Retaining the former owner of a family business you have integrated is dependent upon a few factors such as whether the Target company’s product(s) or service(s) are very specialized & the Acquiring firm does not have that expertise on their senior management team or if the former owner has extremely close & respected relationships with key customers (or employees) necessary for the combination to be successful. In either case, it could make sense to retain the former owner as a Strategic Advisor to the CEO for a period of time (post-integration) with very specific duties and clear (non-decision making) responsibilities that are focused on supporting the CEO.
