Dan Aronoff

As one of the architects of The Transition People’s unique approach to career transition services, Dan Aronoff matches opportunities to skills and business ideas to market needs. His passion is positioning people for success.

Dan brings an unusually diverse set of work experiences to The Transition People team. He has lived the corporate life working for two of the nation’s oldest and most respected conglomerates. He has helped managed the expansion of an emerging biotech company facing rapid growth at the zenith of the dotcom craze. He has helped a family business develop and refine plans for operation and succession. He is an entrepreneur who runs a company that connects individuals with business opportunities.

But the experience that most Transition People clients find most meaningful is one you will rarely find mentioned in a website bio.

Dan was abruptly laid off from a high-profile corporate job.

Nothing in his career prepared him for the shock of this unexpected and poorly-handled layoff. Not facilitating several downsizing programs, not his many years of career counseling and performance management experience, not his natural ability to empathize with people affected by downsizing programs he was in charge of implementing. “This isn’t something that often happens to HR people and I have to say that the view was definitely different from the other side of the desk,” recalls Dan. “The experience was devastating and it changed the way I looked at managing my own career.

After much soul searching, Dan realized that if he didn’t take control of his own career, no one would do it for him. “After losing my job, I realized that I had never felt like I was in control of my career,” he remembers. “It was like I lost control of my career destiny.”

In 1992 when Dan entered the corporate world with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Indiana University and a Master’s degree in labor and industrial relations from the University of Illinois, a layoff was the last thing on his mind. “I was ready and eager to start my career,” remembers Dan, who accepted a position with Exxon Corporation and was quickly promoted to management positions in Texas, Louisiana and Illinois. His next move was to Kendle International, a pharmaceutical clinical trials firm. “After years working in a mature organization, it was exciting to work for a rapidly-growing company where I could leave my footprint,” recalls Dan who helped grow the company’s Chicago territory by adding clinical research talent while also helping to build the human resources infrastructure for the entire corporation.

Dan’s next stop was consumer-foods giant Kraft Foods where he managed employee relations and career development responsibilities for the R&D division and oversaw the integration of Nabisco executives into the Kraft organization. After two years at Kraft, Dan knew that career advancement would require a transfer. “My wife, Laurie, and I didn’t really want to move and we knew that her parents were starting to work on the succession plan for the family business,” Dan remembers. The family business was Goldner Associates, a promotional products and advertising specialties firm owned by his wife’s family in Nashville. “There were roles for both of us in the company so it just made sense to move.”

Once in Nashville, Dan drew on his corporate experience to bring more structure to operations and human resources systems in this 70-employee company. After more than three years on the job, the strategic planning initiatives he had led were ending, the family succession plan was being implemented and it was time to act on his entrepreneurial dreams.

After researching small business ownership opportunities, Dan began working with FranNet, a company that specializes in matching entrepreneurs with franchises,www.frannet.com/daronoff. It didn’t take long for him to see the parallel between the skills he had developed in the corporate world and the process of connecting entrepreneurs with opportunities. Today, Dan is the owner of FranNet of Middle and Eastern Tennessee.

While working with FranNet clients and facilitating networking groups for executives in career transition, Dan discovered that many people he met were devastated by unexpected layoffs. “Even people getting rich outplacement packages were asking me for referrals to companies who could help them with problems the outplacement packages weren’t addressing—like health care coverage, financial advice and career counseling,” he recalls. “People were spending an incredible amount of time looking for services because no one company offered everything.”

Dan knew he could help solve their problem. “I wanted to make career transition easier for the people I met,” he remembers. “I wanted to create an alliance of providers who would work together to empower clients with tools and skills that would take the fear out of transition.”

Dan hand-picked the team of independent business owners that would eventually become The Transition People, selecting experts with experience and credentials. “This is a dream come true for me,” he added. “Helping people has always been my passion.”