Douglas C. Breunlin, LCSW, LMFT, Program Director

Douglas Breunlin is a licensed clinical social worker, licensed marriage and family therapist, and trained mediator. He is on the clinical staff of The Family Institute at Northwestern University where he is also the director of the Family Business Program.

In addition, Mr. Breunlin is clinical professor of Psychology at Northwestern University and a Fellow and Approved Supervisor of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Mr. Breunlin received his MSSA from Case Western Reserve University in 1975. With 30 years of experience, he has both practiced and offered workshops in the United States and abroad. His clinical areas of specialization include family business matters, conflict resolution, marital conflict, intimacy and sexual problems, men's issues and school problems. His professional areas of interest include family therapy training, the integration of family therapy models and working with larger systems.

Formerly the Director of the Family Systems Program at Chicago's Institute for Juvenile Research, Mr. Breunlin also consulted for twelve years to Cook County Hospital's Departments of Pediatrics and Family Practice. He has provided consultation to mental health centers, special education programs, and residential facilities.

Mr. Breunlin is co-author (with Schwartz and MacKune-Karrer) of Metaframeworks: Transcending the Models of Family Therapy, editor of Stages: Patterns of Change Over Time, co-editor (with Liddle and Schwartz) of The Handbook of Family Therapy Training, and author of forty-five articles. 

 

Jean S. Firestone, JD, MA, LPC, Associate

Jean Firestone is a therapist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University and a consultant in the Family Business Program. 

 

She received her Masters of Arts in Counseling Psychology with academic distinction from Northwestern University.  Her clinical experience has focused on working with couples, families and adults.

 

In addition, Ms. Firestone received her Juris Doctorate with honors from Duke University School of Law.  She practiced law for 15 years, specializing in the federal income taxation of corporations and partnerships.  During her legal career, Ms. Firestone addressed the complicated problems facing family-held businesses, including how to motivate and retain participants in the business, how to govern the business and resolve disputes between family shareholders and employees, and how to coordinate necessary tax and financial planning. 

 

As a consultant in the Family Business Program, Ms. Firestone combines this broad understanding of the challenges facing family businesses with her systems-oriented approach to counseling in order to help family business owners meet their goals.

 

Katherine W. Panattoni, JD, MA, Associate

Katherine Panattoni holds a Masters of Arts in Counseling Psychology, from The Family Institute at  Northwestern University, where she continues to work with psychotherapy clients and is a program associate  for the Family Business Program.  She earned her Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and her Bachelors in Arts in Philosophy from University of California at Berkeley. 

 

As a family practice attorney in Chicago and a attorney for her own family's real estate development business, Ms. Panattoni has developed particular interest and insight into the challenges facing family businesses.  In addition, she has been an active mediator and mediation trainer for the Center for Conflict Resolution in Chicago, where she received her mediation certification.  She also holds a certificate in Family and Divorce Mediation from Northwestern University.

 

David P. Ransburg, Jr., MBA, MA, Associate
David Ransburg is a Staff Therapist at The Family Institute at Northwestern University and a consultant in the Family Business Program.

He received his Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University, where his clinical experience included work with families, couples, and individuals of all ages.

Additionally, Mr. Ransburg earned an MBA from Northwestern's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where he majored in organization behavior and marketing.

With fifteen years of work experience in a variety of industries, including manufacturing, finance, real estate, marketing and management consulting, Mr. Ransburg's particular interest in family-controlled enterprises is borne out by his past work for multiple family businesses as well as his current membership in the Family Firm Institute (FFI).