About Dr. Shay

For over fifteen years I have worked with individuals, couples, and families at some of the most consequential moments of their lives. A through-line across all of it has been helping people understand themselves in relation to what matters most. Wealth has a way of surfacing exactly that. It clarifies what a family actually believes, what it's carrying from previous generations, and where the distance is between the life they're living and the legacy they want to leave.

I bring a distinct methodology to spaces typically dominated by technical expertise, one rooted in clinical training, family systems theory, and years of practice with individuals and families navigating the complexity of wealth. I hold a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision, am a Licensed Professional Counselor with a Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, and I hold the Certified Financial Therapist (CFT) designation. I also hold a Certificate in Family Business Leadership from Cornell. Each aspect of my training informs how I see client situations and how I design the processes I use with families.

How I work

My role in any engagement is what I think of as an emotional ballast. My presence creates the conditions in which clarity, depth, and intentionality become possible. That means holding space for the conversations that haven't happened yet, naming dynamics that are operating below the surface, and providing structure that helps families move from complexity toward something they can actually build from.

Every family I work with arrives with a different story, different dynamics, and different questions they haven't yet been able to ask out loud. My work addresses the inherent differences in each of the families I work with by being structured enough to create safety and movement, yet flexible enough to go where the family’s specific needs are.

I work with wealth creators navigating what it means to build something significant, with couples developing shared language around money and legacy before it becomes a source of tension, and with families who want the next generation to receive not just their wealth but the wisdom and intention behind it.

The families who thrive across generations are not necessarily the ones with the most sophisticated financial structures. They are the ones who have done the harder work of defining what the wealth is for, and who have built the relational foundation to hold that definition over time.

That work is what I'm here to support.