was built by owners for owners. Here, every one of us has bought, built, and sold our own companies. We still run every deal the way we ran our own: maximum value, zero surprises, and an absolute refusal to leave a dollar on the table.
I came to George & Company because this is the place where real operating experience and serious deal muscle live under the same roof, and where the client’s outcome always matters more than the fee.”
Bob Donaldson
Managing Director, Sr. M&A Advisor and Business Broker
Bob spent over 30 years in the trenches before ever stepping to the sell-side.
A geotechnical, civil/mechanical and hazardous-waste engineer by training, Bob has designed, built, sold, and scaled everything from engineering businesses, automated industrial systems and solar deployments to manufacturing and software companies, HVAC, Life and Fire Safety operations.
From heavy construction, logging, design, fabrication, forensic accounting, HR, to customer service. He’s done field work, run the crews, managed the P&L, spearheaded product development, and led sales and marketing, efforts that actually moved the needle.
At one 14-person engineering firm he opened a new office and helped grow the company to 80 people in 8 years. At another, he tripled the qualified sales pipeline in five months. He knows where value hides in a shop floor, a service route, or a piece of proprietary equipment because he’s engineered it, sold it, and installed it himself.
What truly sets Bob apart, however, is how he starts every relationship: he listens. Really listens. He wants owners to teach him their business—the war stories, the margins that matter, the worries that keep them up at night—before he says a word about process or valuation. That deep understanding, paired with decades of hands-on operating, management andgrowth experience, qualifies him to position businesses for sale in ways most brokers simply can’t.
Why did I join George and Company?
“I joined because I finally found a home where my kind of background—grease under the nails, decades of growing revenue the hard way, and the ability to sit quietly and really listen to another owner’s story—isn’t just welcomed, it’s required. Now I get to make sure no owner I work with ever has to explain the real value of their business twice.”