Bill Edstrom
Owner, Executive Coach
Bill Edstrom has been through the full family business experience joining as an employee and working through all phases of succession. In recent years, he has focused on executive coaching and served as the assisting facilitator for the Forums before acquiring Forums for Family Business in 2022 along with his wife Mari.
Bill spent his career at Edstrom Industries based in Waterford, Wisconsin. Along with his siblings, he successfully transitioned the business from the founding generation eventually selling in 2016.
During his time at Edstrom Industries, Bill worked as a product design engineer, engineering and IT manager, then later becoming CTO and a member of the Board of Directors. Bill holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from MSOE and is an alumni of Harvard Business School’s OPM program. Bill also serves on the Board of Regents at MSOE University as well as the board of another privately held business.
Bill learned the Co-Active Coaching methodology by completing training at the Coaches Training Institute (CTI). He has been part of Forums for Family Business for more than three decades as a member, assisting facilitator for Dean Fowler, main facilitator since 2021, and owner as of 2022.
Our Advisors
Dean Fowler
Dean R. Fowler, Ph.D. is recognized as one of the world’s leading family business advisors. He developed his consulting practice by providing integrated services focusing on the “soft side of hard issues” by working collaboratively with other professionals. He drew upon his broad range of multidisciplinary expertise as both a clinically trained therapist and experienced strategic business consultant.
The Family Firm Institute awarded him the prestigious “Award for Interdisciplinary Achievement”. He is Fellow Emeritus at the Purposeful Planning Institute based in Denver, Colorado and a past member of the Milwaukee Estate Planners Forum. He is author of three books: Love, Power and Money, Family Business Matters and Proactive Family Business Successors.
Dean founded the Forums for Family Business in 1987 and the groups have run continuously since providing support for a who’s who of Milwaukee area family businesses.