What Makes Us Unique?

Tony Mulkern brings to exit and succession planning and strategic advising a unique set of experience and skills.

Executive and M & A Experience. He served for many years as a senior officer, reporting to the President, at a rapidly growing, highly profitable mortgage banking company subsidiary of the Bank of New York during a period of rapid growth.  More recently, he served as VP of HR of a major money transfer company, reporting to the CEO.  Priorities included  attracting, developing and retaining the top executive talent, which helped the firm grow from operating in 17 countries to 147, while completing numerous acquistions. Tony has faced the tough decisions that all executives and senior management teams must face. He has had to make and win support for unpopular choices and has experienced first-hand the limits of “text book” theory. As a proven deal-maker and Managing Directorat an investment banking company, he is intimately familiar with the factors, both quantitative and qualitative, that determine the market value of an enterprise and whether the firm is ultimately “sellable.”

Rigorous Background in Breakthrough Questions. Knowing how to the right questions, explore the implications of  various alternatives, and “drill down” to the core assumptions underlying a problem are all essential to effective strategic planning and executive coaching. Holding a doctorate in philosophy with an emphasis in decision theory, Tony is invariably seen as facilitating new insights and previously unconsidered perspectives and choices.  Additionally, he is a Certified Executive Coach, through the Center for Executive Coaching, and is certified in Stakeholder Centered Coaching from the Marshall Goldsmith Group.

Extensive Counseling Experience. Winning confidence as a trusted advisor requires establishment of a very high level of emotional trust, genuineness, and a capacity to show true empathy. As a volunteer member for 19 years of the La Cañada Presbyterian Lay Counseling para-professional lay counseling team, Tony underwent hundreds of hours of training with licensed clinical psychologists and participated in weekly continuing education in leading edge counseling theory and practice.

First Hand Experience Working with Diversity. Having worked his way through college and graduate school, Tony held various jobs including construction laborer, grocery clerk, commercial milk truck driver, life insurance agent, newspaper reporter for a major city daily, and university instructort. From these diverse jobs, came a highly developed capacity to relate well to those of diverse ethnic, cultural, educational, and occupational backgrounds, from entry level worker to CEO. Born in Northern Ireland and growing up in Texas, Tony appreciates the challenges faced by immigrants. He is widely traveled throughout the U.S. as well as in Canada, Mexico, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.  He has advanced conversational, reading and writing skills in Spanish and lived for a year in Paris, France, where he held his own as a speaker of French.

For Mulkern Associates, exit and succession planning and strategic advising are not side-lines, or a part-time enterprise. As the firm undergoes growth parallel to that of most of our clients, Tony Mulkern experiences the same challenges to achieving life balance which are experienced by all successful and highly motivated professionals and executives.