Ms. Wendy Sage Hayward / Co-Founder, SAGE Leadership

Co-Founder, SAGE Leadership Advisors Inc.

Wendy is an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business and a senior consultant at the Family Business Consulting Group. She has over 25 years of experience working with business leaders, family firms, and boards. As an educator, consultant, and author with a background as a family business member/director, Wendy brings deep knowledge, perspective, and passion to serving a diverse set of global clients.

Wendy’s consulting practice focuses on implementing structures and processes that foster meaningful conversations within multi-generational families on topics such as family development, next generation preparation, governance, continuity planning and the purpose/meaning of their wealth. In every instance, she strives to develop compelling frameworks, sharp insights, and practical solutions to help her clients achieve their goals while maintaining family harmony.

Wendy’s work as an educator informs her approach to client engagements and helps her contribute to the development of other advisors. She teaches and mentors advisors across Canada and in the United States on how to serve their clients with a greater sensitivity to the complexity of the family enterprise landscape.  At UBC she conducts multi-family sessions for business owning families through the Business Families Centre. Previously, Wendy was faculty at the Institute for Corporate Directors, where she taught board dynamics in the Director's Education Program through the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

Wendy is co-author of the book Human Resources in Family Business: Maximizing the Power of Your People, a definitive work on family firm HR that showcases her knowledge of the human factor in family business and offers numerous helpful frameworks and tools for family enterprises. She has also authored and co-authored a dozen articles on topics such as continuity planning, advisor bias, ownership development, family alignment, and managing transitions across life stages.

Wendy regularly presents at conferences in North America on a range of family business topics such as continuity, governance, family communication, conflict resolution, and leadership development. Her speaking engagements in 2016-2018 include the Family Firm Institute, FEX Symposium, Transitions East, Transitions Canada, Business Transitions Forum, and the Purposeful Planning Institute.

Wendy is a Lead Instructor and Adjudicator for the Family Enterprise Exchange, a role that ensures she brings a sense of objectivity and fairness to tricky issues at the intersection of family and business. Additionally, she is certified in Insights Discovery™, the BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) ™, and Ethical Fitness™. She is also certified as an Ontological Coach from the Newfield Network.

Wendy was a member of a U.S. family firm over 135 years old, and former director on its board of directors. The business had about 50 cousin partners from the third through sixth generations. Several branches recently exited the business including Wendy’s branch. This background in family business motivated Wendy to dedicate her career to the needs of family enterprises.

Wendy has a Master’s in Family Systems Counseling Psychology from the University of British Columbia and an Executive Master’s in the Neuroscience of Leadership from the Neuroleadership Institute.  She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband and two sons.